Windows 10: NAS and Laptops

I've researched this on the internet, and just left myself confused! Sorry in advance for the long post, but I wanted to make clear where I am, and where I want to be.

I work from home, as does my wife, and we have 3 Win 10 PCs on a wired network (We each have a work PC, and I have a leisure/hobby PC). I also have a laptop which I use in the field (I'm an industrial controls engineer).

I seemed to spend a ridiculous amount of time copying files from one device to another, and often forgot to update all PCs with my laptop when going on a site visit, so end up not having all the files I need.

I purchased a Buffalo Terastation NAS to try to relieve the situation, but it has just made it worse!

I have set this up so that data files are stored on the NAS in two drives; S: for shared files (music, family photos, finances, family history (our hobby), and personal data on Y: (two separate partitions on the NAS, one for myself, one for my wife, but mapped to Y: on each of our PCs).

That bit was easy!

Now for the laptop, which is proving to be a data management nightmare!

If the laptop is connected to the network, all is fine and dandy; I have the S: drive and Y: drive mapped and it works just like on my PC. However when I go out, I don't have the network so I lose access to all my data.

To get round this I have created two partitions on the laptop to hold the S: and Y: drives, but had to assign two different letters (J: and K. I then use FreeFileSync to sync these two partiotins to the NAS; not ideal, but workable. However I use several programs that store data on absolute paths (this cannot be changed), so when I try to run them on the laptop away from home, they are looking for the S: and Y: drives, which aren't there.

At the moment I have two options; keep changing the path in the apps, or re-map the partitions.

Is there an easier way to do this? I don't want to go down the route of using Windows Server (which I think would solve my problems, but it's too expensive), I want to just keep on a simple home network.

If you are still with me, thanks for reading!

:)

 

Windows 10 & NAS Box

Hi Peter,

A few possible reasons can cause this issue. To help us identify the cause of this problem, we would like to know the following information:

• How is your NAS box connected to your computer? (Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or USB)
• Are you using a program provided by the manufacturer of your NAS box to access it?
• Do you receive any error messages when accessing your NAS box? If yes, what is the exact error message?
• What troubleshooting steps have you tried so far?

In the meantime, we suggest that you perform the solution provided by omiklik (Most Helpful Reply)
in the following thread: Unable to see NAS drive on Network - Win 10 PC.

Keep us updated on the status of the issue, and we will be glad to assist you further.

 

Best laptop under $800??

Well the last one I suggested seems to be the best for 650$

EDIT: to facilitate your search...

Laptop GFX benchmark list

Laptop CPU Benchmark list

 

Authorization error when mapping NAS drive from new Windows 10 laptop

Hi!

Not so tech-savvy user here, with problems establishing a mapped connection from my Windows 10 laptop to my Buffalo LinkStation NAS drive.

The error message I get: "The mapped network drive could not be created because the following error has occurred:
The account is not authorized to log in from this station."

Notes:

• I CANNOT connect/map it from my Windows 10 work laptop (probably has plenty of additional workplace-installed security stuff, and access restrictions that I can't override)
  • It doesn't work through the "NAS Navigator" that I downloaded - it sees the drive, but won't let me explore it.
    
  • It doesn't work when mapping through File Explorer
    • I am never asked for a username/password
  • I AM able to access the NAS settings by accessing it via its static IP address
  • I CANNOT even access it from the cloud via WebAccess, which works on my phones, on my friends' computers, etc.
• I CAN connect/map it from my other laptops (including my previous Windows 7 work laptop, with probably the same security stuff and access restrictions, and also my own personal Windows Vista machine)
  • I do not need to connect with a username/password

What I've tried:

• Rebooting the NAS
• Rebooting the laptop
• Disabling Windows Firewall on the laptop
  
• Enabling SMB on the NAS and the laptop
• Enabling SMB2 on the NAS and the laptop and rebooting
• Creating a a DWORD value called 'AllowInsecureGuestAuth' in HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters and setting the value to 1.
  
  see here - note, I really probably shouldn't be playing with registry values, being that I don't know what I'm doing!
• I think I tried a few other things... can't remember them all.

Anyone wanna lend a hand in solving this mystery?