External SSD Partition Advice

[robotica]

I have recently got a new Macbook Pro after not having one for about 8 years and things have changed with file systems since then.

I have bought a 500GB 860 Evo Sata SSD which I am going to put into an external enclosure for backups.

I would like to partition it into three partitions.

1 x 200GB Partition for time machine.

1 x 15GB Partition for Big Sur bootable installer (will this be big enough? This is in preparation for the GM release).

1 x 285ishGB for normal external access.

As it’s been a while since I have even used MacOS and I believe the file system has changed? Which settings would you recommend using in disk utility to achieve the above?

Thank you

 

[barbu]

Each partition can have a different filesystem, so that’s not an issue. I carved up my T5 into a big HFS partition, a smaller one for Big Sur, another Fat32 for interop, etc. Disk utility can handle the job easily.

 

[robotica]

I managed to get it sorted in the end. It does seem like disk utility has been dumbed down quite a bit over the years.

when I install the gm of big sur I would like to leave 10% of my internal ssd unallocated for over provisioning (I know a lot of people say this is unnecessary but I want to make sure I get the max lifespan out of this ssd) and I noticed disk utility automatically makes a new partition and won’t let you leave any space free. Quite annoying.

 

[bernuli]

I have recently got a new Macbook Pro after not having one for about 8 years and things have changed with file systems since then.

I have bought a 500GB 860 Evo Sata SSD which I am going to put into an external enclosure for backups.

I would like to partition it into three partitions.

1 x 200GB Partition for time machine.

1 x 15GB Partition for Big Sur bootable installer (will this be big enough? This is in preparation for the GM release).

1 x 285ishGB for normal external access.

As it’s been a while since I have even used MacOS and I believe the file system has changed? Which settings would you recommend using in disk utility to achieve the above?

Thank you

My recommendation is skip the 25GB partition for Big Sur installer and instead use an SD card for the Big Sur installer. You prob need a dongle but nice to have the installer offline until you need it.

Also, I would not do a partition for Time Machine. It is more cost effective to buy a separate drive, perhaps a 4TB WD elements and use that for dedicated Time Machine.

Now, with a separate 4TB Time Machine drive, you can configure TM to backup the your 860 EVO as well.