Windows 8.1, Skydrive and large folders.

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freitasm

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#133636 28-Oct-2013 22:05

Got the 200GB extra space on Skydrive with the Surface 2 here. Great stuff. Before Windows 8.1 I wasn't so keen on using Skydrive, mainly because it wasn't a great integration. Everything changed now with better support...

But here comes the thing: Skydrive doesn't support P2P and if I want some of that content to be available on a new PC it will then download from the servers instead of getting from another PC in the same LAN.

For example I want photos to be available offline - also because if I want to look at photos I want instant access. I put my photos on Skydrive, all 25GB of them but now I want to blast my laptop and reinstall Windows 8.1. This means downloading those 25GB back, even though I have those files in another PC in the same LAN.

I am thinking better to stop synchronising this to Skydrive and keep it local only (don't worry about backup, I have a copy on a home server, plus Crashplan backup plus Dropbox - which does support P2P).

A shame really.

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#923286 28-Oct-2013 22:36

Yes SkyDrive doesn't do P2P

I've always run into problems with every synching tool that does P2P to be honest, even Dropbox

My ISP (Snap) charges me $25 for 250GB

or you could copy your files manually

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#923291 28-Oct-2013 22:45

If you copy files you risk getting duplicates as I have seen before.

If there was sure way of not getting duplicates it would be ideal.

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#923293 28-Oct-2013 22:47

oh you mean use SkyDrive, but manually copy in and then start the sync?

Let me check if you can make that work

freitasm

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#923294 28-Oct-2013 22:48

Also because I am afraid I will have to reinstall Windows 8.1 which means it will download all those files that I have readily available on my local server...

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#923301 28-Oct-2013 22:59

Bittorent Sync perhaps?

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#923325 29-Oct-2013 00:33

Perhaps we'll see them create a viable solution for the home (via homegroups perhaps) and the enterprise (if skydrive pro doesn't already offer such flexibility) in the future.

Also dropbox is extremely good at de duplicating files. I've copied in a bunch of duplicate content, it recognises its all the same as other files in existing folders and doesn't bother with the upload. Zero problems with manually copying content in and having it recognise it.

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#923328 29-Oct-2013 00:46

nathan: oh you mean use SkyDrive, but manually copy in and then start the sync?

Let me check if you can make that work

It could be done in Windows 8. I did it when it was first released. I setup my desktop PC to sync the same files as my laptop then closed down Skydrive desktop application and copied files across the LAN using FreeFileSync. When I restarted the Skydrive desktop application it completed the sync quickly. But 8.1 doesn't have the desktop app and if you try to install it all you get is the ability to work on the same Office documents at the same time.

But the other method should work with 8.1. I also tried it on Windows 8 by disconnecting from the Internet, copying files, then reconnecting. It worked but I think that I restarted the PC before reconnecting to the Internet to prevent the possibility of Skydrive carrying on with the original sync.

[Edited to clarify that the second method was also on Windows 8.]

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#923378 29-Oct-2013 09:07

I must admit I vastly dislike the new SkyDrive integration in 8.1. It doesn't show the issues until one has to work in disconnected mode.

With the old SkyDrive I had much more control over what was synchronised, when and where it was stored (I had a separate folder on my SD card). Now I set all my files to be 'make available offline' so there is always a local copy.

Back on subject, rather than get SkyDrive to do P2P, really what one wants is to be able to share a homegroup folder across multiple machines in the homegroup. Maybe something like Windows Live Mesh.

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freitasm

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#923379 29-Oct-2013 09:15

Not exactly homegroup as my machines are sometimes in other networks.

Ideally Skydrive would allow me to pause sync, copy files in place, then restart sync with deduplication in place - like Crashplan does.

This way I can restore my 45GB+ Skydrive without having to actually download all files that are available just in another PC in my own LAN.

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#923474 29-Oct-2013 11:22

I'm not sure i'd want to have 200GB of files automatically copied down to every device i'm running - i sure couldnt even fit that much on my Surface RT!

The new skydrive integration gives you access to all files regardless of the sync setting, but allows you to enable certain folders for 'offline' access. I think thats a good compromise. It also means you can sync files up to the cloud in a folder without first having to make the folder available offline.

The P2P sync option, or the populate with a local cache option, both sound like good ideas. I think i'd be more comfortable with a non-p2p syn method though, given the nature of my skydrive files.

For my home network, i use the "homegroup" so i only need one machine to have that local copy. I can understand why this doesnt work for everyone though. As well as 'homegroup', i also have FTP and MediaBrowser configured so that I can access those homegroup files via different methods - which covers those non-network-connected nodes also (in addition to friends/family outside the home network).

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#923480 29-Oct-2013 11:28

Regs: I'm not sure i'd want to have 200GB of files automatically copied down to every device i'm running - i sure couldnt even fit that much on my Surface RT!

It's not in every device. On the Surface it's "Available Online". On my laptop it's The Master so I want it there all the time. Different devices, different use.

Regs: The new skydrive integration gives you access to all files regardless of the sync setting, but allows you to enable certain folders for 'offline' access. I think thats a good compromise. It also means you can sync files up to the cloud in a folder without first having to make the folder available offline.

Sure, but as I said above, different use cases - for example when you want a master local copy that's available on a single device. Mobile devices would continue to be "online only".