Question: Solution 4 accessing client files from 2 locations

[PrintingFools]

We are about to open our 2nd location.
I need to be able to access or client files from both locations.

Right now we have an external hard drive connected to a wireless router. It works really well, as all employees can access a file at anytime and all updates to that file are available to the whole building. There is no downloading and uploading of files....because that eats away at our time

I need to have both buildings / locations able to access the same shared hard drive. Save updates to files with ease.
Any suggestions on a solution.

Thanks Everyone

 

[mazengh]

Are the locations close? Is there a line of sight between the two locations?

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

Google Drive is a cheap solution. $9.99/month/TB is very cheap and it updates instantly. Write a program or get a program that instantly writes files from your "jobs" to Google Drive, and the other computer downloads at the other location. No need to use the website as it is all stored locally.

 

[mattbeals]

Google drive and DropBox use file synchronization which is going to chew up bandwidth. Can you do it? Sure, but I would be mindful of how many users are accessing the sync'ed folders. It could be that you have to constantly upload/download jobs to keep the synchronization to a minimum. But that too comes with its own problems.

Using Windows Server to replicate the data and keep it synchronized is probably the better way to do it. But that involves more than I think you want to five into. But it would be better long term.

 

[PrintingFools]

additional information

additional information

1. no , the location are not close. They are on opposite sides of town.

2. we have dropbox, wetransfer and all the others. But we dont want one location to have to download and then reupload files.

3. Would like the system to perform/act in the same manner as saving to an external hard drive.

 

[tastar]

Another option would be a Synology Disk Station - like the one at this link. It will work at full speed on the local network that it is attached to - and should be faster than an external hard drive. You can also configure it so that it can be accessed remotely at your other location - and its performance will be based on your internet speeds. All of your files will be in one place, and only the second location will be stuck with the upload download speed bottleneck. The Synology brand of NAS is nice because they provide either a 2 year or 3 year warranty (this model is 3 years), they have robust specs, they have a great operating system, they work well with Macs and PCs, their remote access features are great (they support WebDAV - a really simple way of connecting remotely - at least on a Mac), etc.

Tony

 

[steve.weiss]

Is there some reason that no one has suggested VPN into the location that houses the shared drive? Granted it would take a fairly robust internet connection to do it with minimal latency.

 

[mattbeals]

1. no , the location are not close. They are on opposite sides of town.

2. we have dropbox, wetransfer and all the others. But we dont want one location to have to download and then reupload files.

3. Would like the system to perform/act in the same manner as saving to an external hard drive.

Then you really need to build a network infrastructure that will support this business need. Invest in your infrastructure now and it will pay dividends later.