Best Way to Use New External HD?

rgelston · 11-14-2012, 05:57 PM

I have an iMac with a 500 GB internal hard drive, that is nearly full: 27.68 free. Most of the HD is taken up with photos and music on iPhoto and iTunes.

My external HDs are:

1 TB LaCie external HD that has been used for Time Machine backups. It is also pretty full (192.83 GB free), and has a bad power connector and has deveoped an ominous clicking sound.

640 GB Maxtor One Touch external HD with 432.42 BG free. Nothing wrong with it except small capacity. Has pre-Time Machine file backups, some of which are probably also on the iMac HD.

I just took delivery of a 3TB Seagate external Backup Plus HD. Have not hooked it up to the iMac yet.

So, I want to:

1. Find and delete duplicate files (this is a big problem in photos - I have the software to do it)

2. Ditch the LaCie and transfer it's Time Machine data to the new Seagate where I want TM to continue backing up, which is now set for once a day.

3. Clean out my internal HD - move the photos and music to one or both of the externals. I accumulate music at a slower rate than photos.

Whats the best way to do all this?

Should I partition the new Seagate?

acme.mail.order · 11-14-2012, 08:17 PM

I would:

Forget about moving the backups. Just start a new one

Get stuff off the clicking drive asap (LaCie cases are good, they had a run of poor power supplies for a while)

Put your media on the 640Gb, put your backups on the 3Tb. Include the media drive in the backup.

finally, clone your boot volume after deleting all the media now residing elsewhere. Reformat the volume and copy* things back.

* file-level copy, not boot level. The whole point here is a clean directory.

rgelston · 11-14-2012, 09:09 PM

Thanks for the reply!

I have to reformat the Seagate, right? I don't think it's Mac ready, although it does show up on the desk top - has the Seagate back-up stuff on it which I don't want.

acme.mail.order · 11-14-2012, 09:13 PM

I generally repartition ( more than reformat ) everything - that way you don't get any funky cross-platform partition table silliness.

agentx · 11-16-2012, 03:46 AM

If you are using Time Machine i always advise having a dedicated partition with no other data on it.

11-14-2012, 05:57 PM	#1
rgelston Triple-A Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 157	Best Way to Use New External HD? I have an iMac with a 500 GB internal hard drive, that is nearly full: 27.68 free. Most of the HD is taken up with photos and music on iPhoto and iTunes. My external HDs are: 1 TB LaCie external HD that has been used for Time Machine backups. It is also pretty full (192.83 GB free), and has a bad power connector and has deveoped an ominous clicking sound. 640 GB Maxtor One Touch external HD with 432.42 BG free. Nothing wrong with it except small capacity. Has pre-Time Machine file backups, some of which are probably also on the iMac HD. I just took delivery of a 3TB Seagate external Backup Plus HD. Have not hooked it up to the iMac yet. So, I want to: 1. Find and delete duplicate files (this is a big problem in photos - I have the software to do it) 2. Ditch the LaCie and transfer it's Time Machine data to the new Seagate where I want TM to continue backing up, which is now set for once a day. 3. Clean out my internal HD - move the photos and music to one or both of the externals. I accumulate music at a slower rate than photos. Whats the best way to do all this? Should I partition the new Seagate?

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11-14-2012, 08:17 PM	#2
acme.mail.order League Commissioner Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Tokyo Posts: 6,050	I would: Forget about moving the backups. Just start a new one Get stuff off the clicking drive asap (LaCie cases are good, they had a run of poor power supplies for a while) Put your media on the 640Gb, put your backups on the 3Tb. Include the media drive in the backup. finally, clone your boot volume after deleting all the media now residing elsewhere. Reformat the volume and copy* things back. * file-level copy, not boot level. The whole point here is a clean directory.

11-14-2012, 09:09 PM	#3
rgelston Triple-A Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 157	Thanks for the reply! I have to reformat the Seagate, right? I don't think it's Mac ready, although it does show up on the desk top - has the Seagate back-up stuff on it which I don't want.

11-14-2012, 09:13 PM	#4
acme.mail.order League Commissioner Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Tokyo Posts: 6,050	I generally repartition ( more than reformat ) everything - that way you don't get any funky cross-platform partition table silliness.

11-16-2012, 03:46 AM	#5
agentx Hall of Famer Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Brighton, UK Posts: 3,811	If you are using Time Machine i always advise having a dedicated partition with no other data on it.