Sharing Libraries and Files - Windows

[Guest]

Hi, I can't seem to get Windows to work with sharing files on a dedicated drive for storage of a computer such as my desktop. So I don't really understand if it's my settings or how different it would be to a server OS if I need a server for sharing. I've never used a server OS before so I'm not sure I would really understand how it would work and whatnot. Is it just my settings, is it possible to share with a dedicated tied drive? 

[dalekphalm]

Hi, I can't seem to get Windows to work with sharing files on a dedicated drive for storage of a computer such as my desktop. So I don't really understand if it's my settings or how different it would be to a server OS if I need a server for sharing. I've never used a server OS before so I'm not sure I would really understand how it would work and whatnot. Is it just my settings, is it possible to share with a dedicated tied drive? 

Hi, can you please start by:

1. Listing the complete hardware specs of the computer in question, and

2. The version of Windows (Eg: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit)

[Guest]

Hi, can you please start by:

1. Listing the complete hardware specs of the computer in question, and

2. The version of Windows (Eg: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit)

Not really sure why you need the hardware specs of my PC put it's on my profile

OS testing both 7 and 8.1

[dalekphalm]

Not really sure why you need the hardware specs of my PC put it's on my profile

OS testing both 7 and 8.1

Which OS is hosting the shared drive? Or are you saying you're testing both?

Hardware specs are important for any discussion involving networking and file storage. It may not be important now, but better to have all the details up front.

[Guest]

Which OS is hosting the shared drive? Or are you saying you're testing both?

Hardware specs are important for any discussion involving networking and file storage. It may not be important now, but better to have all the details up front.

My desktop is running 8.1, I have my laptop setup for dual booting for OS testing so 7 and 8.1 

 

Desktop is hosting the shared drive

 

So it turns out, right clicking the drive, going to properties, sharing tab, advanced sharing settings works for something like this which has solved the problem, but is there a way that I can have sharing for all storage drives and not just the OS without doing that method? I feel like selecting for each and every item doesn't really always fit, yes you can/could use folders, but I'm just making sure. I'm just happy at least this method works, thank you for the idea 

 

edit-

THANK YOU! I just realized how you can share partitions, this could be a pretty effective method for servers

[dalekphalm]

My desktop is running 8.1, I have my laptop setup for dual booting for OS testing so 7 and 8.1 

 

Desktop is hosting the shared drive

 

So it turns out, right clicking the drive, going to properties, sharing tab, advanced sharing settings works for something like this which has solved the problem, but is there a way that I can have sharing for all storage drives and not just the OS without doing that method? I feel like selecting for each and every item doesn't really always fit, yes you can/could use folders, but I'm just making sure. I'm just happy at least this method works, thank you for the idea 

 

edit-

THANK YOU! I just realized how you can share partitions, this could be a pretty effective method for servers

In practice, sharing the "Drives" (Eg: C:\ Drive) or sharing a specific folder, is how it's generally done. Sharing entire partitions? Sure I suppose, but I don't really see the point of sharing a partition itself rather than just the drive letter (Which generally encompasses an entire partition anyway).

Unless I mistake your meaning.

[Guest]

In practice, sharing the "Drives" (Eg: C:\ Drive) or sharing a specific folder, is how it's generally done. Sharing entire partitions? Sure I suppose, but I don't really see the point of sharing a partition itself rather than just the drive letter (Which generally encompasses an entire partition anyway).

Unless I mistake your meaning.

It's hard to explain, it's was just an idea. Are there other methods that can be done for sharing storage drives like that? I do understand that that is the common method, but to keep track of all of those things can get annoying. Which is why I had the idea of a dedicated partition for sharing, but maybe that's just retarded. Idk, I don't know this stuff well 

[dalekphalm]

It's hard to explain, it's was just an idea. Are there other methods that can be done for sharing storage drives like that? I do understand that that is the common method, but to keep track of all of those things can get annoying. Which is why I had the idea of a dedicated partition for sharing, but maybe that's just retarded. Idk, I don't know this stuff well 

I'm just not sure why you think it's annoying?

 

This is how it's generally done.

 

You have, for example, Drive "D:\", which is your data drive.

 

Inside that drive, you have a subfolder called "Shared" (The name is immaterial though - you can call it monkey doodle for all that it matters on the technical side).

 

You then simply share that folder, and any contents inside it, are accessible across the LAN. You could further subdivide the folder, by having subfolders called:

"Music"

"Movies"

"Documents"

"Backup"

etc

 

And sharing each of those individual folders instead. That way, when you're mapping each shared "drive" (folder, in this case), they get their own drive letter.

 

Now, if you have multiple HDD's that you have a ton of shared data all strewn about - that's a different problem. In most cases, people will do one of two things:

1. Organize each HDD as a specific category - eg: Drive D:\ is "Movies", Drive E:\ is "Music", Drive F:\ is "Documents, etc. or,

2. Use drive spanning technology (Eg: RAID Array) to combine all HDD's into one giant volume

 

In option 2, you're essentially just treating all your HDD's as one giant combined HDD, and still using the same sequence as I mentioned at the beginning of the post.

 

You can, of course, share the entire drive (Eg: share entire Drive D:\, instead of "D:\Shared"), but many people do not like doing this, for organizational or security reasons, but it's perfectly doable.

 

Does that sort of clarify things? If you still have questions, maybe this will help you reframe them?