04-17-2010, 07:09 PM
I agree with RAMd@d that you should be fine with a backup drive which is a "size or two" larger than the source drive. It probably depends some on what kind of files you are using. Someone dealing daily with large Photoshop files might want more backup space than someone dealing with just email, word processing and web browsing, since larger files will fill up space faster if a backup is made every time there is a change in the file (as Time Machine does).
The other reason to get a larger backup drive is that you are likely at some point to fill up the 160 GB drive and want to replace it with a larger one. If you have a larger backup drive you won't necessarily have to replace the backup drive at the same time.
There is typically a "sweet spot" in drive pricing in cost per GB of storage. Right now my impression is that the sweet spot is 320 - 500 GB for notebook drives, and maybe a big bigger for desktop drives. I'll admit I'm not current on drive prices. But for not much more money you should be able to get a drive which gives you some extra flexibility.
Good luck.
- Winston
The other reason to get a larger backup drive is that you are likely at some point to fill up the 160 GB drive and want to replace it with a larger one. If you have a larger backup drive you won't necessarily have to replace the backup drive at the same time.
There is typically a "sweet spot" in drive pricing in cost per GB of storage. Right now my impression is that the sweet spot is 320 - 500 GB for notebook drives, and maybe a big bigger for desktop drives. I'll admit I'm not current on drive prices. But for not much more money you should be able to get a drive which gives you some extra flexibility.
Good luck.
- Winston