connecting two laptops over wireless/internet n00b question

ok here's the deal:

now i have 2 laptops, i want to keep files in sync with each other and sometimes even connect to the other machine when i'm away/abroad

for keeping files in sync, i found microsoft synctoy, but i am unable to connect to the other computer for some reason.

how do i set up some kind of link so where ever i am in the world both laptops can keep in sync with each other, or allow me to access the other system remotely?

cheers in advance for any advice

 

If it's for files and you don't have over 2GB of data, i would use dropbox to store your data. Your files will always be in sync with that and you can use another software to take control of the computer left at home. I don't have any from memory, but there are a few free out there.

 

dropbox is not ideal, for example i want to keep my music folders in sync. i know microsoft synctoy can do this, but i cant seem to figure out how to connect the two computers together over a network, and i dont know if it will only work on my local network or if i can do it over the web when i'm abroad or something

 

You could try windows live mesh. It might just be the thing for you and you can use it in conjunction with skydrive to keep those important filed stores in the cloud too.

Windows Live Mesh 2011

Since i don't want my files to sync between my computers it's not something i'm well versed in. I did look at options for that at one timet though and windows live mesh seemed decent.

If your laptops can't detect each other over the network, you could try to ping one with the other to make sure it's a setting problem and not a network problem. To do this open a command prompt and type ping other computer's ip adress. i.e. ping 192.168.2.1. If you don't know your ip computer's ip adresses you can type ipconfig in the command prompt and it will give you the ip used by the connected network adapters.

 

thanks! but do you have any advice on how to actually connect the two even on my home network? the last time i tried to do something like this was on win2k/xp and it seems completely different on win7.

what is up with this homegroup thing? i try to connect to my own computer and it asks for a password, i input my usual password and it says its wrong :S

actually after looking at live mesh, i'm struggling to see what the difference is from synctoy :S

 

Live Mesh is probably the successor to synctoy.

The homegroup is a windows 7 feature that allows you to access your other computer's media files and documents. When you first did an install of windows 7 it asked you to create a homegroup and gave you a randomly generated password for it. That's the password you need. If you forgot it, delete the current homegroup on the computer it was created and make a new one.

You can change the sharing options in the network and sharing center in windows 7. Personally, i only use it to stream media so again, i'm not too familiar with what you want to do but the options should be somewhere in there as to allowing access between both computers.

 

thanks for the info, so far, it seems like live mesh is exactly what i need to keep my folders in sync over the web, however, being over web, it is very slow. i think synctoy is probably more local area network oriented, i'll need to figure that out for my video folders which are much larger. i'll try looking into the homegroup thing again for that.

 

I'm pretty sure you can sync over a network with live mesh too for faster speeds and it won't eat your internet plan's bandwidth either.

 

i dont see any options, i assume it automatically finds the shortest path, unfortunately maybe my router settings are such that it cant.

thankfully i dont have a bandwidth cap. im just going to let it run over a few days because i know its just a one time thing. later it'll only be syncing a couple of files at a time, instead of a huge bulk right now

 

If your going to be transferring a lot of files routinely I would look at using wired over wireless. If you have a GigE network it the fastest way. You can even use a crossover cable if you don't have access to router/switch.

 

i have a modem which has a 5 port switch, i'm going to try it out later