Hi Tom,

The computers will (should) see the external HD and the separate partitions 
as partitions, not separate HDs.
When you designate the destination you can do so by assigning them by order 
chosen and it will remain that way
unless or until you decide differently. The backup program "remembers" its 
location.
IOW, Comp.1. backs up to Partition 1. Comp 2. to Partition 2. etc.
BTW, I would strongly advice to use drive letters and proper description 
(label) for each partition.

Just for interest. To keep the drive letter sequence in order , designate 
your optical drives down in the alphabet, like X and Y eg.
So on Comp.1. you would have C:\  for 1st HD  and  D:\ for 2nd HD unless 
each one has more than one partition as well.
Your external drive would add E ,F,G and H.
Those drive letters may not always show up that way if other USB drives are 
connected ,hence the proper labeling.
Could be as simple as eg. Box1BU  > Computer 1 Back up (partition)

Also , disable AutoPlay for each of the 4 partitions.
It's a nuisance to have Windows try to open the files each time you plug in 
the ext drive.

Hope this helps.

Peter E.
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Tom Waddell"
Sent: Wednesday, 10 November, 2010 6:27 PM
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [PCSOFT] Access 2007 report

Thanks Peter,

A friend of mine suggested Acronis too. I know most backup software requires 
you to specify a backup drive. I need to backup 4 computers onto one 
external HD. If I partition the external HD, will my computers see each 
partition as a separate HD? If so, I should be able to designate partition 
one for 1st computer and partition two for 2nd computer, correct?

 

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