Windows 10: Saving Files to Multiple Locations Simultaneously (Windows 10 v.1909)

Greetings!
I'm new here so, I thought I'd say "Hi!" and post this...

I have seen many posts across the internet from people asking how to save files to multiple places at once without using a cloud service. Most, if not all, of the answers I've read say either it can't be done or point to backup utilities which require either manual initiation or scheduled run times. I found neither of these answers acceptable for my needs, so I kept searching until I found a solution that actually works for me.

I have a small home network and when I take my laptop out of the house, I want to be sure I have all of my current documents with me.
My network (phones & tablets not shown):



I recently fount a program called Resilio Sync Home (File Sync Software - Sync Home | Resilio Sync) which is totally free and does not require a monthly subscription. Everything is done on your local system. I opted for the Pro version because it's only $60 (one time, not monthly) and I wanted to support this product.

Most of the effort I put into setting this up was planning how I wanted to share my data with my other computers and what data to share, so here's what I have done.

Rather than using the Windows 10 default "Documents" folder for my documents, pictures, music, etc, I created a folder on all three computers called "SharedDocuments". I then created sub-folders in that one for "Pictures," "Music," "Videos," etc. Next, I set the Windows default locations to the appropriate folders within "SharedDocuments." My reasoning for this is because Windows and other applications often store data automatically in the default "Documents" folder. If I was to sync those files across different computers, settings, etc would get all messed up.

Next, I installed Resilio Sync Home on my desktop and my laptop. It's a pretty straight forward program, but you should use the online documentation because some of the settings are a little confusing. Now when I save a file to my "SharedDocuments" folder on either my desktop or laptop that file is immediately available on the other computer. When I say "immediately" I mean it. I save a file on my desktop, turn to my left and there it is on my laptop.

I also have Sync Toy scheduled to run at 2am every morning and it backs up my "SharedDocuments" folder from my desktop to my file server. So, at any given time I have two live copies of all of my data files and a backup copy that's no older than 24 hours.

If you don't have a LAN you can always use a second hard drive. Resilio Sync Home will do that just as well if you're looking for a real-time backup solution without paying a monthly fee.

To make things even easier for me, in Word, Excel and every other program I use (that has the option) I've set the "Default Save Location" to "g:\SharedDocuments". If you don't do this, when you "Save As" the default Documents folder will be what appears in your "Save As" dialog box. You could also add a link that points to your "SharedDocuments" folder in the default Documents folder. I named mine "~ SharedDocuments" That way it's the first item on the list.

The only thing some people may see as a glitch (I don't) is that you can't edit one file on multiple computers simultaneously, which most people don't need. This does cause an error message to occur when your saving a new file and still have it open in your program, or when you're copying multiple files at once to your "SharedDocuments" folder because the files are locked to the system while they're in use. The error message is pretty benign, though. A small message pops out of the Windows notification area and goes away pretty quickly. I've just learned to ignore it.

I only have Resilio Sync Home on two of my computers, but you can set it up on more, if you need to. I'm not sure the limitations in the free or pro versions. There are also mobile apps available (I think only through third parties, but I don't need it, so I haven't done any research on that front).

I spent months tracking down this solution and I hope some people find this useful.

Cheers,
Brian

:)

 

File Save

Hi Clive,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

Please provide the following information with us to understand the issue better.

• What is the location where you are trying to save the files?
• Is the issue specific to particular type of files? Example Office files.

I would like to inform you that you cannot save the files in location where Operating System files are saved.

I suggest you to Run Maintenance task and check if it helps.

The Run maintenance task checks issues that might slow down your computers, such as how many users are currently logged on to the computer and whether multiple programs are running at the same time.

Follow the below steps.

• Press Windows + X on the keyboard.
• Select Control Panel.
• Select Troubleshooting.
• Click on Run maintenance task under System and Security.

Hope these information helps, please get back to us for future support, we’ll be glad to assist you further.

Thank you.

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

Is it time for Windows 10 already?

For those that don't have the tray notification.


If you don’t think any of these conditions apply to you, and you’re still not seeing the icon, you can also try running the solution below, which will verify your device meets all the prerequisites and then turn on the Get Windows 10 app:

• Open Notepad
• Copy the following text and paste it into Notepad:

REG QUERY "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\UpgradeExperienceIndicators" /v UpgEx | findstr UpgEx

if "%errorlevel%" == "0" GOTO RunGWX

reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Appraiser" /v UtcOnetimeSend /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

schtasks /run /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser"

:CompatCheckRunning

schtasks /query /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser"

schtasks /query /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser" | findstr Ready

if NOT "%errorlevel%" == "0" ping localhost >nul &goto :CompatCheckRunning

:RunGWX

schtasks /run /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Setup\gwx\refreshgwxconfig"

• Click File, and then Save As
• In the File name box, change the file name to ReserveWin10.cmd
  
  
• Then click the dropdown next to Save as type, and select All files (*.*)
  
  
• Select the folder you would like to save the file to.For this example, let’s choose to save the file to the C:/Temp folder.Then click Save.
  
  
• Open an elevated command prompt.(From the Start screen or Start menu, type Command Prompt in the search box, and then in the list of results, right-click Command Prompt, and selectRun as administrator.)
  
  
• Finally, run the file from the location you saved to in Step 6.In this example, you would type the following in the Command Prompt window and hit Enter:
  
  C:/Temp/ReserveWin10.cmd
  

The Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser can take 10 – 30 minutes to run, during which the script will continuously provide status reports that it is running. Please be patient.

If the script is failing in an infinite loop, then you don’t have the necessary prerequisite Windows Updates. Besides requiring Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1 Update, you must also have installed:

For Windows 7 SP1:

KB3035583

KB2952664

For Windows 8.1 Update:

KB3035583

KB2976978