Any "best practice" for sharing files in same PC?

[davexnet]

I was wondering what might be the recommended way of sharing some music files amongst
two or more users in the same PC?  For now, I've set up a new folder ("music") off of the root directory,
set the necessary permissions and both myself and my son can play the music.

Is this the recommended way to accomplish this?  Doesn't Linux come with any default
shared folders for this purpose?

Thanks.

[µT6]

i would have a ext4 partition to store files like this and leave it with read/write permission to everyone if it can be done

i prefer not to touch the / partition

depending on how you partitioned the hard disk, you can run out of space by doing that, if you have /home partition, maybe you can add a folder on that partition that can be accessed by all users on your machine

another way could be have a extra hard disk, easy to do when you have a unused hard disk that can be added to your desktop pc but almost impossible to do with a laptop

[davexnet]

Thanks for responding.  I set up PCLOS on an existing Windows PC and I did the most basic
Linux install, two partitions, one swap partition and another for the OS and all the home locations.
(This HDD is shared with Vista and XP partitions) Based on this simple partitioning, where would you put the
shared music ?

I've heard before about the benefits of home partitions, but I've yet to set it up this way.
If I ever do it again, I'll remember.  I have a second HDD in the PC, with two NTFS
partitions on it - they contain data, and they're mainly used by the Windows OS's.

What ever player I use to play music in PCLOS (Amarok or Clementine - not sure which I prefer)
I guess an alternate option would be to move the music to the 2nd drive and one of the NTFS
partitions.  I assume this would be pretty transparent to PCLOS and the music app. ?
Then I wouldn't have to bother about permissions at all.

[µT6]

if you trust on those ntfs partitions and the music app is ok with it, the xp partition is ok i think, be sure to set that partition to automount

[davexnet]

Thank you µT6.

I *think* they automount at the moment.  Certainly when I open Dolphin, they're all there on the left.
I see with my limited partition structure (root and home altogether, etc)  It's not as convenient
to setup the shared folder within PCLOS.

I set it off the root folder, but I don''t really like it too much either.
OK - I see my choice.  Since I'm not going to allocate any more partitons due to lack of space
nor reconfigure /home at this time, I'll have to leave it as-is or just create a folder in the
2nd drive somewhere.
Cheers,
Dave

[Waldo22]

Dropbox is a possibility too...

[sling-shot]

I *think* they automount at the moment.  Certainly when I open Dolphin, they're all there on the left.

That is not the case. They are just recognized partitions / devices. Unless specifically told, they are not mounted.

Whenever you put your music onto a partition which is not automatically mounted, you will need to click on that partition icon in Dolphin first to mount it and then open your music player. Otherwise, music will not play

Else, you could just tell KDE to automount your partition at login. Go to Configure Your Desktop / System Settings > Removable Devices. Here enable the checkbox at the top to Enable automatic mounting of removable media. Then scroll down the list to the particular partition where your music will be and put tick.

Else, you could also put an entry into /etc/fstab file to do this even before login. The exact procedure has been explained by Old-Polack and others many times in this forum.

[Just17]

Because the OS and the /home files are on the one partition, I see nothing at all wrong with having your music on the same partition and giving permission to all users to access that music directory.

In fact it seems the easiest and most convenient way to do things in your set up.

[µT6]

so you suggest to put the music folder inside the /home folder?

with this partition configuration, i think it is even better than what i mentioned previously

i mentioned to put it on a xp partition, just because it will be available for the 3 os he mentions he has

[Just17]

so you suggest to put the music folder inside the /home folder?

with this partition configuration, i think it is even better than what i mentioned previously

i mentioned to put it on a xp partition, just because it will be available for the 3 os he mentions he has

I see no difficulty in that setup in having   /Music  but .........

Maybe /home/Music would be easier to manage with all users permitted access ......  it might be advisable to only give the admin/'main user' read & write permissions and all other users read only permissions.

[µT6]

that sounds good unless each user should have rights to delete or add songs, edit information or add images to the songs

if he uses a ntfs partition, there won't be permissions to administer

i guess it depends on what he wants to do with the permissions of the files

[Just17]

that sounds good unless each user should have rights to delete or add songs, edit information or add images to the songs

if he uses a ntfs partition, there won't be permissions to administer

i guess it depends on what he wants to do with the permissions of the files

I based my permissions comment on what I would want ......  the music is MINE, but I allow others to play the music, but not to delete or otherwise interfere with the files 

[Tony]

davexnet, it kind of sounds like you're going out of your way, entering your 'minimal' Linux install, to play and share Music when; you have two Win OS's from which it seems more logical to play your Music ?

It's good to install PCLinuxOS in any form, just to play around however, it is always a learning experience, please don't take me the wrong way. Whatever you do has its advantages, and disadvantages, and I think  µT6, and Just17 have covered your options. My main concern seems to be 'Space.'

Without knowing how large the Linux partition is, and how much Media you intend to place there, it's hard to know what to recommend. Suppose personally I wouldn't store 'Music' on a little Linux partitition, rather leaving breathing space for System Updates; storing Music, Media, etc., on a larger Volume. Just my two cents.
Have fun any how !  

I set up PCLOS on an existing Windows PC and I did the most basic
Linux install, two partitions, one swap partition and another for the OS and all the home locations.