I have been reading various threads about hard drive backup techniques
in this ng and am curious as to whether the following is a good idea.

We currently have two PCs on the same LAN.
We were thinking of adding a third for occassional use.
On this new PC, I was thinking about having a dual boot PC.
One of these boots would be used solely for backing up the other 2
PCs.
The other boot would be for the occassional usage.

I have the following questions and would appreciate any advice:
1. Can XP PRO (for example) be used for *both* of these boots?
2. If the 'occassional use' boot is infected can this infection spread
to the boot which has the backups of the other 2 PCs?
3. Can I backup multiple images of each of the two PCs to the same
boot area?

TIA.

"allanc" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote

Answers inline

>I have been reading various threads about hard drive backup techniques
> in this ng and am curious as to whether the following is a good idea.
>
> We currently have two PCs on the same LAN.
> We were thinking of adding a third for occassional use.
> On this new PC, I was thinking about having a dual boot PC.
> One of these boots would be used solely for backing up the other 2
> PCs.
> The other boot would be for the occassional usage.
>
> I have the following questions and would appreciate any advice:
> 1. Can XP PRO (for example) be used for *both* of these boots?

Certainly but you'll need two XP licenses. Each installation of XP needs
its own license.

> 2. If the 'occassional use' boot is infected can this infection spread
> to the boot which has the backups of the other 2 PCs?
> 3. Can I backup multiple images of each of the two PCs to the same
> boot area?

The answer depends on what backup program you're talking about, and I assume
by boot area you mean XP installation? In general, yes you can save
multiple images.
--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]

On Mar 28, 7:13 pm, "Rock" <R...@nospam.net> wrote:

> > 2. If the 'occassional use' boot is infected can this infection spread
> > to the boot which has the backups of the other 2 PCs?
> > 3. Can I backup multiple images of each of the two PCs to the same
> > boot area?
>
> The answer depends on what backup program you're talking about, and I assume
> by boot area you mean XP installation? In general, yes you can save
> multiple images.
> --
Is one installation safe from potential infections on the other?

"allanc" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote

> On Mar 28, 7:13 pm, "Rock" <R...@nospam.net> wrote:
>
>> > 2. If the 'occassional use' boot is infected can this infection spread
>> > to the boot which has the backups of the other 2 PCs?
>> > 3. Can I backup multiple images of each of the two PCs to the same
>> > boot area?
>>
>> The answer depends on what backup program you're talking about, and I
>> assume
>> by boot area you mean XP installation? In general, yes you can save
>> multiple images.
>> --
> Is one installation safe from potential infections on the other?

I'm not an expert in this but I would say no. Running malware on one could
infect another.

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]

On Mar 28, 9:58 pm, "Rock" <R...@nospam.net> wrote:
> "allanc" <allan.for.g.gro...@gmail.com> wrote
>
> > On Mar 28, 7:13 pm, "Rock" <R...@nospam.net> wrote:
>
> >> > 2. If the 'occassional use' boot is infected can this infection spread
> >> > to the boot which has the backups of the other 2 PCs?
> >> > 3. Can I backup multiple images of each of the two PCs to the same
> >> > boot area?
>
> >> The answer depends on what backup program you're talking about, and I
> >> assume
> >> by boot area you mean XP installation? In general, yes you can save
> >> multiple images.
> >> --
> > Is one installation safe from potential infections on the other?
>
> I'm not an expert in this but I would say no. Running malware on one could
> infect another.
>
> --
> Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]

I will start a new thread on this last point.