School Work

Right, I'm going to try to explain my scenario, in hope that someone could think up a solution to help me. :)

On my school network, I have a folder called 'A Level Work', filled with lots of subfolders, documents, etc. I need to have an up-to-date copy of this folder at home, and on my USB memory stick.

My question is regarding if there is a way to keep these folders synced, without using a network. I've only been back at school for 2 weeks, and copying and overwriting is already proving too difficult to keep up with, as some things are edited at school, some at home, and some on the memory stick.

(I've read something about creating a new Briefcase, but I wouldn't know how to maintain that.)

At school, I access the server with my work on, using Windows XP, or Windows 7, depending on which class I have. We usually alternate. My home system is running Windows 7 Ultimate, (64-bit), and the memory stick is formatted to FAT32.

Any help appreciated,
Tom.

Sounds like you need SyncToy - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

Wow! That was a very fast response! Thanks. :)

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I don't need to install this on both machines, do I? I don't have the appropriate permissions at school.



EDIT - I have installed this program at home now, and it works a treat. I have assigned a keyboard button to use the CMD to sync the files. Seems to work.

I'll just make sure that I overwrite any files at school at the start of each lesson, and overwrite the ones on the memory stick at the end.

Thanks again. :)

Well yes you would need to install it on the second machine (at school) if you wanted it to sync back again to your flash drive. However this will work from your flash drive when you are at school. You just install it on the flash drive and run it from there. It also has a Sync option under folder or ATL S FreeCommander Portable | PortableApps.com - Portable software for USB drives

You may want to look at the rest of the apps that you can also run straight off the flash drive they are very neat http://portableapps.com/apps

Well, SyncToy is amazing. Basically, every morning at school, when I log in, I delete all work from the school server, and replace it with the work on my memory stick. Then at the end of every school day, just before I go home, I delete all work from my memory stick, and replace it with the work from school's server. This is not too difficult to remember. :)

SyncToy takes care of the rest, since I have mapped a keyboard button to run the CMD version of it, and I just need to press this button whenever I plug in my memory stick, and just before I take it out!

This can be marked as solved. Thank you for the assistance. :)

Dumb question: what keeps you from using the files on the stick as master file and work only from the stick at either location.

The school requires that we have an updated copy of all work on the school server at all times, which could lead to confusion as to what is new and what is old, and I'm terrible for losing things like USB sticks, so I always like to keep a backup of everything on my home PC. Also, I don't like having my USB stick plugged into my PC all the time, since it is attached to my keys. :P

Try to see if your school's server supports VPN. If it does a ask your schools IT person if you can have access to it. Set up the VPN connection at home. Then, you can try syncronizing from home. This probobly won't be any simpler but, you will then have access at home and at school.