Partition a Time Machine Drive
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    Partition a Time Machine Drive

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    Article Summary

    To avoid duplicating data, Backblaze Computer Backup does not back up a hard drive that contains Time Machine data. If you want to use the drive to back up data to Backblaze Computer Backup, you must change how Time Machine uses the drive using one of the following options.

    • Turn off Time Machine and delete the Time Machine data, which allows the drive to back up to Backblaze.
    • Follow the procedure below to create a separate partition on the drive. This lets you use one partition with Time Machine and the other partition to store data in Backblaze Computer Backup.
    Warning
    Partitioning your hard drive can result in data loss. Copy important files that are on the drive to a different disk on your computer before you begin this procedure.

    Partition Time Machine

    1. Open your Mac system settings.
    2. Locate and disable Time Machine.
      For more information about the Time Machine settings for your specific macOS version, click here.
    3. Open your Mac Disk Utility app.
    4. In Disk Utility, select the drive that contains your Time Machine volume ensuring that you select the drive itself and not just the Time Machine volume.
    5. Resize the Time Machine partition.
    6. Add a new partition, enter a name for the new partition.
      For more information about adding partitions for your specific macOS version, click here.
    7. In Finder, locate your Time Machine drive partition and select all of the files and folders except for Backups.backupdb.
    8. Copy the files to your new drive partition, and delete the original files from the Time Machine partition.
    9. Open your Mac system settings, select Backblaze, and select the Settings tab.
    10. Select your new drive partition in the list of hard drives to back up, and click OK.
    11. Locate and enable Time Machine.

    Click here to learn about integrating Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage with Time Machine.


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