hello, i dont know if i am using the correct title for this post.. what i have i have 4 computers i use for work that are all in different locations but on the same network. i take a ton of pictures and videos for my job. i would like to be able to store pictures and videos on the server and access the pictures and videos from any of the 4 computers. i also do travel for work and it would be a plus if i could access the server for outside of my network. the reason i need this is because i have different pictures on on all of the computers and would make it easier to consolidate everything on one place and access it from any of the computers.. thanks kwick
A good tool I found to share/synchronize files among multiple devices (computers, phones, different OSes) is Bittorrent Sync. Basically you install the bittorrent sync client and set a folder for sharing. You are then given a private and public key. With the private key, you get read/write access, with the public key only read access. So you can use the private key on all your different machines and they then use bittorrent technology to synchronize the files all accross the devices. http://www.bittorrent.com/sync I started to use it originally to backup my TitaniumBackup Pro backups on my cell phone to my home server. Now I use it for synchronizing quite a few things. It's easy to use and quite powerful and cross-plattform Addon: Another benefit is, that you have a "full copy" on each synced devices. So if you wanna look something up, you don't need first to transfer the file to you from the remote - of course that is only true for the files already syned
this is a great share tool.. my issue was i would like to keep everything in house and not use anything from the outside.. is there something i could use on my server that would do the same thing?
Well, do you have a static IP adresse on your home connection or do you have a server with a static IP somewhere (that you can control)? And what do you mean "keep everything in house"?
yes I do have a static IP at my house and I like to keep everything on one harddrive on one server and be able to share it with all my computers weather the computer is on the network or outside of my network
one option is to setup a VPN where your home server acts as VPN server. That way you can securely mount folders with smb/cifs for example.
i had thought about that but I would like to do something more along the lines of a shared directory on the server and have a shared folder on my computers that are synced with the server directory if that can be done.....
First you say you want to have all files on the server... now you say you want to sync with server directory?
I see how my post can be very confusing. this is my current setup I have a small business I have 3 computers and I use my smartphone. most of my communication with customers is through email and my biggest issue is keeping a current price list for products that I sell on each computer. the prices on a lot of products that I handle change on a daily basis which means I have to change the price list on all four computers just about every day. I would like to be able to keep one price list and access it from all of my computers.. in addition to the price list I also dealing huge amount of photos and videos.it would make my job a lot easier to update 1 folder as opposed to updating each computer with the photos and videos. so I'm really not sure if you would call that a synced Directory to folder or call our a shared folder. I'm just looking for a quicker way to update all the files on all the computers right now it takes about an hour to update all 3 computes it take 10 minutes.. sorry for any confusion
BitTorrent Sync could help here. As said, it syncs "shared" folders to all devices. Meaning you always have a complete set on each devices. E.g. on your home computer you add a few new pictures... if you have wifi/3g/LTE access with your phone and if Bittorrent Sync is running, a little bit later the new photos that you added on your computer will also be synced to your cell phone. Later, you work on another computer and alter that prices list. Once again, the changes will get synced to all connected devices. All you have to do is: 1) Install Bittorrent Sync 2) Share a folder - and get secret passkey 3) Setup Bittorrent Sync on a different device 4) On that different devices share an empty folder and use the secret passkey you've gotten 5) After a short while the syncing progress start
You could also just use an FTP-Server which I would prefer here. If I understand you correctly you're just collecting files you require and rarely edit them, with the exception of your price-list. A Sync Tool has the advantage that 1 You have all files on your local device and don't need to download them, which is good if your network is slow 2 Since the files are local you get thumbnails for them under windows which is in some cases helpfull when dealing with images/videos Disadvantages are 1 You consume disk-space on all of your devices 2 If you are on a foreign PC you'll have to download and install the sync tool Using an FTP server and then mounting the remote folders under Windows/linux has the advantage that 1 You consume disk space on only one machine 2 You can access your files from any PC that has a webbrowser installed 3 Everything is hosted in house. As far as I know bit-torrent clients will still use an external tracker. Disadvanges are 1 If your internet is slow and you need a big file, you have waiting times 2 You don't have thumbnails on mounted folders for your images, videos 3 If you want to edit your files under windows you must first drag them to a local location, like your desktop, edit them, then drop them back in the remote folder. For things like price-lists personaly I preferre Google-Docs. It is not an in house solution but you can edit spreadsheets directly in your browser from any OS and from your Smartphone. I also have a small buisness and use Google docs to generate bills. It features macros which you can use to automatically calculate taxes for your prices which is very handy. You just have to create a template for your bill once and the tax rows are automatically applied to the price you input. You could also consider Google drive for your files which is not in-house but has the advantage that you don't need to run a server. If I recall correctly you get 7GB for free when you open a Google account.
