I have True Image 9.0 and I have 4 computers connected to my home network.
If I bought an external Hard Drive that connects via USB could I partition
the external HD into 4 partitions and then backup each of my 4 computers to
a separate partition.  This way I would have a backup of each computer on a
single device that I could store in a safe place.  If I fail a Hard Drive on
say computer #3, could I then restore to a new HD on computer 3 from
partition 3 on the external hard drive?  Thanks for the input.

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

On Sat, 30 Dec 2006 14:46:57 -0500, "Sam Bench" <roykoch@comcast.net>
wrote:

>I have True Image 9.0 and I have 4 computers connected to my home network.
>If I bought an external Hard Drive that connects via USB could I partition
>the external HD into 4 partitions and then backup each of my 4 computers to
>a separate partition.  This way I would have a backup of each computer on a
>single device that I could store in a safe place.  If I fail a Hard Drive o
n
>say computer #3, could I then restore to a new HD on computer 3 from
>partition 3 on the external hard drive?  Thanks for the input.
>

I use True Image 9.0 to back up (2) separate computers  to one
external hard drive. I do not use a network, but it would be my
impression that what you want to do is entirely feasible. I think TI
9.0 is great and I also like Ghost 2003. Both have served me well. I
might add I boot to TI with a CD.

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Per Simon:
> I think TI
>9.0 is great

If you've been doing incremental backups for, say, three months...  Can you 
go
back and retrieve a file as it was backed up, say, 17 days ago?
--
PeteCresswell

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Sam Bench wrote:
> I have True Image 9.0 and I have 4 computers connected to my home network.
> If I bought an external Hard Drive that connects via USB could I partition
> the external HD into 4 partitions and then backup each of my 4 computers t
o
> a separate partition.

Yes, but no need to have four partitions on the external drive - you
can if you feel the need - just put each computer into its own folder
on the drive.

R

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

yes.

--
http://www.standards.com/; See Howard Kaikow's web site.
"(PeteCresswell)" <x@y.Invalid> wrote in message
 news:l0rdp2pa2rhp2rr4ua1pmcpu71477c4n10@
4ax.com...
> Per Simon: 
>
> If you've been doing incremental backups for, say, three months...  Can
you go
> back and retrieve a file as it was backed up, say, 17 days ago?
> --
> PeteCresswell

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

"heycarnut" <heycarnut@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1167561535.627980.91480@h40g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>
> Sam Bench wrote: 
network.[vbcol=seagreen] 
partition[vbcol=seagreen] 
to[vbcol=seagreen] 
>
> Yes, but no need to have four partitions on the external drive - you
> can if you feel the need - just put each computer into its own folder
> on the drive.

Or just give the backup for each computer a different name.

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Thanks for the input everyone.  I am finding this to be one of the most
useful Newsgroups on the net.  Lots of savvy posters.

So here is what I did.  I went out and bought a Western Digital Passport
External HD.  It was on sale at BestBuy.  Good deal.  It was a cute little
drive -- about the size of a deck of cards and containing 120GB.  Plenty of
room to backup the 4 computers on my network.  However, it was a disaster.
I plugged it into my USB port and it didn't work like a hard drive at all.
It had built in software that allowed you to "synchronize" your hard drive
to the passport.  That is all it would do.  It could not be recognized by
Acronis.  Windows Explorer couldn't talk to it.  It was more like a CD
recorder than a hard drive.  I was disappointed and took it back.  This
leads to a few questions:

Could anyone recommend an external hard drive that acts like a real hard
drive!?!?  One that I can plug into the USB port on each of my 4 computers
and then have Acronis make a backup on the external drive.  One that can be
accessed by Windows Explorer.

I think I am confused about the difference between clones and backups.
Since I bought Acronis I have been making a clone of my master HD to a slave
HD on each computer.  I can read individual files on the slave if I want to
and I have tested the clone by disconnecting my master HD, changing the
jumper on the slave to master, and then successfully booting from the new
master.  Acronis is a fine program.  If I get an external drive that works,
then I see two alternatives:

(1) I could partition the external drive into 4 separate partitions and then
clone each of my 4 computers to a separate partition.  This sounds nifty
except that I don't know if I could boot say computer 3 from partition 3 on
the external drive.  I doubt that the BIOS on my computer would be that
sophisticated.  Also, this would be a tedious process to clone 4 computers
in turn via a USB port.

(2) I could backup each computer to the new external drive.  I haven't done
backups before but I understand that a single file is produced that contains
all the data from the computer's hard drive.  If I go this way and I get a
hard drive crash then how do I boot my machine to get to the single file on
the external drive?  Do I make 4 unique rescue CD's (one for each computer)
and use them to boot?  If so, will the computer be able to find the external
hard drive and the right file of the 4 backups to restore my dead HD?

Thanks again for the input.



"Sam Bench" <roykoch@comcast.net> wrote in message
 news:aJmdnVDKncKxXwvYnZ2dnUVZ_oWdnZ2d@co
mcast.com...
>I have True Image 9.0 and I have 4 computers connected to my home network.
>If I bought an external Hard Drive that connects via USB could I partition
>the external HD into 4 partitions and then backup each of my 4 computers to
>a separate partition.  This way I would have a backup of each computer on a
>single device that I could store in a safe place.  If I fail a Hard Drive
>on say computer #3, could I then restore to a new HD on computer 3 from
>partition 3 on the external hard drive?  Thanks for the input.
>

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Howard Kaikow wrote:
> Or just give the backup for each computer a different name.

Of course, but I find it 'cleaner' to use a folder, so that different
backups (particularly when segmenting them) don't get all jumbled
together, making navigation/selection a pain...

R

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Sam Bench wrote:
>
> I have True Image 9.0 and I have 4 computers connected to my home network.
> If I bought an external Hard Drive that connects via USB could I partition
> the external HD into 4 partitions and then backup each of my 4 computers t
o
> a separate partition.  This way I would have a backup of each computer on 
a
> single device that I could store in a safe place.  If I fail a Hard Drive 
on
> say computer #3, could I then restore to a new HD on computer 3 from
> partition 3 on the external hard drive?  Thanks for the input.


Sam,

I have a setup similar to yours. I just make a separate folder for the drive
 on
each computer.  I identify each computer by name. No need for separate parti
tions.
By the way, I've always liked Western Digitals external hard drives.


Scott

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]