Too Many Computers

[Мастер]

More first world problems.

This is an issue I have tried to deal with in different ways over the years, without coming across a solution I'm really happy with. But, here is the issue. I work in an office, which has a computer. I work at home, which has a different computer. And I travel sometimes, taking a portable computer with me. I would like to sit down in front of whatever computer happens to be near me, and have access to all my files. And any updates I make to them, should be available to the other computers.

One not entirely satisfactory solution is to do everything on a laptop, always. Why even have the other computers then? They're rather superfluous. This works, sort of. It means I use my least capable, least reliable machine all the time. And it is heavy to be lugging around all the time. I would dearly love to walk to the train station, ride the train, and walk at the other end, all without a computer in a bag riding on my shoulder.

Another solution is to have a "primary" copy, and make secondary copies on the other computers. Then whenever something is updated, it must be moved back to the primary, for distribution throughout the system. This tends to be very error prone. I've gotten in trouble a number of times this way.

Another method is to store everything on a USB drive. Slow! The little ones are easy to lose (disaster) and also don't carry much, and the big ones require external power, which is not always available during various phases of travel.

I had thought networking would have advanced to the point where I would just have access to all my files, all the time, no matter where I am. Remember that goofy Sandra Bullock hacker film, where she Fed Ex ships a floppy disk! Surely those days are over. Well, networking has advanced, but so have my file sizes. I have single files which are bigger than the hard disks on my old computers were. Clicking on something, and getting a "wait 27 minutes while we transfer the file you need" is not much fun.

Is there a good solution to this problem? I thought, what better place to ask than here. Here is my set up. I have a desktop at home - Dell, a few years old, not the most powerful in human history, but seems pretty sturdy and reliable. Has Windows XP (it shipped with a newer version) and Linux installed, but I don't really have the Linux in a feature-rich, usable state yet. I have a desktop at work - also Dell. Seems to be a rental, at some point, someone will come in and bring me a new one. And I will most likely procure a laptop. I am thinking about one of those ultra-light Apple computers, with solid-state storage instead of a magnetic hard drive, but I haven't committed to that yet.

The work computer has a private IP address, so we must be behind some kind of router/firewall. Three jobs ago, IT viewed itself as a service organisation, there to assist the users with their computing needs. Two jobs ago, IT viewed itself as a police organisation, there to stop those awful users from doing the horrible things that they were plotting to do. Last job, as nearly as I could tell, IT didn't do anything. Not sure what kind of IT organisation I have in the new job. People seem to like them, and for the first time in years, I have a properly functioning work email system, so preliminary indications are good. At home, all computers are behind a wireless router, which dishes out private IP addresses. The IT guy there (Mactep) doesn't know what he's doing, and is also hard to deal with.

Any thoughts?

[Lance]

Oh my god, have you ever heard of Dropbox? It changed my life.

Your files, available on all your PCs, and even your phone and iPad, all the time, in sync, and recoverable in the event of failure or stupidity.

http://www.dropbox.com/

But please use this "referral" link if you do sign up. It will give us both an extra 500MB free.

Always have your stuff when you need it with @Dropbox. Sign up for free! http://db.tt/oS6SXMy

[Blue Monster 65]

Dropbox IS great! We use it for media files all the time.