How to Use a Time Machine Drive for Both File Storage and Backups
entire external drive exclusively for backups. Here’s how
you can get around that and use a Time Machine drive
both for backups and file storage.
Using a 2 TB external drive for Time Machine backups of a
Mac with a 128 GB solid-state drive doesn’t make much
sense. Better to put that external drive to use storing
video files and other data you might need.
The Quick and Dirty Method: Put Files on
the Time Machine Drive
The easiest way to store files on your Time Machine drive
is just placing the files on there directly. Plug in your Time
Machine drive and open it in the Finder. You’ll see a folder
named “Backups.backupdb”. Time Machine stores all its
backup files under this folder. Just leave this folder alone
and let Time Machine use it normally.
Place personal files and folders outside the
Backups.backupdb folder. Don’t place anything inside the
Backups.backupdb folder—Time Machine automatically
deletes files and folders inside there to free up space, so
you may find your personal files deleted if put them there.
Bear in mind that Time Machine requires the drive be
formatted with the Mac’s HFS+ file system, which means
you won’t be able to easily access these files on Windows
PCs or anything else that isn’t a Mac. Time Machine will
also work toward filling up the entire drive, not leaving
extra room for your files.
A Better Option: Create Separate Partitions
for Backups and Files
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