Document Storage - on 1 PC & use of offline files

supermonkey

Hello all,

I have been in the process of re-thinking my network storage & backup routine for a while and am trying to do so on the cheap.

Whilst I like the idea of central storage (eg a NAS), I have opted to combine the files off of 2 machines and store on my main PC. This should work well as will usually be able to access the files from either PC as it's almost always on.

My question is - Can I use offline files (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307853) for the occasions where the main PC is off? I understand this would auto sync everything, but it looks like it's aimed at larger networks where you may at times not be connected and applies to smaller directories, rather than all documents! If it is possible, perhaps it would be rather slow when syncing?

Thanks

stuartk

hi there

are you running a server? not sure if this feature works in a workgroup setup though ive never tried it.

anyway as far as im aware, u could share a folder with files on pc1 and setup offline files and then access those files from pc2

that way you should always get the latest file but i think the workgroup setup might be tricky

regards

supermonkey

thanks for your reply... no server i'm afraid, a simple workgroup.

i think it might well work, but i would guess this is aimed at a small number of documents (a few mb) and may not be suited to my entire personal documents (more than a few gb!!

stuartk

supermonkey wrote: »

thanks for your reply... no server i'm afraid, a simple workgroup.

i think it might well work, but i would guess this is aimed at a small number of documents (a few mb) and may not be suited to my entire personal documents (more than a few gb!!

hi there

syncing a few gb of data on a local LAN workgroup might be cumbersome but if this is a one of transfer initially and after that its just amendments to the files it might work. but if you are syncing gb's each time i'd look for a NAS solution or cheap server with ubuntu server edition installed.

regards

supermonkey

Hello,

Yes, it will be a large amount of date the first time, but after that it'll be minimal amounts....I just want the flexibility of accessing any file from any machine. I'm now trying to work out how things will look. I assume my main pc will be no different, (eg location of docs etc), but on the other one is it going to look messy (eg clicking on offline files etc...)

I've also looked at https://www.getdropbox.com thinking it wouldn't be suitable, but it actually looks rather good. This may not be suitable as it looks like it updates over the net rather than directly over the network, but the video makes it look suprising fast (doubt it is that fast though!)

stuartk

hi there

this might be too obvious but why dont u just put all files into a shared folder on our main pc and then access the share from any other pc on your network via a mapped network drive (folder). that way any opened files are saved back to the share.

you could then do a full image backup of our main pc then daily incrementals / differentials. there is plenty of good freeware imaging software out there.

how does that sound

regards

supermonkey

hello, thanks for your reply. yes, my folder are shared, but if the main pc isn't on I wont be able to access the files or is this what the imaging software helps with?

Thanks

supermonkey

hmmm, just realised offline files apparently only works on xp pro. The main pc is xp home and the other xp professional (unfortunatley it's not viable to swap these around).

Any advice?

My current plan is to keep all docs on the main pc, backup to a partition on the other pc fortnightly so I should have (reasonably) up to date files anyway. (my next plan is to then back this up to HDD & online every 2 months)

Or should I give dropbox a go. This would mean always up to date files and ability to access from anywhere, but will it affect my system speed!

stuartk

hi there

what about a Network Attached Storage (NAS) box. Good deals on Ebuyer.com.

Store and retrieve your stuff to and from that with scheduled backups

Imaging software takes a snapshot of a pc or folders / files and can be used to restore either the full pc or just folders etc.

But what will happen if you update your files on xp home machine, then image, but update the files further on the xp pro machine. if you then restore you will be restoring older file / folder versions. otherwise you will be imaging everywhere. i hope that makes sense.

what you need is something centralised

also if its not business related or the files arent too big you could look at mozy.com or some other online backup but be aware that internet upload speeds are NOT the same as download speeds and big backups can take a long time.

regards

supermonkey

hello again! Thanks for all your help!

Yes, I was thinking of a NAS before i started this thread, but decided against it as I really can't afford it right now! My offline files idea was supposed to the cheap (or free) way of doing it. I will take another look on ebuyer though.

stuartk

supermonkey wrote: »

hello again! Thanks for all your help!

Yes, I was thinking of a NAS before i started this thread, but decided against it as I really can't afford it right now! My offline files idea was supposed to the cheap (or free) way of doing it. I will take another look on ebuyer though.

OK otherwise just map a drive on both machines and work from that. the mapped drive can be a folder or drive (internal or external)

but again if the pc where the mapped drive is, is of then it wont show up

regards