I have a new 1 TB My Book Essential that I would like to use to back up 3 different computers. I would like to make three partitions; one for each computer. (My Book adjacent to a Desk Top and 2 Laptops which would be brought there as needed. ) Each computer has a different name and they are networked.
I understand that partitioning will wipe out all files and folders that currently exist. If this is true, I will copy the WD SmartWare files and folders to a CD or DVD so that they can be placed back onto My Book after the partitioning.
Will this work and should I place the software onto each partition? Would you supply the names of all the original files and folders as I have already made backups of the two laptops? Having made these backups, will the existing WD software be corrupted in any way?
I’m open to any other recommendations you might have.
I just got back from an extended trip. Sorry for the delayed response.
Following your guidance, I move all the files on My Book to one of my computers and then shrunk the main partition. It was straight forward with one exception. I could only shrink the main partition of the 1 TB drive to about 480 GB with the new partition at 449 GB. I used Disk Management in Windows Vista Ultimate.
I would like to shrink the main partition to about 330 GB. Can this be done with Windows or do I need a 3rd party software?
If you are using the NTFS file system then Windows should allow you to create partitions as small as 1GB, so unless the computer itself is letting you do it then another software is not needed.
Try to kill the full partition (Right-click on each volume and select delete volume) and create the 330GB partition first, the rest of the space will still be unallocated to create a clean new volume.
