How much will time machine use?

I have a mbp and want to know how big a hd I need.
Also, could u recomend an hd, either wireless or USB powered that would keep up with my time capsules for a few years? Under $150 plz
Thx in advance!

 

By default time machine will copy your entire disk. You may add a list of folders you do not want it to back up. Every time a file is changed, time machine will keep a copy of the original. It will continue to do so until all space in the disk you assigned it too is used up. It will then start deleting the oldest copies. I would assign time machine to a disk/partition that is at least as big as your OSX partition containing your root directory. For $150, you should be able to get a 320gb WD passport or seagate freeagent.


if you don't mind pink , here's a 320gb drive for $115

 

it uses about 50gb in my case

 

I was reccomended to use a bit more than my hardrive size. I have 160gb so my time machine partition on my external is 180

 

Is there anyway for example my laptop having a 160GB that the time machine will occupy over 160GB on the external harddrive....I am getting a 250GB external one

 

Yes, if you add/delete files frequently from your laptop

Example:

Fill up your 160GB drive, Time Machine now copies this data over

Now, delete 20GB of stuff and fill the void with 20GB of more stuff

Next time Time Machine makes a backup, it will copy the newly added data

Time Machine is now 180GB

 

Can you configure it in a way so that any changes older than a week should be deleted?

 

Well how Time Machine works is that it will fill up whatever partition it is in. Once the partition is full, Time Machine will start deleting its oldest files. I don't think you can customize this behavior. You can also give Time Machine a list of directories in which it will not back up. If you are concerned about Time Machine eating up your entire hard drive, I would just put Time Machine in its own partition.

To give you a better idea of how much memory Time Machine takes up, I've had Time Machine running since July and my backups folder is currently at 65GB. However, I've excluded my Movies folder from backups (which takes up ~ 1/2 my hard drive).

 

That's what I am thinking about too, exclude download folder and the desktop which changes occur a lot....Thank you for the insights....I am new here at Mac

 

I married Time Capsule 500gigs with my MBP 250 gig HD. Backing up data has never been easier. Since I don't backup on battery power -- Time machine only backs up once a day (more if I'm charging my battery). So TM on a 250 HD will not come close to filling as it would if I had my MBP on AC all day long. It was a bear to set-up, so I called Apple CS (twice) and the customer service was EXCELLENT!!