Open Question: how can i partition an external hard drive to use it for both windows and mac?

10:00 AM Posted by Nadim

currently i have a 320gb external hard drive that i only used for my win xp computer. but, when i plug that into my leopard macbook pro it can only read the files and not copy them to my macbook pro internal hard drive or add files from my macbook pro on to the hard drive-why?

anyway, what i want to do it transfer all the 320gb files onto a 1.5tb hard drive
(but for the 1.5tb hard drive i want to partition it = 500gb for windows based files and 1tb for mac based---but how? i am not sure how to make a partition.)
then i want to use the remaining 1tb for my mac and specifically for time machine -is this possible? and lastly, i want to clear the 320gb completely and make it an exclusive external hard drive for the mac, using it for carbon copy clone -is this possible?

the reason for all these back ups is because i want to install snow leopard and make sure i have everything backed up -double backed up- preferably 1) on the 1tb partition of the 1.5tb hard drive (using time machine) AND on the 320gb hard drive (using carbon copy clone)- after i transfer all the files to the 500gb partition of the 1.5tb hard drive. make sense? sorry for the confusion.

Can I use two external hard drives to backup my Mac? With: Time Machine, Clone Carbon Copy, or Raid 1? HOW?
here's my deal: i am currently running Mac OS X Leopard on a mid-2009 macbook pro(my first Mac ever- freaking LOVE IT!). i want to upgrade to Snow Leopard (not Lion as of yet) but before i do that i have been told to backup my internal hard drive.
so, because i do not want to lose anything on my mac (thing like movies, music, and more importantly documents, applications/programs and settings configured to my liking) i plan on getting 2 hard drives. the first- a 1tb or 1.5tb desktop hard drive. and the second- a 500gb portable hard drive.

WHAT MY QUESTION IS- can i use the portable hard drive (that might be connected for the majority of the time) with Apples TIME MACHINE -updating constantly? Then use the desktop hard drive with Clone Carbon Copy -to make boot-able/mirrored clones once a week or so?

Will there be any conflict? is this the right way to go (2 hard drive, 2 different backup programs)? do you have a better way of doing this?- a message board person recommended Raid 1 but i have no idea what that is and how to use that. Also, for the either external hard drive runnin CCC or TM- after backing up, if i take the hard drive to a friends house and want to copy music/movies/docs/whatever on to my hard drive, can i still use it as a plug and play hard drive for storage?


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