Hard drive network

[DarshanDash]

I couldn't find the right place for this 

 

Hi

So I been thinking about this. I want to have the ability to connect to my files / games / music / drives from my home desktop and also laptop. Is that possible? What I mean is if I create a new word document on my laptop I also have it on my desktop , when I install Microsoft office it's also on the desktop simultaneously when I install on the laptop... Does this make sense or is it anyway possible

[Mug]

Yes, Microsoft OneDrive is great for this. You can set it up to sync all your user folders across PCs and have the same experience on both.

Free student membership or a low monthly fee, 1TB of space.

[Donut417]

11 hours ago, DarshanDash said:

ability to connect to my files / games / music / drives from my home desktop and also laptop. Is that possible?

Sharing Docs, Music and Pics is easy. You can create a network share on either machine or invest in a Network Attached Storage unit. I have a 4 bay Qnap unit. Then you just Map the network drives on you computer. As long as the data you need is stored on your network storage, any machine with access to that drive will have access to those files. Great example, I have a Laptop that runs Plex media server, however all my movies, TV shows and DVR recordings are all stored on my NAS. These files are accessible to any device on my network. 

 

On the other hand you can do what @Mug suggested. Use some kind of cloud storage service. The pro's of this is its generally easy to set up. You just install the software on both machines and set up what folders you want Synced. Also if your running Windows then you already have One Drive. The cons of this is the data is stored on a company server some wheres, so if its sensitive data you may not want that. 

 

11 hours ago, DarshanDash said:

install Microsoft office it's also on the desktop simultaneously when I install on the laptop... Does this make sense or is it anyway possible

With a lot of software you buy a licence for each machine and you have to install it on each machine separately. Some software doesn't require an install and will work just fine, but remember this. You hard disk is connected via sata most likely and has a max speed of 5 Gbps, your network is only operating at 1 Gbps, unless you have faster gear that costs shit loads of money. So to conclude, Network storage is good for data but not really designed to run full fledged software. 

[DarshanDash]

9 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Sharing Docs, Music and Pics is easy. You can create a network share on either machine or invest in a Network Attached Storage unit. I have a 4 bay Qnap unit. Then you just Map the network drives on you computer. As long as the data you need is stored on your network storage, any machine with access to that drive will have access to those files. Great example, I have a Laptop that runs Plex media server, however all my movies, TV shows and DVR recordings are all stored on my NAS. These files are accessible to any device on my network. 

 

On the other hand you can do what @Mug suggested. Use some kind of cloud storage service. The pro's of this is its generally easy to set up. You just install the software on both machines and set up what folders you want Synced. Also if your running Windows then you already have One Drive. The cons of this is the data is stored on a company server some wheres, so if its sensitive data you may not want that. 

 

With a lot of software you buy a licence for each machine and you have to install it on each machine separately. Some software doesn't require an install and will work just fine, but remember this. You hard disk is connected via sata most likely and has a max speed of 5 Gbps, your network is only operating at 1 Gbps, unless you have faster gear that costs shit loads of money. So to conclude, Network storage is good for data but not really designed to run full fledged software. 

Funny thing I don't have a hard drive *chuckles* my HDD died long ago so I have 2 SSD's acting as my HDD on the desktop. But yeah I understand your point this sounds like a costly implementation but I'm a productive person I do work sometimes away from home. Is there a video or some sort Linus had done something like this? Or anyone else?

[Donut417]

1 minute ago, DarshanDash said:

Funny thing I don't have a hard drive *chuckles* my HDD died long ago so I have 2 SSD's acting as my HDD on the desktop. But yeah I understand your point this sounds like a costly implementation but I'm a productive person I do work sometimes away from home. Is there a video or some sort Linus had done something like this? Or anyone else?

As I said you CANT run software off a network drive. At least not to my knowledge. And MS office definitely wont work in the type of way. You will have to purchase 2 licenses for Office. Plain and simple. The easiest way to share data would be Cloud storage, as I said before One Drive is built in to Windows 10. So your covered there. If you dont want your data in the hands of a cloud provider then get a NAS. You should be able to set up a VPN connection between your mobile computer and your home network. Remember though how well this setup works remotely depends on the ISP's on both ends. 

 

If Linus did this project he probably build a file server or something. While you can do that, FreeNAS or Unraid work for this purpose or some Linux distro. This would be more expensive. If all your looking for is simple storage I think cloud or NAS storage would be good enough. The only other thing would be the VPN to access your data remotely. I dont exactly know what your going to need. Because Im not talking VPN like Tunnel bear Im talking about creating your own. 

 

Cloud Storage: 

Pros:

1. Easy to use
2. Built in to Windows 10
3. No extensive setup required 
4. Most likely the data is stored on enterprise grade hardware and is backed up regularly. 
5. Probably faster, due to the fact your limited by only one ISP as in the one your connected to at that time

Cons:

1. Cost (If you need little data you can get it for free) 
2. Having to trust a big corp with your data

NAS

Pros:

1. Depending on model its expandable. I have a 4 bay system currently, populated with 2 drives 
2. More options. I can for instance run Plex, a VPN server and do other things 
3. Data is secure in your hands 

Cons:

1. Cost, I paid a pretty penny for mine
2. Setup can be extensive, especially if you want remote access 
3. Your responsible for backing up the data 
4. Your ISP, upload speeds are limited on many providers, so lets just say remote access the experience might not be good.

[Alex Atkin UK]

Technically Linus ALREADY does this, all the editors have access to the central server where the video files are stored.

 

There's no point doing it for games though, just as easy to install them manually on both PCs.  I mean technically you CAN share a Steam, UPlay, Origin folder between multiple PCs - but that's going to be much slower than having the games installed on an SSD locally.

 

For quicker installs you CAN copy the game files from one PC to another over the network, which also means you could use some sort of software to synchronise your game directories.  But personally I tend to keep different libraries of games between my desktop and laptop, with a little bit of crossover, so manually manage them.

For other files this is literally what a NAS or Windows File sharing is for.  The catch being that the machine storing the files has to remain on.

[DarshanDash]

1 hour ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

Technically Linus ALREADY does this, all the editors have access to the central server where the video files are stored.

 

There's no point doing it for games though, just as easy to install them manually on both PCs.  I mean technically you CAN share a Steam, UPlay, Origin folder between multiple PCs - but that's going to be much slower than having the games installed on an SSD locally.

 

For quicker installs you CAN copy the game files from one PC to another over the network, which also means you could use some sort of software to synchronise your game directories.  But personally I tend to keep different libraries of games between my desktop and laptop, with a little bit of crossover, so manually manage them.

For other files this is literally what a NAS or Windows File sharing is for.  The catch being that the machine storing the files has to remain on.

What if it's video editing, Photoshop? Is the same concept as you and donut mentioned? Cloud storage? 

For example , I wanna edit a video with exported footage on a laptop right and then when I arrive home I still have that same exact format , footage I'm editing so I don't have to redo the exporting and sequence of my video. If it's the same as you guys mentioned then I'll understand