[Xoliul]

Simple question, should be easy, but I really can't find a clear answer:
How do I share folders with Windows from my HTPC?
I want to transfer all my stuff to the HTPC, but prefer to access it from my desktop (no permanent keyboard on xbmc and so).

Additionally, I'm wondering if there's a way to autosync the music folders? I mostly add stuff to the music folders on the desktop, would be cool if it'd auto-update..

[mcai8rw2]

Simple question, should be easy, but I really can't find a clear answer:
How do I share folders with Windows from my HTPC?
I want to transfer all my stuff to the HTPC, but prefer to access it from my desktop (no permanent keyboard on xbmc and so).

Additionally, I'm wondering if there's a way to autosync the music folders? I mostly add stuff to the music folders on the desktop, would be cool if it'd auto-update..

I;m slightly confused by the setup you've got. Is your stuff on the main desktop PC, and you want it to be accesable on the XBMC-HTPC? Or the other way around... you have stuff on your XBMC-PC that you want to put onto your desktop PC?

As long as your main PC and your XBMC pc are on the same network, there shouldn't be a need to sync the two PCS together.

XBMC is ok accessing folders /files on your main PC. Personally i don't actually save ANYTHING on the htpc. All the stuff is on my main desktop PC, and is shared with my XBMC via the sources.xml file.

So is it feasible for you to save all the stuff on your HTPC to a usb drive or something... and then move it to your main PC?

[Xoliul]

Hey, thanks for the reply, I'll try to elaborate a bit more:

I usually always download music on my desktop, just easier there since I can type, use anything necessary. Up until now the music collection was maintained on that PC, sometimes copied over to my laptop (but that always got out of date).

Thing is, I want to be able to play my music straight away with just the HTPC: my phone connects to WiFi as soon as i enter the building, I WoL the HTPC and by the time I took my shoes and jacket off I can pick the music to start playing. I don't want to also have to go turn my desktop on, beats the point of easily accessing the HTPC.
So, all my music needs to be on the HTPC, I wouldn't mind manually placing new stuff on there, but I don't want to use the XBMC filemanager on the HTPC, it's just a bit too slow with the remote. I want to be able to see the XBMC music directories on my desktop, and drop stuff in there, so actually transfer desktop > HTPC with the desktop performing the operation.

Basically all I want to know is the equivalent on XBMC of right-clicking a folder in Windows and picking "Share".

Additionally, it would be cool if there was a program/addon that automatically synced the two music collections, as I feel much safer against HD crashes this way.

[mcai8rw2]

I think i get you. And to be honest, i;m going to have to bow out now, because my knowledge of Linux isn't that great. So any advice i give might end up being counter-productive.

However! There are a couple of things that spring to mind that might be worth looking into a bit more (and sadly one of these involves getting another 'gadget'):

1. Symlinks (symbolic links)... where you make windows believe a folder is local, when it is actually held on another device.
2. Network Attached Storage - Some modern routers have a USB slot, into which you can plug a usb drive and this is then shared accordingly. Or even going full tilt and buying a complete NAS solution.

I quite like the idea of having a NAS box. And at least with a NAS box, you can map it to both the main PC and XBMC, and use that as the central base for all your media.

Perhaps linux gurus can make a better suggestion.

good luck!