Can 2 different Macs share an external HD

[k27usa]

I just bought a LaCie 500G external HD today.
I've backed up my 5yera old 1.8 PPC G5 using the app 'SuperDuper' - it all worked fine. I now have a 'bootable' clone on the LaCie.
BUT - I'd also like to back-up my Mac Mini Intel on it as well (I have more than enough space on the HD to handle the data from both)
Can this be done safely ??
Can I have 2 different Macs share an external drive via SuperDuper ?

thanks

DB

[dnanian]

You can't really share the same drive and have both be bootable, no. You'll have to partition the drive into two volumes, and PPC and Intel Macs require different partition schemes to be bootable in a way that Apple supports.

[k27usa]

Thanks for the quick reply - would the app 'Drive Genius 2' do that ?
Is it safe to use with one PPC & one Intel mac ?

thnx

DB

[dnanian]

Drive Genius will partition, but the problem is that both won't be bootable. But you can use Apple Partition Map as the scheme if you'd like. Your Intel Mac will not boot from the startup disk preference pane and, as I said, Apple does not support APM as a partition scheme for Intel.