syncing 2 PC's to one external HDD

Amp34 · 5 Oct 2008 at 14:04

Is it possible to sync two PC's to one HDD at the same time (ish)?

Following on from a previous thread here I was wondering if it is possible to connect two computers to a single external drive (one via USB and another via firewire) and backup without having to unplug one or the other.

helmutcheese · 5 Oct 2008 at 14:11

Hmm, this got asked 2x before and I think there was some issue doing so.

You can try SEARCH with keywords of your choice.

fobose · 5 Oct 2008 at 15:09

You can only use the USB or firewire interface seperatly, not both at the same time. It might be easier for you to download a free program called "Allway sync" and sync your PC to the other PC over the lan, and then sync the first PC to the external drive.

Amp34 · 6 Oct 2008 at 13:30

Hmmm ok well that sounds like a NAS box is my only option then.

Pandobear · 6 Oct 2008 at 15:23

It is possible to do this very easily so long as the two computers are already networked. You simply attach the external drive to which ever machine is easier then right click over it and select 'share'. Any machine on your network can then read or write data to it, so long as the host machine is on. This is likely to be significantly faster than any of the 'home' type NAS solutions

Amp34 · 6 Oct 2008 at 17:38

That's the problem, one of the main reasons I want an external HDD is so I can access data from both PC's when the other is off. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Tomsk · 6 Oct 2008 at 18:25

Try daisychaining the PCs and drive using Firewire.

ie PC1 -> PC2 -> HD

When I did it (a couple of years ago) the HD remained visible to PC1 even when PC2 was off.

Danger Phoenix · 6 Oct 2008 at 18:32

Can't you get something like this:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp... Gigabit Ethernet NAS Hard Drive (WDG1NC5000E)

Tomsk · 6 Oct 2008 at 18:59

Danger Phoenix said:
Can't you get something like this:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp... Gigabit Ethernet NAS Hard Drive (WDG1NC5000E)

He could, but they're slow.
max read ~7Mbytes/sec, write ~5Mb/sec, compared to a USB drive which will >20Mbytes/sec, and FW should be even faster.

K.C. Leblanc · 6 Oct 2008 at 21:49

How about connecting it to one PC with USB and then sharing it over a network connection to the other PC.

Danger Phoenix · 7 Oct 2008 at 05:53

K.C. Leblanc said:
How about connecting it to one PC with USB and then sharing it over a network connection to the other PC.

How about bothering to read the thread mate?

Amp34 said:
That's the problem, one of the main reasons I want an external HDD is so I can access data from both PC's when the other is off. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Amp34 · 7 Oct 2008 at 14:38

Ok well i've decided i'll just go for an external HDD and see how it goes.

Is the WD Mybook Home the best bet for a good external HDD?

Hmmm, having a look at http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-167-MD it says it has multiple comuter sync, is that software? :confused:

Tomsk · 7 Oct 2008 at 17:46

Amp34 said:
Hmmm, having a look at http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-167-MD it says it has multiple comuter sync, is that software?

Yes. It means it 'remembers' what each PC backs up.

Amp34 · 9 Oct 2008 at 15:41

Tomsk said:
Yes. It means it 'remembers' what each PC backs up.

Cool, thanks.

Well I've just gone the complete opposite and got a Icy Box and 1TB Samsung F1. Going to replace one of my 250GB Hitachi's with the F1 and use the old drive as a backup for my important stuff.

For syncing documents between my PCs, which I wanted to do to begin with, i've found Microsoft Mesh which seems to do that well. Not quite the solution I wanted but good enough at the moment, and all cheaper than a 1TB Mybook.