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Centralizing data?

post #1 of 11
3/28/05 at 6:08am
Thread Starter 
I was wondering if anyone has come up with a solution to this problem. Basically I have 2 computers: my desktop and my laptop. I use both about the same, and its a huge pain in the ass to have to copy all of my data over to my laptop every time I want to use it. I'd like to just pick up my laptop and go. The only solution I could think of is some way mounting my laptop HD and just storing all of my "centralized" files on there, assuming they are both on the same network. Even that doesnt solve the problem because on my laptop I dont have access to my emails in outlook, etc. I know this isnt possible, but essentially what I'd like to is share 1 HD for both computers, lol.

Anyways, what to do you do to solve this annoyance? I'm just curious.

Also, is there anyway to mount a HD that is on another computer in your network?

Thanks for your help.
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post #2 of 11
3/28/05 at 8:49am
remote desktop is your answer. hope you have Windows XP Pro.
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post #3 of 11
3/28/05 at 9:27am
yeah you can mount another HDD

go map network drive and type in the path then select a drive letter

for EX you want to map a drive on COMP1 on COMP2

on COMP2 go my computer, map network drive

path = \\COMP1\Foldername
Drive = Z: etc
click remap on login
click ok
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post #4 of 11
3/28/05 at 11:43am
I use a USB hard drive for all my 'shared' files, it's pretty easy and convenient.
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post #5 of 11
3/28/05 at 11:50am
Work from a big usb HDD... If your doing something like video editing then I'm out of ideas, you can get Portable HDD's that work on networks tho, that might be an idea. How much data are we talking about here?
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post #6 of 11
3/28/05 at 12:27pm
or network attached storage, a cheap NAS might work for large data
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post #7 of 11
3/28/05 at 4:26pm

Offline Folders

There are several solutions.

1. Set up a share on the box with the biggest hard drive. If you want to make sure that folders stay synchronized, just set up the client computer (probably the laptop) so that it can use the files "offline". It will synchronize every time you connect to the network. Simple and almost transparent. It means that the files take 2x as much space (once on the desktop, once on the laptop), but it works pretty well.

2. I use rsync with a cron job similarly on my Linux/BSD machines, and it works like a champion. 3-way synchronizing is basically out of the question, but 2-way is easy and fast.

3. A spare hard drive in a Firewire or USB enclosure can do the same job. I use a USB flash drive for shuttling around the 20MB or so of important files I want to have with me everywhere I go. This includes my last Palm sync, copies of my resume in multiple formats, shell scripts I've written, etc.

Good luck!
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post #8 of 11
3/28/05 at 5:15pm
Ben Johnson-

I am in exactly the same situation as you are. I have a laptop that I use for work. When I am in my office, I want to share the same files between my desktop and laptop machines. When I am travelling, I want to be able to work on those files using my laptop.

The solution is Offline Files.

1) From Windows Explorer, goto Tools > Folder Options. Click on "Enable Offline Files". If you are using Windows XP, you must turn off Fast User Switching first.

2) Create a folder on your desktop PC. Share that folder. On your laptop, map a drive to that share.

3) Right-click on the mapped drive in Windows Explorer, and click "Enable OFfline Files". Let it synchronize.


Now, when you are on your home / office network, you are operating off of files stored on your network. When you take your laptop on the road, you will have access to all files that you have made available offline. When you connect back to your home / office network, all modified files from your laptop's offline file cache automatically update the network copies.
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post #9 of 11
3/28/05 at 7:17pm
I have a few suggestions.

If you generally don't use your laptop and your desktop at the same time...

External Storage
If you don't use them at the same time, get a USB hard drive. They're cheap and this would be a very easy solution. The external drive is where your data would be centralized.


If you do use them at the same time...

NAS (Network Attached Storage)
Attach a NAS hard drive to your router (I assume you have one?) and use it as your primary centralized storage. No drivers needed, no frills - dead easy.

Active (Real-Time) Synchronization
Find some software that can actively monitor and synchronize the files between your laptop and desktop in real time (A quick Google search reveals this program, which looks pretty good for $40). This is possibly the best way to do it because of several reasons: not only does it do exactly what you need (unless I'm missing something here?), but it also serves as a backup (replication of data) and eliminates the need to carry around a hefty external hard drive all the time.
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post #10 of 11
3/29/05 at 2:22am
FileSync is a free program that will compare data between two locations and synchronize it, two way or one way, however you like.
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post #11 of 11
3/29/05 at 2:42am
SAN --> Storage Area Network <-- 10 Gigabit via fiber

or just get a fast FW/USB2 enclosure, makesure you use HDTune to test the speed, if it sux return it and get another one
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