File storage/sharing without a server

I work for a small nonprofit (2 staff).  We used to have access to a server in the office in which we rent space, but we do not have access anymore.  What can we use in place of a server?  There are many files my boss and I have in common and we currently have to email newer versions back and forth.  We tried X-drive a year (or more) ago but my boss thought it was too slow.  Are there any options out there that might work for us?  We use less than 1GB in storage currently.  The key factors for something to work for us would be: easy to use, cheap or free, good security. 

Thanks!

What operating system are you using? Windows XP (Pro?), Vista

Have you already tried just creating a shared folder on one of the computers? Then, you could just map the folder to a drive letter.

Let me know if you need specific info on setting up a shared folder.

Example:
If my computer is named "MyComputer" and I share C:\BusinessDocs, then the other computer could get to that folder using the network path:  \\MyComputer\BusinessDocs

Then, you could use Map Network Drive to point a drive letter, like Y:, to that folder. From then on, you would just need to type Y:\ to see the documents stored in \\MyComputer\BusinessDocs (which is actually C:\BusinessDocs on "MyComputer").

You can even map the Y: drive to the network share on your own computer (basically sharing the folder with yourself), so both computers would be the same... i.e., the documents would be accessible using Y: on both computers.

Another fairly cheap and easy solution would be one of the many NAS servers available.

Or, if  you are fairly capable with installing software, you could try getting a decent used PC for under $100 and using a Linux/BSD distribution which would support file sharing, emailing, web server, database, etc.

The advantage with one of these two solutions is that it doesn't require someone having to leave their computer on so that the other person can access the files. Especially important if one of these computers is a laptop that leaves the office on a regular basis.

If you are going to roll your own a pretty good NAS software is http://www.freenas.org/

but you can also get pre built machines from Iomega and the like.

for a two person office try the sharing one of the PCs

Dave

Only two users?  Then buy two usb thumb drives and sync them to your local shares.

Since there are only 1 GB of data between two users, this would be the cheapest and most efficient way to go.

Quynh:

Only two users?  Then buy two usb thumb drives and sync them to your local shares.

Since there are only 1 GB of data between two users, this would be the cheapest and most efficient way to go.

I like that option especially if it's just needed for a few people.  Plus, for additional security, you can encrypt your content on the thumb drives using free encryption software like TrueCrypt.

Yann

We use XP but we have not way to connect to each other at all.  Our computers link directly to the internet, no network or connection between our computers at all (and we sit very far apart from eachother).  The only option that has been suggested to connect our computers is to request, from the state (we are in a state building but don;t work for the state, thus, they don't support us with IT help), that they get a wireless router so we can connect to each other wirelessly.  There is little chance that this will happen so we need to figure something else out. 

I guess my question is- is there an online storage that works well?  Is there any other option for us that we are missing?

Hmm, this paints a nastier picture.  I'd avoid wireless in this situation altogether.  It has been suggested to many people before to try [ Microsoft Office Live ] - it allows you to store and share documents via the Internet with multiple people.  However, I've never used it and couldn't talk to how well it might work for you.  I say sign up for the free account and give it a whirl.

Box.net seems pretty popular, and it gives you up to 1 GB of storage for free. Also, I found a (year-old) article on LifeHacker that reviews some of the popular online filesharing services. Performance would depend on your internet connection. Might not be any better than x-drive. Hard to say without trying them out.

Quynh's suggestion to use a USB drive might be the best way to go. Good old sneakernet.

You could always try adding another network card to each computer and setting up a secondary network (if you're feeling crazy). It might take a bit of work to configure everything, though.

hmmm... MS Office Live integrates with Word/Excel/Powerpoint. If you're sharing documents, try it out and let us know how well it works

They might have put the two computers on the same VLAN and let you use Nat thru their routers to conserve IP addresses, if this is the case then you should be able to set up local share easily.

If the they give each computer a unique public IP, then you could build a vpn tunnel to connect the two computer up and share your files.

The way to find out if you have a public ip or a private NAT ip is to issue a command "ipconfig" in the command line.

Private NAT ip = 10.x.x.x  , 172.16.x.x  , 192.168.x.x

Public IP = everything else.

ok! I don't even know what most of those words/acronyms mean :). 

I think I am going to try MS Office Live (or whatever it is called) and see how that works for us.  Can't be worse than our current method of emailing files and replacing old ones on our computers. I'll probably post on here how well it worked.

Thanks for your help!

Please let us know how Office Live works for you.  If you need any more help on this, perhaps Quynh would be able to better explain his advice. 

best of luck to you,

Gary

If you are still looking for some solution, you may want to take a look at google sites.

www.google.com/sites/overview.html

here's what i do,

we have a branch office that is not large enough to justify running a network server, so i just use workgroups to link the PC's together and then i hooked up and external hard drive to one of them, shared it with everyone and viola instance shared storage.