Using windows home sever to automatically transfer files?

baldzone

baldzone

baldzone

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I'm getting fed up with manually transferring files from one PC to my laptop and visa versa. I work from both machines and each time I edit files on one, either at home, or away, I have to manually transfer the files across.

Is it possible to set up WHS to have an automatic transfer folder? If so, how?

Both laptop and PC are running Vista.

Thanks in advance!
 
You could get/write a small script that compares the two sets of files and will copy the newer ones over the top of the older ones. It's not an ideal solution, but I guess it would work. I don't know of any software that can do syncing, but admittedly I've never had to use any.

If you don't find any, I could easily write the script for you. I think.
 
baldzone said:
Pretend I'm a total noob at scripts (!). How would that work and what would be required to get it to work?
Click to expand...

What I was thinking is you'd have it on the server and each time you wanted to sync, you'd make sure that both computers were switched on and run the script on the server. This would then compare the modified date on the sets of files on each machine and copy the newer files over the top of the old files.

There's bound to be a better solution and a piece of software that can manage this for you, but it's an option if you can't find one that's free/affordable.

Edit: The above solution looks quite good. :)
 
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Dropbox or a Robocopy script that runs on your main computer and can be made to make sure that both target folders are exact mirrors of each other.

I'd be happy to knock up a Robocopy script for you if you want to email me on my trust email address. I'll have to get some info from you to get the script working. :)
 
What about Microsoft's Live Mesh? MS are planning to include WHS support at some point (although it might only be in Vail). I use it to sync personal software projects between my work laptop and home machines.
 
I like the idea of dropbox. The only thing I'm concerned about is the information is senstive and am wary about it being stored in the 'cloud'.

I'm going to have a look at Live mesh and will be interested in the robocopy script! May be in touch , Marc :)

Thanks for the info guys :)
 
baldzone said:
I like the idea of dropbox. The only thing I'm concerned about is the information is senstive and am wary about it being stored in the 'cloud'.
Click to expand...

Dropbox data is encrypted using a 256bit key.
It would be reasonable to assume that any other reputable offline storage system will also be encrypted.
 
I'm just trying Sync Toy from Microsoft. Seems to be adequate and does what I need. Looks like I'll be sticking with that for now.

I'd rather it was automatic when I powered up the machines but I guess you can't have everything!
 
Create a file called Sync.vbs and put it in the Startup folder in the Start Menu of each machine. Then paste the following in to Sync.vbs (making the change mentioned below):

Code: 
Set wShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
wShell.Run """C:\Program Files\SyncToy 2.0 Beta\SyncToyCmd.exe -R"""

The path here is copied from something I found on the web, you'll need to modify that to suit the version that you have. Give that a try and let me know how it goes. :)
 
Before I have a go at that script, what will happen if the server isn't on when the script runs? Will it just be a case of receiving an error message?
 
You'll also need SyncToy which is pointless.

Code: 
Robocopy sourcefolder destinationfolder /s /MIR

Put that in a text file and rename it file-copy.bat or whatever. When you are done working on a machine, run that .bat and it will mirror it to the other machine.

Use the same script on the other machine [with source and destination reversed obviously].
 
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