Can I download music and pictures from 2 different MacBooks onto one external hard drive?

I have looked around for the community, but have not found an answer here.  Both my wife and I have 2 seperate MacBooks, but we wanted to put all of my pictures and music and all of her music and pictures onto one external hard drive.  I read on another board that we can, but only if we purchase a Mini.  Is it possible to do that without having to purchase a Mini?  Or is purchasing a Mini the only way to be able to do that?  Thanks in advance for any replies!

There is no reason that you cannot use a common external HDD for your communal data.  Naturally you would have to disconnect it from one MBP and then connect it to the other when you wish to access the data or perform a download.  
Any compatible external HDD will do, but make certain that you format it in Disk Utility to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Ciao.

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