Possible help for my disabled dad

[threadysparrow]

I am just going to copy and paste what I posted on overclock.net because you guys seem to be a little more knowledgeable and responsive. But the message is pretty much the exact same.

 

To start, my dad lost his leg when he was 17 from a drunk driver. He is 61 now and he can no longer wear the $100,000 fake leg (insurance FTW). So he uses a nice hot rod of a wheelchair to get around and he crawls up and down the steps. It is harder on him to crawl up and down the steps these days. Therefore, he has 3 computers (1 in his room, 1 in the living room, and 1 in the basement) He does financial work and photoshop on the computers. I have a Synology NAS set up on the router and I taught him how to drag files to the cloudstation app, but here's the thing, each file gets numbered because he names them all the same thing and then I have to ask him which one he wants me to overwrite. So basically his files are "HomeFinance1 (1)" "HomeFinance1 (2)" and "HomeFinance2 (1)" and he gets confused as to which ones to use. So I still have to do the work and I just spent nearly $300 on a Diskstation for him that he can't use. Another problem we ran into was that he accidentally overwrote a photoshopped picture of my little niece. The sun was behind her in the photo and he dimmed the sun and edited the lighting. It took him a few hours to do because he is a perfectionist. He saved it in his cloudstation app. He then forgot he saved it and he clicked on the picture on the desktop of his basement computer and overwrote the edited picture accidentally. This sort of crap happens ALL THE TIME with him. He is getting frustrated and so am I.

I think there needs to be something that syncs everything between computers. From the desktop icons and backgrounds to "my documents" and auto-syncs the latest one between computers. That way, people who use multiple computers (for example, a computer at work and a computer at home) can have the same set up and the same documents. That could end the confusion as to which document to use. And if anything goes wrong, like if you didn't want to sync a certain file, it creates 5 days worth of backup copies on both computers of everything that it syncs (or however many days or syncs you want). And this idea isn't too complicated to set up I think. The only thing you will be saving is documents, maybe some gamesaves, photos, desktop configurations, and other little filetypes. Or you can pick and choose what to sync between computers.

I don't know how to actually perform this idea because I know nothing about programming, but I am sure that there is someone out there who is looking for a good idea to start work on. And I honestly believe there is a market for this because there are many households with multiple computers. Do you guys know of any way to help him with this?

[SSOB]

So the people over at overclock.net aren't good enough

 

Honestly i really don't know what to do about this problem i'm so sorry :'(

[Godlygamer23]

I'm thinking of maybe Google Drive?

[JORDANonPC]

I honestly think the best long term solution to stop issues like this is to get your dad to organize his files more carefully and name them better, sorry I couldn't be more help

[helping]

I am just going to copy and paste what I posted on overclock.net because you guys seem to be a little more knowledgeable and responsive. But the message is pretty much the exact same.

 

-stuff-

I believe within Windows there is already a feature to sync designated folders over networked computers on a set time interval. You can also try something like Sugarsync which will automatically sync designed folders in real time unless they're already instanced open in each client computer. If I understand what you're saying, with sugarsync he can circumvent cloud storage completely and the same synced folder on each computer will pretty much be the same folder regardless from which he accesses it from. As for keeping all other settings and icons synced, I'm not sure how to do that one, he could try to install the same software on each and leave the desktop as vanilla as possible, and keeping all data on the computer in sugarsync folders.

 

You could also try having one machine to function as a host and two other low end ones to be used as clients and interface through networking to control the host, thereby creating one machine between three physical ones.

[threadysparrow]

I honestly think the best long term solution to stop issues like this is to get your dad to organize his files more carefully and name them better, sorry I couldn't be more help

No it's ok. I tried but he is like an old dog with a bone. I went ahead and made sure that he understands that his upstairs PC is his primary PC and anything he wants to do that is important he needs to do it from that PC. I told him that every time he messes with his finances on excel that he needs to put a number by the name of the saved file so then it will sync without him needing to mess with it the hard way.

[threadysparrow]

I believe within Windows there is already a feature to sync designated folders over networked computers on a set time interval. You can also try something like Sugarsync which will automatically sync designed folders in real time unless they're already instanced open in each client computer.

 

You could also try having one machine to function as a host and two other low end ones to be used as clients and interface through networking to control the host, thereby creating one machine between three physical ones.

How would I do sync designated folders?

[Vitalius]

I believe within Windows there is already a feature to sync designated folders over networked computers on a set time interval. You can also try something like Sugarsync which will automatically sync designed folders in real time unless they're already instanced open in each client computer. If I understand what you're saying, with sugarsync he can circumvent cloud storage completely and the same synced folder on each computer will pretty much be the same folder regardless from which he accesses it from. As for keeping all other settings and icons synced, I'm not sure how to do that one, he could try to install the same software on each and leave the desktop as vanilla as possible, and keeping all data on the computer in sugarsync folders.

 

You could also try having one machine to function as a host and two other low end ones to be used as clients and interface through networking to control the host, thereby creating one machine between three physical ones.

How would I do sync designated folders?

I think what you guys are talking about are Briefcases. Right Click, hover over "New" and you will see a list of new stuff you can make. Briefcase is one of them. 

Essentially, you make a briefcase (which is kind of exactly like a folder) then copy it over the network to the computer you want to sync it with after you put all the files in it you would be updating (in your dad's case, photoshop and finance files). 

Then, you would edit the files on one computer, save them. On the other computer, you would just right click the briefcase and click "Update All" and bam, that briefcase pulls the updated files on the other computer and they are updated accordingly. 

Link to Microsoft's page about setting this up and using it.

 

This sounds like something that could actually help you. I hope it does. 

[helping]

How would I do sync designated folders?

When you install sugarsync the software asks you which folders are to be synchronized across which computers. Do note there is a data limit (5.25gb) to how much you can have synced at once if you use it as a free service, it is also over the internet and not over your network.

You might want to look into what @Vitalius said about brief cases.

[delet my acc pls]

I don't know alot about but a NAS might work but @Vitalius option is probably cheapest and best

[GoodBytes]

[double post and correct itself, and deleted the original.. wonderful!]

[GoodBytes]

For the stairs, you have stair lifts/elevators like this that you can get:

 

For his files:

 -> Why not setup simply a network drive. You can also link your Document, Pictures, and so on folder in it as well. It's simple and does the job. A solid, fast, reliable network connection is required though, if you want the same feel as if the files are local on your computer, in terms of speed.

 

 -> If you need syn over the internet, then you have SkyDrive, which makes a folder on your PC, which will sync all files inside between computers, over LAN or internet.

[threadysparrow]

For the stairs, you have stair lifts/elevators like this that you can get:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYFcu1x1IdE

 

For his files:

 -> Why not setup simply a network drive. You can also link your Document, Pictures, and so on folder in it as well. It's simple and does the job. A solid, fast, reliable network connection is required though, if you want the same feel as if the files are local on your computer, in terms of speed.

 

 -> If you need syn over the internet, then you have SkyDrive, which makes a folder on your PC, which will sync all files inside between computers, over LAN or internet.

he doesn't want to spend the money on one of those and our insurance doesn't consider it necessary. But I went ahead and set up a briefcase and that seemed to work for him

[J-man]

You may also want to take a look at syncback.  I have not tried your specific configuration but at a quick glance there does appear to be some documentation on a similar setup.  I only have it setup to back up my mother's files to an external hdd.  She cannot delete anything off the external drive.  I think you can setup up permissions for modified files as well.

[threadysparrow]

thanks for the help everyone