"Tx2" wrote in message
T...

I'm soon getting a desktop replacement laptop, and I then intend to use
my desktop PC as my home network backup machine, running all my files
from my laptop.

I'm not in a position to run a domain (lack of software, lack of funds,
lack of enthusiasm) but merely a workgroup, and therefore i would like a
util that does something similar to what 'offline files' does when using
a domain - that is, I need the files to sync on the laptop and the
backup machine when i both logon and logoff the laptop, so that any
changes I've made to data on the laptop will be reflected to the backup
machine and vice versa. The latter is going to be a lot less frequent.

The option to also sync during the logon session would also be good, as
i don't neccesarily want to have to log on/off when I've done a load of
work just to keep the backup machine up-to-date.

The backup machine itself will then run overnight backups to NAS
devices.

I don't know of a "well integrated" solution to your problem. But I know of
one that will work.

I use "rsync" for doing backups and synchronization. It's a utility designed
to compare files on one host with those on another, and then bring them into
sync.

There is a Windows version available as part of the Cygwin installation.
It's not hard to use, but it's definitely NOT point-and-click. You need to
do some scripting using the Unix-like shell provided with Cygwin.

Also, note that you must decide which of the two filesets is the master and
which is the slave. When youc finish using the laptop, you'd want it's file
to be master, and you'd push updated files to your other box. At other
times, you'd want the laptop to be slave, and you'd pull updated files from
the other box.

If this is a suitable solution, write back for more information.