Forget how to share files from ony one computer to another on a network.

[Undercover_Man]

So I have a laptop now. Don't get excited, it's from about 2004.

So I want to share only two partitions from my main PC to my new laptop. I don't want the drives to be seen nor accessible from the other computers on the home network.

Also, what if I wanted to access the drives from outside the network? Like over the internet? Possible?

Also want to share a couple folders from the laptop to my PC. But I assume I can just reverse the method used to solve my first question.

How do I do this again? Completely forgot.

 

[alexanderv]

You use ftp. install on one side as a server, on the other side as a client, and you're good to go. ( filezilla )

Now, you would like to secure the ftp channel if you transmit some sensitive data ( bad porn, financial details, etc ).

 

[koolaidkitten]

You use ftp. install on one side as a server, on the other side as a client, and you're good to go. ( filezilla )

Now, you would like to secure the ftp channel if you transmit some sensitive data ( bad porn, financial details, etc ).

This is a great way to share your files to yourself remotely if you are off site, I personally prefer VPN but that kinda gets a lil complicated, you will have to read on that yourself.
FTP is kinda meh for a local on site sharing imo, I suggest Windows file shares *I assume your using windows you didn't specify*.

I'm not the best instruction giver out there but I will give it try. This is based on XP/2000 but should work for Vista or 7. Maybe with minor menu differences.

WARNING: It is VITAL to have a windows login password. Don't do this if you are logging in as "Administrator" and no password. Put a password on your Administrator account, and whatever username you are currently using make sure it has a password as well. Also I suggest you test this first on a test folder, dont actually share your files, make a folder and put some test files in it to start with to make sure you do this correctly, otherwise you can kinda screw up the permissions for your files and lose access to them at which point will be a sort of a headache and then someone will have to step you thru getting your permissiosn back.
Note: my instructions are based on windows 2000 share method. XP on forward have some kinda share wizard that can be turned on or off that supposedly makes it easier. If you can get it working from that great, but for some reason I find it complicated to get my shares to work the way I want *but then again I make more complicated shares with multiple users/permission levels* Also this is assuming you use the same username and password for both your main box and your laptop.

1. START > Control Panel > Folder Options > Click the tab "View" > UNcheck "Use Sharing Wizard" (This is supposed to make sharing easier but I never got it to work properly....."
2. Right Click a folder you want to share. (i know u said partition but I always had issues with sharing whole drives, I just reorganize everything into shared folders.) This will bring up a sub-menu, click "Sharing and Security"
3. Turn on the little bubble "Share this Folder". In the box "Share Name" it will by default be the name of the folder you sharing, however if you wish you can change the name this share will show up as by adjusting it here.
4. Click "Permissions" By default you should see the user "Everyone" and a check box for "Read". What you want to do here is click "Add" on the menu that pops up in the white box type your user name that you log in with on that box and click "Check Names" It should auto-fill in the correct info along the lines of "nameofyourpc\yourusername" when that is done click "OK" and it should take you back to the previous menu, here you want to give that user name "Full Control". Click "OK"
5. You should be back to the previous menu, click the tab at the top "Security". You pretty much want to do the same here. Click "Add" plugin your user name click check names yadayadayada click ok and give yourself "Full Control" here as well.
6. Click apply, depending on how much data is in that folder it might take a minute for it all to work itself out and you should be good to go. Just go over to your laptop bring up "RUN" (in windows 7 and vista I think run got replaced with a blank search bar, it will do the same thing) type in \\nameofyourserver OR \\ipaddresshere

With some luck you should get a window with the shares you made and you will be able to have full control of those shares.
Note you said ". I don't want the drives to be seen nor accessible from the other computers on the home network." Technically they can be seen on the network, but to anyone other than you unless by some miraculous miracle they have same user/pass they will only see that outside folder, but will not be able to see what is in that folder. So yeah its not a good idea to share a folder called "Illegal Filez and Porn" so you might want to do something like share "My Files and Stuff" then put your illegal filez and porn in there.

Security Note: I'm not sure what your level of paranoia is but remember these shares can be seen automaticly from your laptop so if you leave it sitting around and a friend or relative jumps on it they could potentially see your shares. To fix that you should always lock your screen/log off. Just trust me, i speak from experience, you don't wana have that talk with mom about your collection of midget porn, or your roomate why you have pictures of his girlfriend in the shower. >.>
You can potentially create shares based on a whole different user/password so that when you access them it ask you for the correct user/pass but I believe windows will retain this info for the rest of your login session. I believe there is a way to set a timeout on this so that it always ask for a user/pass but I will leave this to you to research.

Additional Note: You need to configure your firewall if it is blocking windows shares. I think the windows built-in automaticly opens the port for shares when you setup a share.

 

[mattjw916]

if you don't want the share to be visible for people that are browsing the local LAN but you still want it do be there just add a "$" to the end of the name...

the share would still be accessible via \\hostname\folder$ but you have to browse or map to it by name... secure it with username and password by setting the share and/or NTFS permissions on the files

 

[koolaidkitten]

if you don't want the share to be visible for people that are browsing the local LAN but you still want it do be there just add a "$" to the end of the name...

the share would still be accessible via \\hostname\folder$ but you have to browse or map to it by name... secure it with username and password by setting the share and/or NTFS permissions on the files

hah nice never thought of that.