Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

??'s on Using an External Hard Drive for Backup, Imaging

Feb 25, 2005 1:44AM PST

I am considering this but wondering if I can use the same EHD for both my laptop and my desktop. Can an EHD be partitioned so I have a seperate partition for each computer?

At the moment, my plan is to make an image of each computer with some software that allows incremental updates. I would then take the drive offsite so if my home office burns down I have all my data. Once a month I would retreive it and update it, then return it to storage.

I now make regular backups of my critical data files on flash drives and CD's; some of which I also keep offsite. I have a 256MB and a 1G flash drive for this purpose. I would continue to do this between image updates.

I am a professional writer and if you think I have a phobia about losing my work...you're right! Unlike the accounting I do for my husband's business, I could never reconstruct my creative work. Of course, I don't want to have to reconstruct my husband's work either.

I am eager for any advise anyone wants to offer. I would also appreciate recommendations on hardware and software. Thanks.

Discussion is locked