Can I share folder between several computers via wireless

I have several computers on my local wireless network:

- Windows 8 Pro
- Windows Vista
- Windows XP
- Mac OS X

Right now to copy file from one to another I use USB Flash key which is pretty time consuming, especially if I have to do it 100 times a day.

So I was thinking, is there any way to share a single folder for read/write access among all those computers?

You can set up a network between the Windows machines. Hopefully, Windows 8 will play nice with Vista and XP.

Setup a network where all of the computers are in the same Workgroup. Share the desired folder with read/write access and all the computers should be able to access the share. Turn on network discovery.

I find it works best if I create the same user on each computer.

dc2000 said:

I have several computers on my local wireless network:

- Windows 8 Pro
- Windows Vista
- Windows XP
- Mac OS X

Right now to copy file from one to another I use USB Flash key which is pretty time consuming, especially if I have to do it 100 times a day.

So I was thinking, is there any way to share a single folder for read/write access among all those computers?

Click to expand...

You might even try using one of the SkyDrive folders for this.

chev65 said:

dc2000 said:

I have several computers on my local wireless network:

- Windows 8 Pro
- Windows Vista
- Windows XP
- Mac OS X

Right now to copy file from one to another I use USB Flash key which is pretty time consuming, especially if I have to do it 100 times a day.

So I was thinking, is there any way to share a single folder for read/write access among all those computers?

Click to expand...

You might even try using one of the SkyDrive folders for this.

Click to expand...

Not a good idea using "Cloud services" if you have several TB to share on your LAN --especially with Multi-media. Remember though on typical Wi-Fi the data transfer can be mind numbingly SLOW - especially for large files. Even streaming via Wi-Fi can be hideous -- Audio is OK but Video -- forget it -- and it doesn't matter if your base Internet speed is 100mbs -- the bottleneck is usually in the appallingly slow Wi-Fi cards even in modern machines.

(Unless you are lucky enough like me to have reasonably cheap unlimited Broadband - using things like "The Cloud" for multi-media streaming will eat up your monthly bandwidth allowance really quickly -- Europe on the whole has decent unlimited broadband in most places but I found in the USA they seem extremely STINGY with providing that type of service -- it seems as rare as hens teeth to find an unlimited AFFFORDABLE fast Broadband service there).

BTW a typical full HD movie streamed from the Internet will consume approximately 75% of the bandwidth allowance of some of the so called "Cheaper Home" type of services and extra usage is EXPENSIVE or you will be capped to a ludicrously slow rate so often in this case CHEAPER is not best value for money.

A question to Networking guys here -- why does say a 4GB download via Wifi from the internet to Machine A take less time to perform than a 4GB Wi-Fi transfer from Machine A to Machine B through a local LAN (Wi-Fi) when both machines are identical - and both have decent HDD's in them. The Wi-Fi cards are identical. -- Is it perhaps that the router does some sort of data compression / expansion so "buffering" a lot of the data as it comes from the net -- no idea but if anybody can answer this I'd be grateful.

Cheers
jimbo

Who says he has several TB to share in the first place? Who says he needed to stream anything?

If you look at the Op's question > So I was thinking, is there any way to share a single folder for read/write access among all those computers? He goes on to explain the problem> Right now to copy file from one to another I use USB Flash key which is pretty time consuming, especially if I have to do it 100 times a day. Seems like the cloud would be perfect for this type of sharing.


I assumed a few GB's or less for sharing but we don't have those details. I'd like to think his request is to simply share some files in which case the cloud would work fine. So much for keeping it simple.

As to your question on wireless file transfers, I believe it has to do with the wireless settings being used on the LAN, most people don't even use the correct router settings to achieve full 802.11N speeds which only work in the non mixed modes, they need to use the 802.11n Only setting as to achieve 300-450Mbps. The faster it goes the less of a bottleneck you have to the internet.

Most people are unaware about using the correct settings to achieve full wireless N speeds or maybe they need to run in mixed mode to support legacy devices. You also need to use channel bonding settings "40Mhz" to get the best possible wireless speeds.

Too many variables to give an exact answer but for some reason I don't seem to have this problem, might be because I'm using the Asus AC66U router at 1.1 Gb wireless.

jimbo45 said:

chev65 said:

dc2000 said:

I have several computers on my local wireless network:

- Windows 8 Pro
- Windows Vista
- Windows XP
- Mac OS X

Right now to copy file from one to another I use USB Flash key which is pretty time consuming, especially if I have to do it 100 times a day.

So I was thinking, is there any way to share a single folder for read/write access among all those computers?

Click to expand...

You might even try using one of the SkyDrive folders for this.

Click to expand...

Not a good idea using "Cloud services" if you have several TB to share on your LAN --especially with Multi-media. Remember though on typical Wi-Fi the data transfer can be mind numbingly SLOW - especially for large files. Even streaming via Wi-Fi can be hideous -- Audio is OK but Video -- forget it -- and it doesn't matter if your base Internet speed is 100mbs -- the bottleneck is usually in the appallingly slow Wi-Fi cards even in modern machines.

(Unless you are lucky enough like me to have reasonably cheap unlimited Broadband - using things like "The Cloud" for multi-media streaming will eat up your monthly bandwidth allowance really quickly -- Europe on the whole has decent unlimited broadband in most places but I found in the USA they seem extremely STINGY with providing that type of service -- it seems as rare as hens teeth to find an unlimited AFFFORDABLE fast Broadband service there).

BTW a typical full HD movie streamed from the Internet will consume approximately 75% of the bandwidth allowance of some of the so called "Cheaper Home" type of services and extra usage is EXPENSIVE or you will be capped to a ludicrously slow rate so often in this case CHEAPER is not best value for money.

A question to Networking guys here -- why does say a 4GB download via Wifi from the internet to Machine A take less time to perform than a 4GB Wi-Fi transfer from Machine A to Machine B through a local LAN (Wi-Fi) when both machines are identical - and both have decent HDD's in them. The Wi-Fi cards are identical. -- Is it perhaps that the router does some sort of data compression / expansion so "buffering" a lot of the data as it comes from the net -- no idea but if anybody can answer this I'd be grateful.

Cheers
jimbo

Click to expand...

To the last question, the internet server hosting the file will have way more computational power than either of Machine A or B. With that in mind it is able to acknowledge and accept more TCP packets per 'Window' therefore decreasing the amount of time needed (TCP Windowing).

Another factor would be bandwidth, a local WiFi transfer will have to use the single wireless card in your router (Unless you are lucky and have two) therefore technically that card is transferring 8GB worth of data (4GB for Send, 4GB to Receive). A download from the internet will put less stress on the routers WiFi card with it only needing to route the information from a WAN interface to the LAN WiFi interface.

With speeds and bandwidths like chev65 has (at which I envy ) the noticeable difference will be slim and in some cases the local transfer will be quicker.

There are other variables (Overhead..etc) however these are the main ones that would cause such effect

Josh