Back 'OFF' of NETWORKING - Sharing drives, folders etc...

The legacy lives on!

Since I can take my dongle to any machine, I am now thinking of setting up at least one XP machine (due to NTFS, windows XP is relatively stable compared to past OS’s) but may also set up another using teleport.

I actually would like to set up a server farm based on Windows 7, which is even more stable on modern hardware but that would require VST System Link and another license, the latter of which I am hoping to potentially acquire an old C6.5.5 license (on XP 5.5.3) due to the fact of the last two Cubase versions being feature complete and fully stable on supported OS’s.

Hi Steve, congratulations of figuring out all this “stuff”. I am enjoying reading about your progress. Now your gonna have to stopover !

Have you “shared” the Drives and Folders? Once they are properly shared and the security set there should be no problems manipulating files and folders between machines, Also, if they are in different locations, you can use Remote Desktop Connection to logon to a remote machine in order to change settings etc.

If you really want to do a server farm to access data secure and without a need for a powerful box. You should try Linux (Red Hat is what I used)It is great and both mac and pc can access the data with no headaches. And no Virus ever!

Bah.

Buy a cheap router, no WiFi needed though I think it’s so ubiquitous that you can’t buy a router without WiFi any more, and connect both computers to it. You do not need to have access to the Internet to use this.

The great thing is that you can, in the future, by a dedicated SAN (Synology is my brand of choice), and plug it into the router so that you don’t have to worry about sharing drives on either computer for the purposes of file storage.

You mean a NAS? Never heard of SAN :confused:

But you are right. He MUST have meant NAS. SAN is definitely too heavy, complicated and expensive solution for this kind of application.

Yeah, I meant NAS. They are, functionally speaking, essentially the same thing.

I have the Synology DS110j with an internal 2TB drive. It’s amazing. The operating system it runs seems to be some variant of Linux.

Since I do have my computers connected to the 'net, I have my entire 25G set of ripped CDs on that drive. That plus my unlimited data plan (courtesy of my employer) plus Synology’s DS Audio iOS app means I stream my music directly from home rather than store it on the phone. Between that and Pandora I’m good to go as far as music is concerned. I do a lot of driving for work so this has been a life saver.

From a more practical perspective, Synology produces other apps too. DS File allows me to navigate the directory structure on the NAS and email them, etc. And, connected via No-IP, I can do the same via any Internet connected computer, i.e. I login to the NAS and can access music, files, etc.

The NAS has a number of software packages (for free) that you can install, many of which are built by Synology but some by 3rd parties: web servers, Wordpress, full blown CRM applications, etc. I could theoretically run an entire business with this device. The NAS is also DNLA compliant, so I can stream music through my Sony Blu-ray player and from that to my Sony At Home network for music around the house.

The device itself cost me $150, but it doesn’t come with any actual storage. You buy an internal drive of your choice and install it yourself. The installation took me 15 minutes. Best investment of my life.

May I also add the Synologies are great for “sharing” projects over the internet since it has Cloud capabilities. I have a couple myself. I have also deployed them at various businesses/home offices. I run my own websites off of my main synology and use my old one as a backup of the main one. I have it sync every weekend then I put in the trunk of my car for “off-site” backup in case of disaster. I also have my PC’s sync daily. So in my scenario I should never lose any data for any reason, even if my house burns down.

Steve, the NAS system I am using here at the house. It works wonderfully including over the Internet without tying up the computer. I can watch movies ripped to the 3tb drive on th iPhone or iPad and view or listen to anything planted on that drive. Mine is western digital and the prices have dropped significantly, my son has an even larger setup and is amazing in function. At least, look it up…Al

Well, I’m not sure about the later models - the DS110j is no longer made - but my model has space for 2 internal drives in it. I could put 2 3TB drives in it and never need additional storage again…

…then again, I said that when the TRS-80 Model IV came out with 64KB of RAM. :laughing:

WTF? Your neighborhood doesn’t yet have even DSL? Do you live on Mars or something? :frowning:

Is it safe switching a USB drive between computers using a KVM switch? I think you should use the disconnect hardware thingy or you might kill the drive or the files on it if you switch the connection while it’s operational.

Definitely not!

True! USB drive has absolutely no knowledge of “files” or “folders” stored on it. These are handled by operating system of the computer and if 2 computers are trying to access the same USB disk it’s like 2 loggers trying to cut down the same tree without knowing existence of each others: they can only see there’s a tree, but not what is happening to it.

I realize that you don’t have 2 computers using the same drive at the same time, but you are still interrupting a drive while it’s connected to one computer when you make the switch. The whole idea of the ‘safely remove hardware’ dialog is to make sure the OS stops all communication with the drive before you pull the plug (or hit the switch in this case, same result).

See here:

Just make sure the “Quick Removal” policy is selected for the specific USB drive. This ensures that the write caching for the drive is disabled so all writes will complete, and in this case, “Safely Remove Hardware” is not required. :wink:

I had a malignant Strophoid safely removed from my colon last week.

Nate? Is that you?

Strophoids don’t belong in your colon, so good riddance.

If you’re using a more recent version of Windows (snicker), write caching for USB devices is disabled by default. That would make the switch less risky. (No risk if you can be certain that there are no files being written when you make the switch…but you can never be completely certain.)