make USB drive open access

[mbkelly]

Windows XP Pro and Home, SP 3

I have a USB drive that I shuffle between several computers. If I am using the "wrong" account or the wrong computer, I must make a copy of a file in order to edit it. How can I set up the drive so that any of the users can access and edit any of the files on the drive. Yes, I understand the disadvantages, but I want to be able to access all the files from any user where I plug in the drive. There is nothing sensitive on the drive.

Thank you.

 

[vacunita]

Make and Model of the drive would be helpful.

Sounds like a specific feature of your model of drive, as I've never seen a drive that would discriminate amongst PC's and/or Users

Normally they work just as you describe, for all users in all PC's.



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Phil AKA Vacunita
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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[mbkelly]

I will check for that, but I have doubts. When I swap between users on a single computer, I cannot edit files written by another user, even on the C drive. I have a business with a separate email account so I use two accounts on my home pc to keep everything separate. But on ocassion, I need to "cross edit" a file and have problems doing that.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

 

[MasterRacker]

Are you moving or copying files? Moving files under NTFS preserves permissions even if they differ from the destination folder.

Is the USB formatted FAT32 or NTFS. If it's FAT32 you shouldn't have any permission issues.

Jeff
[small][purple]It's never too early to begin preparing for [/purple]International Talk Like a Pirate Day
"The software I buy sucks, The software I write sucks. It's time to give up and have a beer..." - Me[/small]

 

[mbkelly]

The drive is NTSF formated. When I try to edit a file created with another user, Windows says the file is read only. I must make a copy and edit that. Then when I get to the other account, I must delete the old and copy the new to where the old was.

It seems to me I should be able to specify no proections on the drive.

Oh, its an IOMEGA USB drive, small package with 300 G bytes powered from the USB cable.

 

[vacunita]

NTFS preserves the permissions set. If you format the drive FAT32, or go into the NTFS security tab for the drive and set it to everyone you should have no problems.

You may need to do it from Safe Mode if your Windows is the Home version.

Otherwise right clicking on the drive and setting the permissions to Everyone should clear the issues.



----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[dberg35]

What about a shared folder on the network so all can have access without having to use the USB. The problem with a USB drive is if a virus gets on it then it can spread to other pc's.

 

[bkelly13]

NTFS preserves the permissions set. If you format the drive FAT32, or go into the NTFS security tab for the drive and set it to everyone you should have no problems.

I don't find anything that looks like "NTFS security" settings. I open my Power Desk application (a far superior replacement for Windows explorer), right click on the drive, then select properties. Under that is a Sharing tab. After a few more clicks it says I can drag the folder (and I assume the entire drive) to the Shared Documents folder.

I see two problems with there. Frist, when I click the link "Shared Documents" in that window, it opens the directory
"Cocuments and Settings\All Users.WINDOWS\Documents"
It is not "Shared Documents" and I have seen many things screw up on smaller differences that that.

Second: Is thing going to attempt to drag and copy the entire drive to this folder. That is generally what happens when I drag a file or directory somewhere. The whole thing moves. I definitely do not want to do that.

 

[vacunita]

I open my Power Desk application

Not sure how Power Desk works, but if it has no Security Tab, try doing it through regular Windows Explorer.

The tab should look like this:

Click on the Add button and type in Everyone at the textbox.

And no this should not copy anything over, you are just changing the permissions to the drive.



----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[bkelly13]

I am using Windows XP Home. When I right click on a directory then right click and select Sharing and Security, the window I get has General, Sharing, Customize, I do not have the Security. Under Sharing it has the statement "To share this folder with ohter users of this computer only, drag it to the Shared Documents folder.

The words Shared Documents are a link that open the folder C:\Documents and Settings\All Users.WINDOWS\Documents.

If I drag a folder there, it does indeed copy. There is a check box that says Make this folder private, and it is not checked. I am using an Admin account to do this.

Is there anything else I can try.

 

[smah]

Using XP Home, you need to use Safe Mode to set the permissions as mentioned above. Linney has provided links to all the needed info here

http://social.answers.microsoft.com...s/thread/68beafca-cbb5-4611-aab5-c4320d7291ed