Sharing documents over a network?

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kiwis

832 posts

Ultimate Geek

#175018 14-Jun-2015 13:41

I have a router in my garage and a PC with several laptops in my house which is all for business purposes.

I have documents on my PC which I want shared with the laptops so they can open and edit them.

What's the best way of sharing a Drive or Selected Folders on my desktop.

I almost want a mini network I guess.

Is it possible to even run applications which are installed on my desktop on my laptop machines?

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#1324436 14-Jun-2015 13:50

If all the computers are on a private network and running at least Windows 7 then you could set up a Homegroup. You can share a single folder on a computer with Homeusers and then everyone in the homegroup could see it and depending on the permissions you gave the folder they could edit the contents thereof.

michaelmurfy

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#1324448 14-Jun-2015 14:36

Upload the document to Google Docs and edit it that way.

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MackinNZ

450 posts

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#1324463 14-Jun-2015 14:58

michaelmurfy: Upload the document to Google Docs and edit it that way.

Or use OneDrive

JayADee

2148 posts

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#1324485 14-Jun-2015 16:29

Stick them in the public documents folder on the c drive and all the machines will see them. C:\Users\Public

coffeebaron

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#1324493 14-Jun-2015 16:56

Use a NAS

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macuser

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#1324497 14-Jun-2015 17:03

I would say an online service like Onedrive or Google docs would be be most beneficial (like recommended above) especially because it's more redundant if your host device fails. It also lets multiple users edit the same doc at the same time, and will reduce things getting saved over if a couple people have the same doc open in various states of completion.

You are able to easily share a network folder via homegroup, but if that computer is not on, or the computer breaks then no one else has the file until the machine is working again.

nakedmolerat

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#1324498 14-Jun-2015 17:04

I vote for Dropbox here.

It will sync within your local network fast and also a copy available online. They will sync nicely and you can also use it as a backup as it keeps the older version of the files within 30 days.

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Dynamic

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#1324539 14-Jun-2015 19:15

If you choose one of the file sync options (Google Drive, OneDrive, DropBox, etc) remember that automated file replication is not backup. If you accidentally delete or overwrite or corrupt a file, that mistake is quickly replicated to the other computers. Some solutions allow you ro recover old versions or deleted files for 30 days or so, but there is no guarantee that you will notice the error during that time.

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nakedmolerat

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#1324635 14-Jun-2015 21:32

Dynamic: If you choose one of the file sync options (Google Drive, OneDrive, DropBox, etc) remember that automated file replication is not backup. If you accidentally delete or overwrite or corrupt a file, that mistake is quickly replicated to the other computers. Some solutions allow you ro recover old versions or deleted files for 30 days or so, but there is no guarantee that you will notice the error during that time.

Dropbox Pro will keep the files for one year.

Does Dropbox keep backups of my files?

Even if your computer has a meltdown, your stuff is safe in Dropbox and can be restored in a snap. In fact, if you're using the Dropbox desktop application, your files are backed up several times. The primary copy on your computer's hard drive is synced to your Dropbox account online, and that copy is backed up again for safety. If you're using Dropbox to sync files between multiple computers, your files are backed up on those computers as well. By default, Dropbox saves a history of all deleted and earlier versions of files for 30 days for all Dropbox accounts. If you purchase the Extended Version History add-on feature, you can revert to a previous file version or recover a deleted file at any time within a year of an edit or deletion made after your purchase. All files stored online by Dropbox are encrypted and are kept in secure storage servers across several data centers.

dimsim

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#1324640 14-Jun-2015 21:42

I guess it would depend on how much data you want to share and their file sizes. If not too much, general office docs etc id use something cloudbased, dropbox works well and you have the added benefit of file revisioning and remote access and backup.

If you have alot of data then I'd suggest a NAS. You'll have granular control of who accesses what and it will be able to backup automatically to the cloud for offsite backup.

You probably wont be able to share any apps actually on your PC, but you could use remote desktop or vnc to say access a PC in the garage from a laptop in the house to use the applications installed on that garage PC.

chevrolux

4962 posts

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#1324644 14-Jun-2015 21:58

Did all the people suggesting cloud storage forget about 'right click, sharing, share this folder'?

Seriously, why bother with cloud storage or nas's when all they want to do is share some files on the home network? Is there actually a good reason? Backups weren't asked for the OP can just run do backups on the main pc and then be all good to go.

tommywd

15 posts

Geek

#1325242 15-Jun-2015 18:45

Hi @kiwis, the solution is basically to create a homegroup, if all computers in the house are Windows 7 and above. If one of the computers are Vista and below, then you may need to try "workgroup" which is the ancestor of homegroup. You can check out these links below for better understanding, if you haven't done so already.

Networking home computers running different versions of Windows,
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/networking-home-computers-running-different-windows#networking-home-computers-running-different-windows=windows-7

HomeGroup from start to finish,
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/homegroup-help#homegroup-start-to-finish=windows-7&v1h=win81tab1&v2h=win7tab1

I hope you find the above information useful. Cheers! :)

chevrolux

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#1325248 15-Jun-2015 18:55

Homegroup is unnecessary. Homegroup asks too many questions when you have to do is just share a folder and then mount it on another PC for easy access.

Just make a folder called 'Shared Docs', right click it, go to sharing tab and click 'share this folder'. Just checked on 8.1 and it even gives you the directory path to get to that folder on another machine which can be copied to clipboard or even emailed out. Will just need the correct credentials.

Go to 'other' PC, open my computer and 'map network drive'. Copy directory from 'main' pc in to the path, enter credentials and there we go. Easy!!

kiwis

832 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1328254 20-Jun-2015 12:34

Thanks everyone - I have set up a homegroup which achieves the minimum of what I want.

The down side of this is below - what are the options to get around this?

I can't run Apps that are installed on my main machine

Is it possible to login (VPN maybe) and I can see my desktop and run apps that are installed on that machine???

kiwis

832 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1328260 20-Jun-2015 12:50

I've followed this but can't connect even though the IP address is correct (192.168.1.4)
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/9302/use-remote-desktop-to-access-other-computers-on-a-small-office-or-home-network/

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