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My IT department provides me with space on a file share on a server, which is backed up. Ideally I would like to work straight out of this directory because then backups are not my responsibility. However, running a build of my project takes 5 to 10 times as long if I do this.

I tried using the "make available offline" option but this did not improve the performance.

I tried setting up a daily job to copy my files over, but this puts responsibility for backups back in my hands, and if I do it wrong I could lose data.

Is there any way to transparently use files on a file share locally, while getting the benefit of automatic syncing? There is only one user (me) that should be using these files.

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    Have you spoken to your IT department? Server Fault is really for them to ask if they've already tried everything they can think of to improve performance and you're still not happy. Your question as a power user is really more suited to SuperUser - I'll migrate this over there where you might get some better answers.
    – voretaq7
    Feb 23, 2012 at 17:00

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Assuming that a copy of the project requires less time than the factor of 5 to 10 you describe, add a robocopy statement to mirror your project files to local storage to the beginning of your build script. You will still be doing all of your work on the backed up folders, and changes will be rapidly copied down since most of the files will already be in place. In the event of a loss of the local files, you can continue on your merry way with a coffee break while the whole project copies down again at the beginning of the next build.

robocopy \\server\share\myproject c:\myproject /E /Z /R:1 /W:1 /NP

To sum up: Edit the files on the server, mirror them locally only for the build process.

Other things to consider: version control software, an automated build server - These subjects are best addressed in Stack Overflow. The original question is best addressed in SuperUser, consider moving it there.

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