Back up seperate computers on 1 hard drive

[John Saxon]

Hello,

I've decided I need to back up my desktop and laptop. My understanding is
that I can do it on either a disk or a hard drive, though I don't know
whether "backing up" something on a disc is different than "saving" it. As
of now, my desktop does not have a CD burner. I don't plan to install one
either. So, what should I do? Should I get an external CD burner for my
desktop (my laptop has one) and some software like Norton Ghost or true
image? Or should I buy another hard drive. If I buy, let's say, a 200G hard
drive, could I use it to back up 2 seperate 80G computers? If so, what kind
of software would I need? Or, could I do it with the hard drive and a
built-in Windows program? Thank you for your consideration.

John

 

[Louis Rost]

Hello,

I've decided I need to back up my desktop and laptop. My understanding is
that I can do it on either a disk or a hard drive, though I don't know
whether "backing up" something on a disc is different than "saving" it. As
of now, my desktop does not have a CD burner. I don't plan to install one
either. So, what should I do? Should I get an external CD burner for my
desktop (my laptop has one) and some software like Norton Ghost or true
image? Or should I buy another hard drive. If I buy, let's say, a 200G hard
drive, could I use it to back up 2 seperate 80G computers? If so, what kind
of software would I need? Or, could I do it with the hard drive and a
built-in Windows program? Thank you for your consideration.

John

I have done the following. I purchased an external USB 2 hard drive
and Norton Ghost version 10. Assuming both the laptop and desktop
support USB 2, the USB drive can be connected to each computer and
Norton Ghost can be used to create images of each drive. The only
software you need to purchase is Norton Ghost 10. I might suggest you
create 2 directories on the USB drive, one for each of the computer
you will back up.

If the computers are networked, you can keep the USB drive connected
to the desktop and image the laptop via the network. If you decide to
do this, you will have to have a wired ethernet connection on the
laptop to recover an image on the laptop. Norton Ghost 10 can create
an image over a wireless network but cannot do an image recovery over
a wireless network.

The network connect has one distinct advantage. Norton Ghost can be
configured to create images on specified days and time. Leaving both
systems powered on when the scheduled images are to be taken, your
backups will occur without human interference.

Lou

 

[Rock]

Hello,

I've decided I need to back up my desktop and laptop. My understanding is
that I can do it on either a disk or a hard drive, though I don't know
whether "backing up" something on a disc is different than "saving" it. As
of now, my desktop does not have a CD burner. I don't plan to install one
either. So, what should I do? Should I get an external CD burner for my
desktop (my laptop has one) and some software like Norton Ghost or true
image? Or should I buy another hard drive. If I buy, let's say, a 200G hard
drive, could I use it to back up 2 seperate 80G computers? If so, what kind
of software would I need? Or, could I do it with the hard drive and a
built-in Windows program? Thank you for your consideration.

John

John, you posted this before and received numerous responses. Go to
google groups and search for your posts.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I've decided I need to back up my desktop and laptop. My
understanding is that I can do it on either a disk or a hard drive,
though I don't know whether "backing up" something on a disc is
different than "saving" it. As of now, my desktop does not have a CD
burner. I don't plan to install one either. So, what should I do?
Should I get an external CD burner for my desktop (my laptop has one)
and some software like Norton Ghost or true image? Or should I buy
another hard drive. If I buy, let's say, a 200G hard drive, could I
use it to back up 2 seperate 80G computers? If so, what kind of
software would I need? Or, could I do it with the hard drive and a
built-in Windows program? Thank you for your consideration.

You asked this question here two days ago, and got several answers,
including one from me. Now you're asking again, and are not even replying to
the same thread but starting a new one.

Why should anyone answer again? Will you just ignore us again this time, and
ask still another time.

 

[Mike G]

Louis...please clarify. Did you buy 2 copies of Ghost, 1=desktop, 1=laptop.
Or can you backup your laptop from your desktop?? (or vise/versa??) or
bought 1 copy and installed it on both??

 

[Louis Rost]

Norton Ghost version 10 is not a server. A copy must be installed on
each system. You can configure the laptop to back up to a networked
drive which is a directory on the external USB drive installed on the
desktop. Or vise/versa.

Lou

 

[Kerry Brown]

Hello,

I've decided I need to back up my desktop and laptop. My
understanding is that I can do it on either a disk or a hard drive,
though I don't know whether "backing up" something on a disc is
different than "saving" it. As of now, my desktop does not have a CD
burner. I don't plan to install one either. So, what should I do?
Should I get an external CD burner for my desktop (my laptop has one)
and some software like Norton Ghost or true image? Or should I buy
another hard drive. If I buy, let's say, a 200G hard drive, could I
use it to back up 2 seperate 80G computers? If so, what kind of
software would I need? Or, could I do it with the hard drive and a
built-in Windows program? Thank you for your consideration.
John

Instead of calling it backup call it disaster recovery. Think of what could
go wrong, what data you could lose, and how this would affect you. Plan
accordingly. Putting all your eggs in one basket isn't a good idea. I
recommend a portable hard drive which can be used to image both computers
with a program like Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image. You could also use
the laptop to burn copies of the image files to CD. You may need another
program to split the image files into small enough chunks to fit on CD. I'm
not sure about Ghost but True Image can be setup to automatically split an
image into smaller files fo burning to CD or DVD. This would give you two
backup systems but you would only have to pay for one, an external hard
drive and an imaging program.

Kerry