Two iMacs, one external HD

[bamarich]

I use SD to back up our files on my iMac and created a bootable partition. It works like a charm! Thanks!! Now my question...
The wife and I now have quite a few files and photos on her iMac that we would like to back up. If I purchase another license for her iMac, can we accomplish copying only her user files over our network to my external HD? If so, please advise, or point us where to learn how to do it correctly.
Kind Regards,
bamarich

[dnanian]

Hi, bamarich. You can follow the steps in "Backing up over a network" in the User's Guide -- along with the "Backup - user files" script -- to do that, yes. She'd need her own partition to store the image on, of course.

[bamarich]

Just to be clear, I can't just create a folder on the current partition and tell SD to copy those files there?
If that's the case, can I create that partition without having to wipe the whole drive clean?

[dnanian]

No, you can't - to maintain a bootable volume, you really need to maintain its state without extra files, etc (which would get deleted next Smart Update). You can create another partition in some cases with Disk Utility without wiping, and certainly with iPartition.

[bamarich]

Just to provide a bit more info. My ext. HD currently has 2 partitions. One to boot from (smaller partition) and the other for general storage, etc.
What's your best advice given my needs?

[dnanian]

You could store the image in the general storage volume over the network (in a folder, sure). The point is that you can't store it in a direct backup target volume.

My best advice is to always use a real drive, not over a network, for a primary backup. But, if that's inconvenient for some reason, you should be OK doing it over a network...

[bamarich]

Not to beat a dead horse, please pardon my ignorance, lol. But one more question...
As long as I don't send anything to my boot partition, I can have SD create a new folder for me to send those files to, on the second partition, (as long as the new folder is not created within any of the folders that are already created from my iMac backups?

[dnanian]

Um, I don't think I quite understand. You can create a folder into which you place a sparse image, over a network (or locally). But you can't back up files directly into a folder.

[bamarich]

Lol, that makes two of us! I guess what I need to know is that if I create a folder on my current partition that currently receives smart backups from SD, and in this folder I send a copy of some files from a completely different iMac, will it work or will doing this screw up that partition and cause future problems??? My goal is not to perform routine backups in this manner. I just want to have multiple copies of mainly several-hundred irreplaceable digital photos of our children and a few personal documents the wife created. Does that make since??
By the way, thank you for the lightening fast responses!!

[dnanian]

The folder would end up with multiple images in it. You can't have a folder that "receives smart backups" except in the case of an image... maybe you'd find the discussion in the User's Guide helpful, both Backing up over a network and the part about storing data on a drive alongside other items.

[bamarich]

Thanks Dave. I'll toy around with it some this weekend. You'll likely hear from me again soon. Thank you sir for all your insight.