Syncing CAD files between multiple PCs.

[mikes595]

Hey All,

I was wondering what other teams use in terms of syncing all their CAD files between their CADing computers, what the best way to do this is, or if most teams just have one PC.

Hit me with your knowledge.

[dcarr]

We started off using Dropbox. However, the limited space offered on the free accounts proved to be a limiting factor.

We switched to an open-source self hosted solution called OwnCloud. We have it hosted on our own site at http://cloud.team3309.org. It's not quite as polished as Dropbox but it provides the same functionality we need, with as much space as we can provide it.

The most important thing is to establish good folder organization & naming conventions. We still have issues with students (and even sometimes mentors) who are in a rush and will create a ton of iterative CAD files without naming them properly and storing them in appropriate working folders, checkpoints, etc.

Also something to note: with Inventor, the lockfile stops the rest of the files from being synced if they are open in Inventor, so don't forget to close the program and allow the files to sync before you disconnect from the network.

Depending on your workflow, you could also consider using Github. It is pretty much the obvious tool at this point for software development, and while it isn't nearly as optimized for CAD and other non-source code files, the basic functionality is there.

Autodesk also makes the Autodesk Vault product, which we briefly considered using (they sent us a disc and license upon request) but it was too much of a strain on resources to set up a box and leave it running 24/7, find ways to access it from outside the school's firewall, etc.

[Aren Siekmeier]

We have used Dropbox for the last two years and have managed to fit everything on the limited space new users have (usually 2+ GB, so really not a problem). We had one kind of hairy issue with an Ubuntu client zeroing out all of the files... so Dropbox's revision memory was a real lifesaver there, but other than that we have had no problems with it and have found it perfect for sharing cad files between our 3-5 CADers.

[dcarr]

Originally Posted by compwiztobe

We have used Dropbox for the last two years and have managed to fit everything on the limited space new users have (usually 2+ GB, so really not a problem).

When you start storing FRC robot photo collections, the full zips of the KoP and Field, etc. it starts to fill up. But if you manage it effectively, there's no reason that you can't get along just fine with the 2GB limit.

[MrForbes]

USB thumbdrive.

The modern form of sneakernet

[sanddrag]

We have a ~2.6 TB redundant array NAS on the school network, that we use locally for all our files. We don't do too much work offsite. We just use network shares, however we've had some issues with revision and user control on CAD, so we'd like to try Vault for 2013.

[dcarr]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

We have a ~2.6 TB redundant array NAS on the school network

Wow, I'm quite certain that is bigger than what our entire school has for 1200 students and faculty.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by dcarr

Wow, I'm quite certain that is bigger than what our entire school has for 1200 students and faculty.

We wanted a solution that would last several years. And with videos, photos, and program installs, you can actually fill a couple terabytes rather quickly. Our server is only four 1TB drives.... When we put it in back in the summer, it was the best server in our whole science and technology magnet school of nearly identical size to yours. The funny part is, it was some company's trash essentially that they were scrapping out on eBay. It's a 2U dual CPU motherboard with two Xeon dual-core processors and 8 gigs of RAM. We have $350 into it total including the drives. Now if only I could get our building on a gigabit switch, and student VPN access.

[dcarr]

Sounds like a great setup.

Originally Posted by sanddrag

student VPN access.

For what exactly?

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by dcarr

For what exactly?

The idea is that from home you would VPN into the school's network and then mount the network share so it will act like a local drive. So, files are never actually on any local machines. They are all on the server, which is accessed from any local machine.

[Cory]

Tortoise SVN with Solidworks until 2012

Currently Solidworks PDM

[dcarr]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

I should add that I spent hours upon hours looking for an open-source privately-hosted cloud solution and gave owncloud a try, and while it's fantastic in concept, I found it to be rather undeveloped and unsuitable for our needs.

It was pretty unrefined when we started using it last summer, but we've kept up with the latest versions and it's gotten much better. The mobile apps need work though, especially viewing photos is a multi-step process unlike Dropbox.

[FrankJ]

We found a friendly sponsor that let us put a server on their network & run vault.

School has too many IT issues to run vault on their network.

[AllenGregoryIV]

We actually have been using Google drive with pretty good success this year. We have an overall folder shared with all the CAD team and then each member has there own folder. When you need something you just copy it out of their folder (Don't edit directly it will break stuff). It's not a perfect solution but it's quick to setup and works decently enough if you don't have a server.

[splatter]

we had and older dell desktop with windows xp and we set up a shared folder hooked the desktop up to its own router and when you want to share files we just log connect to the wifi of the machine.