shared documents on two hd's

[jtjordan]

is there anyway to do this because every time i want a file on my second hd i have to move it to the shared folder on the other hd (its a big file and my primary hd has little room)

[Paul Komski]

It's certainly possible but it's not clear if you want to have the file on the other hard drive or whether you want to maintain two copies. More exact description would be helpful including Operating System and Hard Drive layouts.

[jtjordan]

i want to keep the file on the same hard drive. is there a way to have a shared documents folder for both hd's

[Paul Komski]

Sharing files with other users on the same PC or with other PCs on a network can be done in a number of ways depending on the Operating System involved. It's still not obvious, to me, if that is what you are talking about.

On most recent versions of Windows as long as you place your own files somewhere outside the Documents and Settings area (for Windows XP) on any Hard Drive in the system then they should be accessible to other users of your own PC - unless you have specifically (for Windows XP Pro) altered the Security settings or invoked File Encryption.

Each User only has one specific Shared Documents folder assigned by Windows and there can only be one per user AFAIK. It is a simple method of making one's own private files more public but there are other ways of File Sharing - some of which are Operating System dependent.

There is nothing to stop you creating a new folder in the root of any drive and calling it whatever you like (including Shared Documents) and putting files into it for both yourself and others to access. The same folder can be shared with other PCs on a network, should that also be desired, by right clicking on it and changing its Sharing options after choosing Properties.

[jtjordan]

hey thanks i didn't realize you could go to properties and turn on sharing

[Paul Komski]

Turning on sharing in that way is primarily designed for sharing across a network as opposed to sharing with other users of the same PC that have other user accounts of their own. If one goes into one's own user account settings from control panel it is possible to make the files in one's own Documents and Settings area private. When that is done other users of the same PC cannot access them; the only data they can access is material you place in your own Shared Documents folder or else in folders outside the Documents and Settings area. Networked users can only access data that has specifically been designated as shared in the manner described.