MBA to Remote Desktop and Remote Desktop to MBA (I think)...

[jschille]

Hello Mac Users!

I just yesterday purchased my first mac ever (13" MBA). So far, so good - it is definitely a pretty nifty machine.

I am not positive how to word this question, but here we go. Obviously, my MBA doesn't have the largest hard drive, so what I am wanting to do is to be able to have one of my desktops act as a storage unit/place to get files for my MBA.

What I have done so far... I wiped my desktop clean and installed windows 7. I have set up the Remote Desktop Connection and I can access my desktop from anywhere, but this only allows me to use my desktop? It won't allow me to transfer files from my MBA to my Desktop and vise versa (this is what I want to be able to do)?

I am aware of programs out there like dropbox (which I am using), but is there no other way to have my desktop at home (which will always be on and connected to the internet) act as some kind of external hard drive for my mac while I am at work. So, I can be at work, save a file to my mac and have to automatically save to the desktop, where I can later access it on my MBA after deleting it on the MBA? Is this making sense?

Hopefully someone can make sense of what I am trying to ask. Really, I just want my mac to be able to automatically save files on my desktop, and then I want to be able to remotely access those files and upload them to my mac if necessary.

I greatly appreciate the help.

Best,
JB

 

[MacsWork]

You can forward your Macs HD to the Remote PC with the RDP protocol.

Whether you use Microsoft's RDP client for Mac or the open source CoRD program you will have the option to have your Mac's HD show up as a local storage drive in Windows.

 

[jschille]

You can forward your Macs HD to the Remote PC with the RDP protocol.

Whether you use Microsoft's RDP client for Mac or the open source CoRD program you will have the option to have your Mac's HD show up as a local storage drive in Windows.

Thank you for the reply! I will definitely look into it. I recently downloaded and installed Team Viewer which allows me to transfer files back and forth from MBA to desktop. Will using an RDP protocol be easier/better than Team Viewer?

Edit: How does one go about forwarding one's Mac HD to the Remote PC with the Remote Desktop Connection. When I log into my desktop with Remote Desktop Connection, I have only bee able to remotely control my PC and have not found out how to transfer files or forward my Mac HD to the PC for that matter. Thank you!

 

[IvanLasston]

RDP and CoRD will take network setup - whereas team viewer does that behind the scenes for you. Team viewer is the easiest way I've found to transfer files between computers behind firewalls. Use the file transfer that is built into team viewer to accomplish what you want.

 

[jschille]

RDP and CoRD will take network setup - whereas team viewer does that behind the scenes for you. Team viewer is the easiest way I've found to transfer files between computers behind firewalls. Use the file transfer that is built into team viewer to accomplish what you want.

Awesome, thank you for the response. There is no advantage to using RDP then over Team Viewer?

 

[MacsWork]

Teamviewer or LogMeIn Free will do the job.

 

[IvanLasston]

There are advantages of using standard protocols - if you know what you are doing. No offense but from the way you are asking questions - I'd recommend starting with Teamviewer. If you want to learn more about standard protocols do some research - but most people want something easy and secure - and Teamviewer is both.

Teamviewer comes with file sharing whereas you need LogMein Pro for transferring files - which is why I usually recommend teamviewer over Logmein.
https://secure.logmein.com/comparisonchart/comparisonFPP.aspx