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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    972

    Best Way to share hdd space

    hi all,

    Maybe a suggestion or input would be welcome.

    Scenario:
    1. 5 desktop and a few laptops at an office environtment, some running win xp, some win 7 and some win 8.
    2. Currently storing files at own hdd
    3. Want to have a centralized storage and looking at a few options including a external hdd (nas) or a desktop with large hdd and connect that to the lan
    4. Want to be able to setup specific folders for different users eg finance, admin, etc etc but also need a public folder
    5 will also be adding printers to this network

    What do you think is the most economical way of doing this?

    All input much appreciated
    Roi

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    United States, MI
    Posts
    769
    Windows File Sharing
    Steven Crothers
    No BS cloud engineer and Red Hat architect.

  3. #3
    How about using Google Drive? Create a folder and share it with everyone.

    I know it will have less storage than hard drive but it is also an option you can use.
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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    London
    Posts
    261
    If it's an office environment would recommend a NAS drive with Raid. Something like a Synology Drive would suit you as it has and easy to use ACL interface.
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    972
    @jani i did think about google drive but due to the nature of the internet, i would rather have things offline but thank you for your suggestion.

    @eria thank you, would look into that
    Roi

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    USA, UK, Singapore
    Posts
    3,481
    If you need it offline with control over your server, I'd agree with suggestion above of setting up NAS - you can also consider owncloud.
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  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    10
    It really depends on your budget, but assuming you don't want to buy something like NetApp, I would recommend the free version of Nexenta which goes up to 18TB RAW.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Under Your Skin
    Posts
    5,904
    Quote Originally Posted by rois View Post
    hi all,

    Maybe a suggestion or input would be welcome.

    Scenario:
    1. 5 desktop and a few laptops at an office environtment, some running win xp, some win 7 and some win 8.
    2. Currently storing files at own hdd
    3. Want to have a centralized storage and looking at a few options including a external hdd (nas) or a desktop with large hdd and connect that to the lan
    4. Want to be able to setup specific folders for different users eg finance, admin, etc etc but also need a public folder
    5 will also be adding printers to this network

    What do you think is the most economical way of doing this?

    All input much appreciated
    I would suggest windows home server. But heck, I'm not sure it will work with Windows 10. I'd guess it would, but I don't know for sure.

    For such a small network, I'd more than likely go simple and install a Windows 8.1 computer and share the folders. I'd call it a "server" and be done with it.

    Why windows 8.1? Well, then you can automatically backup the files to something like OneDrive (I encrypt and zip my files to OneDrive). Plus, locally, you can use "file history" and keep backups of your files for a certain period of time (to find quickly).

    But I'm with some of the other people on here, if you can go offsite, you might seriously look at Office 365 and the available sharepoint services... SharePoint is great since you can lock files or even have files where two or more people can work on them at the same time, etc.

    It is off-site and some businesses (even my small business) can't or don't want to make that step. I support SharePoint for a company and build solutions for others, but I don't use it for myself (oddly enough). It is a great product.

    There are so many options... guess you might want to ask yourself why you need to change as well. Nothing you pick will be perfect... see if what you have is good enough.

    Last important line: whatever you do, get an off-site backup... automated is preferable. Like I said, I zip my files to onedrive (encrypted with a very long password) since I have unlimited space. I have maybe 600 GB of backups there now.

    Good luck to you... nice you want to improve your office.
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  9. #9
    i dont think that anyone have a clear idea on it..i dont get anyone idea...i think its quiet simple...buy a hard disk or a computer and connect the computers hard disk with the rest of the computers...

  10. #10
    You can make a local server and make it to be the main host and connect all the other devices to it.
    You can store your data in the main server and the clients will be able to view the data.
    Best of luck

  11. #11
    You can connect laptops and desktop via ethernet to router or via wifi then share main system drive but be careful to set rules what other can do or not unless anyone can delete important file accidentally.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Lucknow
    Posts
    12
    First make one computer a server. Then share its DISK to all computers in office. In this way you will be able to mange your files without hiccups.

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