laptop(win 7); PC-Vista-backup external hardrive

[bbunch06]

A gift in 2009, 1TB western digital My Book external hard drive still works well. Is it possible to backup both windows 7 and the Vista operating system to the same external hard drive. bbunch06

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Welcome to the community, bbunch06!

Yes, you should be able to backup both of your systems on the WD My Book external. However, the WD SmartWare software is strictly for data backup, meaning it wouldn't include the OS files. Here's the user manual for the SmartWare backup software: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=spgXvR
But in case you want to backup (create a system image including the OS backup), I'd recommend you to take a look at Acronis True Image WD Edition here: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=sau34K
Among its other features, it can also create Drive Image Backup which would let you create backup images of your operating systems' HDDs that can be stored as a file on the WD My Book.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[bbunch06]

Welcome to the community, bbunch06!

Yes, you should be able to backup both of your systems on the WD My Book external. However, the WD SmartWare software is strictly for data backup, meaning it wouldn't include the OS files. Here's the user manual for the SmartWare backup software: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=spgXvR
But in case you want to backup (create a system image including the OS backup), I'd recommend you to take a look at Acronis True Image WD Edition here: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=sau34K
Among its other features, it can also create Drive Image Backup which would let you create backup images of your operating systems' HDDs that can be stored as a file on the WD My Book.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[bbunch06]

Thanks for the answer to my question. Also, thanks for the correction regarding the purpose of the hard drive; I was thinking of the different operating system of each when I wanted to know about the data. One system has Microsoft 2007 and the other Microsoft 2013. The same question applies; however, should I need to retrieve information from the backup will I be able to distinguish each set of data?

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hi again, bbunch06!

As long as both computers are Windows-based and have unique computer names, the software should be able to store the back up in a separate folder based on that name. But it also depends on the software itself, so my advice would be to make sure the backup folders are named accordingly. Afterwards, you shouldn't face any difficulties distinguishing them.
You can take a look at a couple of useful links from MS:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ee872304.aspx
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2007.09.backup.aspx

Good luck! Hope I was helpful!
SuperSoph_WD