Is it possible to use a laptop as an external storage device?

networking hard-drive external-hard-drive connection

13,206

Solution 1

Then use a tool to keep them in sync. SyncToy from MS is a decent enough solution:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SyncToy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiNZPzFxoSc

edit I should note, that it is not totally necessary to map the laptop drive on the desktop, it just makes it a bit easier to access

If you want to use the hard drive directly, you want an enclosure.

If you're looking to do a backup, check out Crashplan. Free version will do it.

If you're looking to use it as "live" storage on a running other machine, you'll need to create a share and map a drive.

13,206

Updated on September 18, 2022

Iwebmakers Web almost 2 years

I want to use my laptop as an external storage device with my PC. Is this possible? Is there a way to keep a backup of a file on my laptop hard drive and is there any software that can keep the backup on the laptop in sync with the PC?
- Rain over 11 years
  
  Can you be more specific? Do you wish to remove the drive from the laptop and use it externally? If so, there are relativity cheap USB 2.5" HDD enclosures that will work perfectly.
Iwebmakers Web over 11 years

- I do not want to remove laptop hard drive - so an enclosure is of no use, and I do not want to use online storage.
Iwebmakers Web over 11 years

great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Rain over 11 years

I personally wouldn't use it, but for clarity CrashPlan's free application lets you perform backups between your own computers/storage, not the cloud.
Iwebmakers Web over 11 years

can you recommend me any video from youtube?
Lee Harrison over 11 years

updated answer with youtube links
LilCodger over 11 years

Yup. Free version will not backup "to the cloud". Only to another PC (local or remote). If creating shares and mapping drives is foreign to you, you'll have a better time with a packaged solution I would think. Or it can be a learning experience. :)