Awesome, sounds like it's going to be easier than I thought!
The local area/built in file sharing (I assume there the same thing?) route sounds like the best thing for me. That way I don't have to go through any third party service like you said. But I don't really want to have to have a computer on all the time.. Could I just have it so I could send the file from the first computer and then store it to the second computers hard drive? So when I disconnected from the internet it would still be assessable on the second computer?
The computers I have are two Macs (OS version 10.6.8) and two Window 7s. I have to see if I can dig up the documentation on the CISCO Linksys E900.
Thanks for the help Hevans1944 and Gryd3!
Dan
Don't worry about the CISCO documentation. It's rare for routers to be configured in home and small office networks to filter or disallow any internal traffic.
The fun part for you will be getting the MACs talking to the Windows machines
I don't have a lot of experience with MAC so you will need to hang around here more or do some google searching.
I would strongly urge you to set up a Windows computer as a File Sharing computer. (As Linux and MAC can connect to windows shares much easier than windows connecting to MAC or Linux.. :s)
As far as the computer always being on, this is your call. It makes things easier, and you can always have the power settings set to spin down the harddrive and shut down the monitor but remain powered up. This will reduce energy consumption but won't eliminate it. This will also let you get your file without having to wake-up or power on the 'sharing' computer first. Of course, there will be no problem shutting it down, as long as you remember you can't access it's files while it's off.
Oh, and you can certainly send it to any harddrive you want. I'll describe a little more and you can adapt it to what you want / need once you understand how it works.
I have one computer setup to share files (my music mostly), and it's always on.
To share files from windows, you can simply right-click on a file and select 'share with', or go to properties and select the sharing tab. pretty easy here. There are quirks that will get you though
I have right clicked my music folder, so it will automatically share any files and folders inside.
Once complete, I hop on my other windows computer, and simply open a folder or go to 'Computer' or 'My computer' depending on windows version. On the left-hand side there will me an icon labelled 'Network' or 'My network places'. Click on this and wait a few seconds for your computer to search the network for sharing computers and one or more computer icons will show up. The icon will be named the same as the computer doing the sharing, and is set when the computer is first setup. (You can change this later if you wish) Double-click this icon to see what 'files' are being shared, simply double click the file and you should be able to see, and edit all the files in it. You may be prompted for a password, this is the username and password of the main user account on the computer doing the sharing, not the computer you are currently sitting at. If the sharing computer has no password, you will need to change a few options to allow you to share files without a password. If you can view, but can't edit files, hop back on the 'sharing' computer where you right-clicked and shared your folder. Do this again, and you can check 'permissions' to make sure that other people can 'write' or 'save' to your folder.
*Do not share the entire C-Drive or any System folders! (Remember that anyone in the house can potentially access the files you share)
If sharing is currently working, You can either work on your files where they are at, or you can copy/paste them to another folder the exact same way as a jump drive.
Once you have your windows machines talking to each other, attempt the same thing on your MAC. They should be similar steps. Look for a Network, or Network Places and it should find the windows share. Other MAC users may need to help you out here. (I'm windows / Linux based.. no MAC at all for me)
If the MAC cannot connect, there is another setting on the windows machine that would need to be changed. It's tricky to find, but you can give us a shout and we can point out where it's at... it will essentially make windows use a much less-proprietary version if it's file sharing so that Linux and MAC can connect.
So this setup can be done on either windows machine. (Windows recommended)
If you are talking the 'sharing' computer out with you, then you don't need to do anything prior.
If you are taking another machine, you need to make sure the 'sharing' computer it on, then you can access it's files from another machine and pull the files off it it to get ready to leave.
If you want to be able to sit at the 'sharing' computer and push files to the other machines, then you will need to setup your other machines as 'sharing' computers as well. This adds a little to the complexity.
Additionally, there are additional programs to allow you to stay connected to your 'sharing' computer over the internet. These programs are called VPN programs, and will let you share with yourself and remain protected against the bulk of the other internet users.
(I could go into more detail... this is a big subject
)
I would encourage you to try the windows parts first, and post if you get stuck. Once complete, move to your MACs and you should be done in no-time.
(Once you get used to it, you can share files with friends when they bring their computers over so much quicker than with USB drives
)