In message , Mike Rivers
writes
I guess I'm not there, yet. I'll admit that I've had some inconsistencies
with WinXP networking too, for years, which I've never fixed. I can only
transfer files in one direction between one pair of computers. I can't
get a
file from A to B from B, but I can send the file on A from A to B.
I used to do a lot of work with small networks, and still have my workgroup
setup here with a bunch of laptops and desktops with different OS's - W2k,
XP, 7, 8, Ubuntu and CentOS.
With the Windows machines, they all need to be set up with the same
workgroup name, username and password, and they can be set to login
automatically (instructions for the various OS's on the web) or not, as
appropriate.
Then, it is crucial to work with real directories that match across the
machines. Here, if I have a second data partition or drive (eg D
I set
up a Media directory off the root, and then have sub directories for
video, audio pics etc. The audio directory is then subdivided into my
sessions, test files, general audio and so on.
I also always have a "Download" directory off the root to hold audio apps,
utilities and all the other junk I download. Subdirectories here include
AudioApps,AudioEquip, Drivers and so on.
If the machine only has a C: drive, the same directory structure is set up
on the C drive.
These 2 main directories are set up for full sharing, and I have none of
this homegroup or other nonsense.
With this system, I've been working on a way of backing up automatically
to a Linux machine with drives with the same directory structure using
SyncToy and Task Scheduler, which makes this operation relatively basic,
simple and free. With this, I make the Media backup directory cumulative
and universal, but backup the" Download" to individual machine specific
backup directories and make them sync with the machines.
Unless you have more than one user, there is no point in getting real
things like audio mixed up in "Users" or "Documents and Settings"