Storage forum: can i us an external hd on two computers

thanks for the reply now all i have to do is try to find out whitch drives will let me do that. thanks again

Any ext. drive can be used on various systems and be accessed. Using it as a "backup" HD will cause me to reconsider as you plan to use on different systems for the same purpose, backup. Afterall, a backup is critical to one system to place that much demand for two systems can place them in dire need should the ext. HD fail. If you review here all the issues many an ext. HD experienced, don't be so dependent on the ext. HD for super critical backup. As Kees explained be sure its noted the folders(or partitions) are clearly noted for each system should you proceed. If possible, get yet another ext. HD to support one per system as a better solution.

tada -----Willy

I generally build up my own backup hard drives (get the enclosure and drive separately). Thus I use whatever backup software suits me (currently Nova Backup which now supports both file-by-file and image style backups). I partition the backup drive, so each system has its own partition (little to no chance that one system's backup will corrupt the other's as there might be if you just use separate folders in the same partition) and I tell the software where to store the backups from each system. I see no reason to go to the expense of several enclosures and one big drive is usually cheaper than several smaller ones. eSATA hardware should be somewhat faster than USB or FireWire.

.bh.

The only problem you might come across when you share a drive is if you want to swap files between Windows and Linux.
Linux is very careful in the way it handles external drives and treats "open" drives with great respect. If you shut down or unplug an external HD when it's running - especially during a windows session - the disk can appear to be locked to Linux as the flag set by windows to signal that the disk is accessable to windows will still be set. You can either force access (which isn't too difficult) or you can access it under windows again and either shut down the PC with the drive still attached (and powerd) or use the "safely remove hardware" dialogue to close the drive properly.