Windows 'Work Folders' help

IdLikeToBeATree on 16/03/2014 - 21:08

Hey guys just needing a little bit of help here

Currently my office is using SugarSync to sync all our files together so we all have access to the same updated files on our computers (that we can also access offline)

Sugarsync is kind of expensive though and just saw this Work Folders in windows 8.1

Basically we need to have the files on one computer/storage device and have it always pushing updated files to each of our computers when there is a change. We don't really need to be able to access updated files whilst we aren't connected to the internet, but we do need them when we are offline.

Would work folders do what we want? Or can anyone suggest a better way of going about it.

Currently their is about 25gb in files

Thanks!

Computing

Comments

  • robertm on 17/03/2014 - 00:55
    +1

    Are you using a client server network or peer to peer? If client server what server are you using?

    • IdLikeToBeATree on 17/03/2014 - 00:59

      Not sure what you mean sorry. At the moment we only have sugarsync installed on all the computers and it does all the work

      • Davo1111 on 17/03/2014 - 01:15

        Hes asking if you have a physical server somewhere, so i guess not.

        Is everyone in the same office? Do you have a tech guy? Do you have a good isp? Do you have a good network? (hardwired?)

        How many people are you trying to connect at once? As far as i can see, sugarsync only offers a maximum of 3 users, so beware they could cancel your account for breaching ToS

        • IdLikeToBeATree on 17/03/2014 - 01:23

          Ah yes we don't have our own server, only a small family business.

          Everyone is in the same office, mostly wired with 1 laptop though that can be wired if necessary not a big deal. Currently a maximum of 4 people using it at the same time. (I didn't know about that with sugarsync thanks might have to look into it)

        • Davo1111 on 17/03/2014 - 01:44

          Sounds like using a cloud storage option would be most suitable. There are heaps of brands available, just search "cloud storage enterprise"

          Carbonite is pretty well regarded, but is quite expensive. Have a look at things like dropbox, mozy, box etc etc

          How much are you currently paying for sugarsync? Google suggests you're paying $300/year (for 3 people) + $10/year for each additional computer.

          Drop box is $10/user/month for 100GB. With 5 computers, that's a lot more expensive.

          Box is $5/user/month for 100GB which seems more reasonable.

          Sounds like you'll need to do some comparing.

          Keep in mind the cheapest might not be the best. You don't want a cloud storage company to go bust. You should be copying stuff to an external hard drive anyway - we've got ours on a nightly (and weekly) automatic backup.

          Just wanted to emphasise the backup. If someone deletes the folder then resyncs, you "could" lose everything

        • Davo1111 on 17/03/2014 - 02:07
          +1

          oh, and i forgot to mention bittorrent sync. It's free but unproven (beta phase)

          http://www.bittorrent.com/sync

          Explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVI8nP_VbxE

        • IdLikeToBeATree on 17/03/2014 - 08:22

          Thanks for all your help Davo been really informative.

          The delete then sync thing is something that makes me really uncomfortable with syncing but I know sugarsync kind of has a recycle bin in the cloud

          Seems like it might just be easier to stick with sugarsync, I thought that might be the best option but I will check out a couple of others anyway

          Thank you again!

        • Davo1111 on 17/03/2014 - 08:58

          the easiest way to create a backup would be to choose a computer in the office that's generally switched on during the day. Plug in an external hard drive and create 2 folders. Use karens repicator (or any other 'copy' software like synctoy) to copy and replace the sugar sync folder to one of the 2 folders on the drive. Put it on a schedule so say folder A is replaced at midday, and folder b is replaced at 4 pm. meaning the maximum amount of work "lost" could be 3 hrs. (yes to replicate deletions and include subfolders).

          Protip: if you assign a drive letter to the external hdd before setting up the sync, the drive will always take that letter on my computer. And you won't need to worry about other USBs plugged in, taking that drive letter and mucking up the copy. I just choose something that isn't the first 5 or so letters of the alphabet.

          The old company i worked for did, but used 2 hard drives. 1 was at home, 1 was at work, and i swapped them over every week. So if the office burns to the ground, you still have a backup of the previous weeks work. Hard drives are pretty cheap these days (2.5" 500GB samsung drive is $65 at msy)… you could even buy a 64GB usb key for a similar price!

  • Davo1111 on 17/03/2014 - 01:10

    Self Hosted:

    Nas: It appears Qnap does this with their NAS solutions. Imo that's a better solution because you're hosting the server yourself. It appears the other competitors have their own software too.

    Windows Server: Since i can remember, windows have always had the 'make available offline' function for network drives. Not sure if you need a windows server, or just an FTP server.

    Cloud Storage: Plenty of services will offer cloud storage i.e. box.com's enterprise page etc etc Carbonite would be another.

    • IdLikeToBeATree on 17/03/2014 - 01:32

      Thanks will check out Qsnap. Might research the 'make available offline' too as it doesn't seem much different from work folders so should be able to find info easier

      • Davo1111 on 17/03/2014 - 01:46

        unless you're feeling tech savvy, i wouldn't bother getting your own nas device or server. If people want to connect off site, you'll need to set up a domain name and configure port forwarding. It would just be easier to have the software sync everything, particularly for only a few users with very little storage required.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join