Accessing Windows offline files

L

lithe951

Member
I have a MBP that I take between the office and home. At work I connect to a Windows network with Windows servers. I have a "home" directory on one of those servers where I store all of my work-related files, because they get backed up every night. I have a network drive in Windows mapped to the server share, so that "H:" connects me directly to that server share. Finally I have enabled Windows Offline Files so that anything on that server folder is automatically synced to my local drive, so I can access them when I'm not on the office network. If you're not familiar with how this works, even when I'm not connected (say, at home) I still have the H: drive mapping and when I open it, I get the same directory structure I see at work, just that the files are being accessed locally. Any changes I make will be synced in the morning when I reconnect to the network.

Here's the problem. I need to get to those files while I'm at home. The cool thing about 3.0 is now my Windows C: drive is accessible right in the Finder. Problem is, no H: drive even though it's still present and accessible from inside Windows apps. I could just start a Windows app and then browse to my files, but I'd much rather stay in the Finder and just open my H: drive and let SmartSelect handle the application.

How can I access an offline-files drive from the Finder? Is it even possible, or am I stuck with the Windows browser instead?

Mark
 
Wow. I guess this isn't a pressing problem for anyone, huh? Offline files are a great way to handle work vs. home, and if there was a comparable capability in OSX it wouldn't be an issue. I guess I'll just have to deal with it.

Mark
 
I'm not sure what "Windows Offline Files" is, a feature or application?
Anyway, where is this "H:" drive -- on your local machine or on the server at work?

If it's at work, you have to be connected to your work network to access it.

If it's on your computer, the driver letter "H" is an arbitrary sequential letter assigned to the drive your computer accesses. It may not always be "H" but a different letter depending on what drives you have at any given time. And I believe the Mac OS does not identify drives with letters but by a drive name. So don't look for an "H:\" drive on the Mac but the drive name. If it's not shown on the Finder, see if it appears on the desktop, then open it from there.
 
Strange, it seems like Parallels would have that support from the wording in the config panel; I have never tried, until now, to do it myself. I took a look, and it seems that it does not take mapped network drives and add them to the finder. It looks like it uses Parallels Explorer interfaced with the finder to open the HD.

Have you taken a look at rsync on the OS X side and using shared folders instead? This is a good resolution so that you have the proper 'file structure' when you go to the files. If you just navigate to the offline files you will find the order rather dismembered.

ChronoSync is a good GUI that uses rsync, there are a bunch of other ones out there as well. This could sync your files to your Mac, and then you could point your Windows via a Shared Folder at the Mac folders. The only issue at that point is offline versus online access unless you use OS Xs built-in sync (which gets a little unreliable if you have GBs and GBs of data). With a little thought it could be resolved in some manner I am sure.
 
Finder access to Windows Offline Files

The problem with accessing the Offline Files is not just based in Parallels not allowing view to networked drives. Even if you see the network drive, Offline Files are converted to a different format for storage and use on a local harddrive as a cache database. The cache is located in a hidden directory. So, even if you can locate the hidden directory, the files in the database would have to be converted back to the original file format for them to be used on the OS X side of the machine.
 
lucerodesign1 said:
The problem with accessing the Offline Files is not just based in Parallels not allowing view to networked drives. Even if you see the network drive, Offline Files are converted to a different format for storage and use on a local harddrive as a cache database. The cache is located in a hidden directory. So, even if you can locate the hidden directory, the files in the database would have to be converted back to the original file format for them to be used on the OS X side of the machine.
Click to expand...

True, but in Windows you can place a shortcut to offline files on the desktop which will open an explorer window listing the files, just as normal. So what I'm wondering is if there is a way to access that shortcut somehow, while remaining in the Mac OS? Failing that, then Parallels will just have to write a way to access the database of files. :)
 
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