Syncing files locally from a NAS

[Lankyman]

Difficult to know where to put this post. I am going to purchase a Synology NAS to use in conjunction with my iMac, my Windows Laptop and my iPad2. From what I have heard and read the Synology is a good product. Now this is my question - my wife is the worst person ever at keeping her documents current and synchronised. She's always bending my ear complaining that the document she had completed on the iMac isn't available on the Laptop. When I explain (or try to explain) why she shuts off and simply asks me to fix it?

Anyway I digress so back to the question. My idea is that when we create a document and save it to the NAS is there an easy way without copying and pasting/dragging for the same document to be automatically saved locally as well either on the Laptop or the iMac when either one is subsequently switched on? I know I don't really need to and perhaps it is overkill but I'm simply trying to save myself some grief.

 

[kolax]

Heard of Dropbox?

Probably a better solution, and means that when she uses the laptop out and about, she won't have to try and connect to your NAS on your network to access her files.

Dropbox is free (2GB allowance), and effortless to keep in sync. You get a Dropbox folder that you can place on your desktop, and anything that is in that folder gets synced without you having to do anything.

Downside would be if she was dealing with large files (depends on your internet bandwidth), something larger than 50MB, as it would get uploaded to Dropbox's servers each time she edits it.

 

[Lankyman]

Heard of Dropbox?

Probably a better solution, and means that when she uses the laptop out and about, she won't have to try and connect to your NAS on your network to access her files.

Dropbox is free (2GB allowance), and effortless to keep in sync. You get a Dropbox folder that you can place on your desktop, and anything that is in that folder gets synced without you having to do anything.

Downside would be if she was dealing with large files (depends on your internet bandwidth), something larger than 50MB, as it would get uploaded to Dropbox's servers each time she edits it.

The other downside is that due to her work the files are of a sensitive nature and she would not be allowed by her work to store them in the cloud. No what she wants is to have a NAS also store the files on the local HD's of the respective devices.

 

[pcconvert]

Try chronosync WITH the agent. I use it although I invoke sync manually. It should have some automatic mode too. One machine has chrono agent, the main has chronosync.

 

[kolax]

The other downside is that due to her work the files are of a sensitive nature and she would not be allowed by her work to store them in the cloud. No what she wants is to have a NAS also store the files on the local HD's of the respective devices.

If she isn't allowed to store them in a 3rd party cloud, I'm surprised she'd be allowed to store them on a home network's storage/cloud.

Doesn't her work have a cloud option she can use?

 

[coolspot18]

Difficult to know where to put this post. I am going to purchase a Synology NAS to use in conjunction with my iMac, my Windows Laptop and my iPad2. From what I have heard and read the Synology is a good product. Now this is my question - my wife is the worst person ever at keeping her documents current and synchronised.

Synology DSM 4.0 will support Dropbox like syncing. In fact you can download the beta and use it on your new Synology NAS when you get it

http://www.synology.com/dsm/dsm4.0_beta.php

"Automatic sync
Whether you are at home or outdoor, your PC always carries important files with the latest versions in a single folder. For that, Cloud Station does the work for you. It may looks like any other folder on your PC, but the Cloud Station folder is actually a private cloud that always prepares itself up-to-date. Cloud Station pushes files, songs, and photos to any PC that you are working on, and syncs automatically."

 

[Lankyman]

Synology DSM 4.0 will support Dropbox like syncing. In fact you can download the beta and use it on your new Synology NAS when you get it

http://www.synology.com/dsm/dsm4.0_beta.php

"Automatic sync
Whether you are at home or outdoor, your PC always carries important files with the latest versions in a single folder. For that, Cloud Station does the work for you. It may looks like any other folder on your PC, but the Cloud Station folder is actually a private cloud that always prepares itself up-to-date. Cloud Station pushes files, songs, and photos to any PC that you are working on, and syncs automatically."

That sounds positive, thanks. My wife keeps a very tidy home but she's a nightmare with computers and files. When she can't find a file (which is often) she then tells me in an irritated voice that I'm always being too clever with our computers and because of this it's my fault?