Sharing a drive in Windows is relatively simple, first, start up Windows Explorer.  You will want to share a drive, or folder for giving others access to your files, or to provide storage for imaging files from another computer.  Remember if you have an external drive and you swap it out with another drive, you will need to re-setup the drive sharing each time. Click here for more information.  Also keep in mind that when you setup drive sharing and look at the drive, or folder in Windows Explorer, if you have Explorer open while you setup the sharing, the icon may not show the share until you restart Windows Explorer.

The method is a little different in each version of Windows, so first we'll cover Windows Vista.  For Windows XP, click here. 

If you have not already done so, you need to setup sharing prior to sharing drives.  Go to the Start button, Control Panel, then click on Setup file sharing.

Make sure to turn on Network discovery, file sharing, and public folder sharing.  To keep from having a bunch of extra settings, turn off password protected sharing (as shown below).

Right click on the drive, or folder you want to share, then, on the pop up menu, left click on Properties.

 Go to the Sharing Tab, then put a check mark in the Share this folder box, then click on Permissions.

Now put check marks in Allow for all items.  Click Apply, then OK.

In the example below, you will notice the sharing icon below the drive icon, indicating the drive is shared (it looks like two people in the lower left of the icon).

For Windows XP:

Assuming you already have file and printer sharing enabled, right click on the drive, or folder you want to share, then, on the pop up menu, left click on Properties.

On the Sharing tab, left click on the If you understand the risk . . . item.

Put check marks in the boxes shown below, then click Apply, then OK.

Again, make sure the hand in under the drive or folder icon, to indicate it is being shared.

Today, since external hard drives are becoming inexpensive, instead of copying image files to DVD disks and keeping them at a different location, it is much easier to have two external drives, and swap them on a regular basis.