For a number of years we only had one desktop computer in our house. Our current desktop is a few year old Dell PC running Windows Vista. We recently bought a new Dell laptop for my wife that runs Windows 7. She primarily uses it in the kitchen for home use and creates some documents, but nothing major. It won't likely leave the house anytime soon. Both PCs have ample memory, but we also bought a Western Digital 1TB MyBook World Edition external hard drive to backup our files, music, photos, etc.
I am trying to figure out the best way to configure my home network for both efficiency and in case something crashes and I need access to my data. I've been able configure the network so the relevant files and folders are shared between the laptop and desktop with full access and info on both computers are backed up by the WD drive. Here are some of the configurations I thought of:
- Leave all the data on my desktop computer and make that the "hub" for all data. However, if that computer is off then I cannot access the info from the laptop. In order for my wife to work, the desktop must be on for her to access her files. Also, since that's the oldest of the three, is it more likely to crash than the laptop or the WD drive?
- Move my wife's documents to her laptop and leave the photos and other stuff on the desktop. With this setup she can access her documents on the laptop even if the desktop is off, but the other stuff cannot be accessed with the desktop off. Plus, everything isn't in one convenient location.
- Move all of my stuff to a shared folder on the WD drive and use the WD drive as the hub of the network since it's always on and can be accessed by either computer at all times while they are on the network, but what happens if that crashes? Then all of my data and the backup of that data could be gone.
Making sure both computers are on is not a big deal, but can be a pain. For instance, in Scenario 1, if someone creates a document on the laptop to be saved on the network with the desktop as the hub without saving the latest version and then someone turns off the desktop. But my biggest concern is if something crashes and retrieving data, but I figured I should try to do this as efficiently as possible now instead of changing things around later.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated (but please refrain from advice suggesting a Mac -- that shipped has sailed -- or buying more or other equipment).