Image Two Computers on One Ext HD?

I have an external HD with 1 TB capacity. Is there any reason I cannot make images of both my computers on that one HD?

I would assume that in the case of a needed restore the computer would recognize its image. True?

Thanks,
Jerry

 

If you have a Imaging software app like IFW (terabyte unlimited) you can have multiple computers images on on Hard drive external Hard drive;

Chris

 

Hi Chris. I am using the built in W7 imaging program. I have no additional imaging software.
Jerry

 

Jerry,

Yes you can. Let's say you are imaging the "Red" computer. The images will always be written to the same folder on the external HD and you have no choice in the folder's name. Now you would like to image the "Blue" computer. Change the name of the original folder by adding _Red to the folder name. After you have imaged the "Blue" computer add _Blue to the folder name.

If you would like to restore the image to the Red computer, remove _Red from the folder name otherwise the imaging app won't be able to find the image.

Make sense?

 

Thanks Brian. I think I can do that.
Regards,
Jerry

 

The default folder is :\WindowsImageBackup

All images are created in this folder.

 

I never tried to keep images done by W7 itself on 2 PC on one external HD. And I don't use it at all as it is too unreliable. It let me down several times that I had to learn other imaging soft. The best freebies in my list are Paragon and Macrium though there exist a good variety of other reliable imaging programs.

If you are determined to use W7 inbuilt imaging then probably the best tactics is:
- to create (if you haven't done it before) "Rescue disc" from both PC
- then create image of the 1-st PC then rename it to something like "1-st PC" by booting from the "Rescue disc" as Windows don't allow to open "\WindowsImageBackup"
- then create image of the 2-nd PC preferably to rename it as well as you won't forget in case of emergency what image you need

You will have to use DOS commands to rename folders in these "Rescue discs".

All these procedures with W7 inbuilt imaging are rather user unfriendly.

 

I see no reason you can't store an image file anywhere as I have frequently made them on portable hard drives and then copied them to larger external drives for storage, just be certain you name the image file correctly depicting where it is from so you can find it and restore the correct file if you need to. I never accept the default name programs use for image files.

 

I am not a disk imaging specialist like some here,But can the external drive be partitioned.?

If so would this not be an easier way to store different images for different operating systems.

 

Sure. But there is no need for more than one partition. I just use different folders for different images.

 

Okay thank you brian.

That differs from what i have read on some blogs as they suggest partitioning your external drive may turn it into a RAW state.

 

That's a new one on me!

 

Thats what i thought.
i know pulling them straight out of the computer without windows authorising it can sometimes do that.

Still different people have different ideas.

 

Complete nonsense.

The worst that can happen is that the data that is in the buffer and hasn´t been written to the disk is lost.

 

I think they were talking about cloning, which is an exact copy onto the external drive itself, not a (compressed) file.

 

Yes, that may be the case. But that´s not the idea expressed in the first post.

If we are taking about cloned disks, I think there can only be one in an external drive. It´s not possible to clone another in the free space left after the first cloning, not even if a partition is created in this unallocated space.