How is your general "workflow" for files?


Fredrick

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Hi guys,

 

I'm frustrated with my own lackluster workflow with regards to documents and other files that are actually quite important to me. Before doing a major renovation I thought I'd hear what you guys are satisfied with.

 

In general I'm happy with files that are not actively worked on like media. However I create documents and other files across various platforms which makes them unaccessible and hard to control and backup.

 

- I use OneNote for both private and work-related notes. At work and on my work-computer (Windows) we use OneDrive, and it I sometimes use this laptop to also work on private files which then end up in OneDrive.

- I've got a Windows workstation that has project files like Sketchup and other items. These are stored locally and then backed up (with Windows backup) to my Unraid Server.

- I've got a Macbook which also holds documents and files. These are backed up (with time machine) to my Unraid Server

- My Unraid server syncs my backup-share to my unlimited Gdrive.

 

When revisiting my workflow I want to be able to work on the same documents on both my workstation and Macbook and have some of my files accessible on my work-laptop. I want to reduce duplicates to simplify cleanup and retaining the newest versions. 

 

So I'm thinking I should consolidate this to work directly on a Unraid share with my files. This would solve the lack of connection between my Mac and Windows (and VMs), and my files would immediately be on a parity protected disk. Unraid could then push all my backups to Gdrive (cold storage) and my document folder to OneDrive (sync so changes are updated both places). What I would loose is the local copies on my workstation/laptop, but I guess I could somehow push the important files to my workstation with rsync.

 

Any tips?

Edited by Fredrick
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Have a look at nextcloud which works perfectly for me syncing files between my windows and android devices, as well as cloud access - don't see why won't work for mac as well. 

 

Each user in my family has a quota within my /mnt/user/nextcloud share e.g. /mnt/user/nextcloud/dzmm and then I create  sub-folders to match the windows default user folders - documents, downloads, videos, music, pictures and desktop. 

 

Then  on each PC I install the nextcloud app which for user DZMM syncs from /mnt/user/nextcloud/dzmm to c:\users\dzmm\nextcloud.   I then change the windows personal folder locations to this folder i.e. instead of storing files in c:\users\dzmm\pictures I change to c:\users\dzmm\nextcloud\pictures.  This way all PCs stay in sync and I also have a local copy.  This was a lifesaver when I nuked some files by accident as I had an offline copy as well as nextcloud's version history.

 

I even use it to backup remote users e.g. my parents over the internet.

 

I also install the nextcloud external storages addon so I can access my unraid shares via the cloud if I want to.

Edited by DZMM
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I’m using Nextcloud on a MacBook Pro.  Very happy with this solution.

 

I basically installed the Nextcloud application on a Mac Pro and then a MacBook Pro.  You just drop the files in your Nextcloud and the files are synced to all devices running Nextcloud.  It works similar to Dropbox, but all of the files are stored on each computer as well as on unRaid.

Edited by Limy
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1 hour ago, Fredrick said:

 

How is the speed? Are the files you work with actually stored locally and then synced?

Yes - stored locally then synced.  When I login to a pc the updates are pulled down instantly. 

 

Nextcloud has many other benefits - biggest for me is versioning that looks at the changes in files, rather than storing multiple versions

 

I honestly can't think of a better solution and I've tried many and it makes a mockery of paying for things like sugarsync or dropbox

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