Two computer backups

I'm backing up 2 computers (desktop and laptop) to the same outboard hard drive using File History. It seems as though the last backup from computer 'B' overwrites the earlier backup from computer 'A' in the file history folder. Is it possible to have File History back up to individual folders? Can anyone help?
Bob H
Windows 10

Have you rejected the idea of using any method other than "File History"?

It's easily done with ordinary backup software that would not have the overwrite issue. The "computer A backup" and "computer B backup" would each be to a different set of folders on the outboard drive. Running "computer A backup" would not affect the previous run of "computer B backup".

I have no problem with using other backup software. I would like it to be easy to use though. Do you have any suggestions? I consider myself fairly computer saavy, but many backup programs seem filled with complicated software I don't understand.
Thank you for your quick response.
Bob H

Yeah, I understand the anxiety---those programs all do pretty much the same thing, but the interfaces are often unnecessarily complicated and the help files can be shaky.

It may be that "File History" can be configured to do what you want. I have no idea. Never even played with it.

I've used 4 or 5 different progs over the last 15 years, including Second Copy, FreeFileSync and currently SyncBackFree. The last 2 are free.

Of the ones I've tried, Second Copy has the easiest to understand interface. It's been around at least 15 years. I think it is $30, with a free 30 day trial. You aren't faced with 300 different menu choices. It's pretty easy to grasp. You would make a "profile" for each drive you want to back up and they could be run on demand, separately.

Online backup help for Second Copy: Online Technical Support


If you used it 30 days and got familiar with the lingo and how these type of apps generally work, you might well have enough knowledge to then NOT pay the $30 for a license and instead migrate to something like SyncBackFree. It has a more complex interface, but 30 days with Second Copy might help you understand some other app. Or just pay the $30 for a license and stick with it.

There's a bunch of others out there that I haven't looked at lately and can't comment on the interfaces---Karen's Replicator, Syncback, etc.

Do you backup Windows using an image program? That's a good idea. If you do, you might consider the paid version of Macrium Reflect, which does BOTH imaging and the file-by-file data backup that you want to do. I use Macrium, but only the Free version, so I don't know how their file-by-file backup looks or works.

One concept common to all of them: you have to decide if you want to let a file remain on the backup drive IF that file is deleted from the source drive. Some folks do and some don't. I don't. That is typically called "mirroring"---the backup folders are a mirror image of the source folders. Those who don't want mirroring want to keep that picture of their cat on the backup even though they deleted it from the source drive.

To answer your question, yes, I back up Windows with a System Image about every 3 months. I also have a System Recovery disk for each. I think I'll try Second Copy and see how it works. Many thanks for your time and your fast replies.

Bob H

A question is do you need versioning, that is, do you want to keep yesterday's version of a file on your backup drive then add today's updated version of that file too. If not, robocopy (comes with windows) is as easy as it gets. I keep my data folders (which are all under my c:\data folder) mirrored with a one line cmd file that runs once a day using task scheduler.

start /w robocopy \\computer1\data\ \\computer2\data\ /s /xo

Hi John
No, I don't need versioning, but thanks for the suggestion
Bob H

Hi Swarfega......I'm not sure what you mean by an NAS drive, is that an outboard drive?

Bob H