Another network help thread

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by HOOT

Is it pretty normal for it to take a little bit longer to open and save documents like Word/Excel when I have them open on my laptop but the file is in my external HD on my desktop?

Probably a stupid question but just want to make sure I got it set up correct.

Yes. A little bit of network latency, and more than likely the external HD powers down when not in use, so you wait a second or two for it to spin up again. Completely normal.

[Rathji]

Yeah, especially if it is a USB drive.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

Yes. A little bit of network latency, and more than likely the external HD powers down when not in use, so you wait a second or two for it to spin up again. Completely normal.

Yay! Everything seems to be working great so far!

So far I have enjoyed having the option to use the same files on either computer. Before it was a pain in the butt having to transfer it with a flash drive or even worse if the laptop was off and I needed something, having to turn it on and wait. I know, I know I'm impatient but it can be annoying.

Printer is working on both computers and adding or deleting shared folders is amazingly easy. I swear it was never that easy with XP.

Thanks again everyone for the help!

[HOOT]

Now without making to to complicated are there are any good/easy programs so I can remotely access stuff when I am outside of my home with my laptop?

I don't know how much I would use it but if there is a nice option out there I wouldn't mind looking into it. Thanks!

[Rathji]

Dropbox with a folder inside your shared drive is a good way for smaller files. The free version supports up to 3 gigs. That 2 gigs to start, and 250mb as incentives for inviting people (this is why the link is a referral link). If you do sign up via that link, you also get an extra 250mb. There is also a paid version for $10 a month that gives you 50 gigs of space.

Drop box will automatically synch everything that goes into it. You can access the files on any computer with it installed, or through a web interface on the site.

I use dropbox for every assignment I do. It provides a small measure of 'offsite backup' with the ability to retrieve old versions of files. You can also use it to host photos for posting online, just put the pic into your public folder and get the link for it from the web interface.

For larger files, you could set up a server in 'the cloud' with a shared drive that you could access. Amazon, Rackspace are a couple providers that are pretty cheap. You only pay for the space you use, but I have never done anything with them to know exactly how it works

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Dropbox with a folder inside your shared drive is a good way for smaller files. The free version supports up to 3 gigs. That 2 gigs to start, and 250mb as incentives for inviting people (this is why the link is a referral link). If you do sign up via that link, you also get an extra 250mb. There is also a paid version for $10 a month that gives you 50 gigs of space.

Drop box will automatically synch everything that goes into it. You can access the files on any computer with it installed, or through a web interface on the site.

Perfect! I would only want to use it for a few Word/Excel documents here and there so even 250MB would have been enough!

I owe you a beer!

[HOOT]

This Dropbox program is perfect for what I need it for! Thanks again.

I try googling this stuff and not one piece of helpful information comes up so I'm glad CP is here to save the day.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Dropbox with a folder inside your shared drive is a good way for smaller files. The free version supports up to 3 gigs. That 2 gigs to start, and 250mb as incentives for inviting people (this is why the link is a referral link). If you do sign up via that link, you also get an extra 250mb. There is also a paid version for $10 a month that gives you 50 gigs of space.

Drop box will automatically synch everything that goes into it. You can access the files on any computer with it installed, or through a web interface on the site.

I use dropbox for every assignment I do. It provides a small measure of 'offsite backup' with the ability to retrieve old versions of files. You can also use it to host photos for posting online, just put the pic into your public folder and get the link for it from the web interface.

For larger files, you could set up a server in 'the cloud' with a shared drive that you could access. Amazon, Rackspace are a couple providers that are pretty cheap. You only pay for the space you use, but I have never done anything with them to know exactly how it works

Damn! You beat me to it.

The things you can do with Dropbox are mindblowing.

Here are some things I do or have tested:

1. Pay for one machine to be backed up offsite with Mozy. Stuff in Dropbox gets synced back to the one machine running Mozy, which promptly uploads it there for offsite long term archival. So all my documents on both my desktop and my laptop are covered by one Mozy account.

2. Running a small webserver at home - symlink one of the webserver folders into Dropbox. Now, I can edit the site from anywhere, the changes sync back via Dropbox and the website automagically updates without having WebDAV, FTP, or any other services running

3. Turned iPhoto into a multi-machine, multi-user app. All my Macs have the identical iPhoto library now.

[HOOT]

I've only been using the network and Dropbox for less than 24hrs but holy smokes it has already made my life easier when working on certain projects I don't have to worry about having that file on the actual computer I am working on.

Beautiful stuff guy!

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by ken0042

We have our home printer setup the way Rathji says in #1 above- and yes we shut down the main PC at night and then it's usually the first one powered on in the morning.

The only oddity is this- make sure all devices are connected through the same router. We find it sometimes takes a couple of minutes to print if everything isn't on the same router.

Just out of curiosity, why do you have more than 1 router on your network? Why not 1 router and a bunch of switches?

[HOOT]

Question about DropBox: If I am working on a document while offline but save it to my DropBox will it just automatically update once I get back on an internet connection? Or does it get all screwy?

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by HOOT

Question about DropBox: If I am working on a document while offline but save it to my DropBox will it just automatically update once I get back on an internet connection? Or does it get all screwy?

Will automatically update. Will also auto-rename files that have conflicting versions

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

Will automatically update. Will also auto-rename files that have conflicting versions

Awesome! I tend to bring my lap top when I am traveling but can't always have internet so it is nice to know.

[Shazam]

Welcome to the previous decade

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Welcome to the previous decade

Shush you! I'm a little behind on this internetz thing. It wasn't until 2006 I signed up for my first message board.