Can 2 TB WD My Book currently backing up iMac with SmartWare be partitioned

WD External Drives External Drives for Mac
1

I am struggling with common slowdown problems with Mavericks on my 2009 iMac, and want to do a complete backup before I try to reinstall Mountain Lion.  A 2 TB WD My Book has been my backup drive for about a year, and I have been using the pre-installed WD SmartWare for backup.  Smartware does not appear to backup applications, just data files.  

Can I, without destroying the existing SmartWare backup, partition the drive and use Super Duper for a a complete backup in the other partition?  A complete backup has been recommended before I try to re-install Mountain Lion.  

2

OldDrBob,

Partitioning a disk drive without erasing information is not normally possible. Apple Mac OS Disk Utility will not allow you to do so, however, third party applications may be able to configure the disk drive in the desired way without compromising existing data.