Some newer routers now come with USB ports (usually one, sometimes two) which can be used to put printers on your local LAN or USB HDD's for storage available to all users on the network.  I've looked at several manufacturers who build these routers and nowhere have I seen any reference to syncing files.  If I plug an HDD into one of these USB ports it will allow me to view the contents of the HDD but will it allow me to sync a file or files to all computers on the LAN?  If that capability isn't built-in to the router, is there software that can be used with the router to accomplish syncing?

I suppose I could just put the file(s) on the USB HDD and have each computer reference that drive for access to the file(s) but I'm not really comfortable with that.  I'm currently using WUALA (http://www.lacie.com/us/more/?id=10097) to keep the file(s) synced,  which works just fine but I'd rather keep the file(s) local rather than in the cloud.Even if you had a high END NAS device there is software on each PC that connects to it that manages the sync. These NAS devices themselves do not search for the PC to UPDATE.

I have used simple batch files to sync data, but this is not automatic and it requires me to launch it.

But also my complaint with the sync programs out there is that while it may be great to DOCK to your network and sync up, there are times when this is a problem. This is when the network is conjested with data transfer for the sync between the NAS (Network Attached Storage Device )and the PC and so you have to wait for the sync to complete before you can use the PC for any other heavy network load or (HDD or SSD) load because the system is busy with the sync. And ones I have worked with in the past for syncing data automatically want to do this at start up of the computer and so you are looking at longer times to boot the system to a functional desktop to check e-mail etc because the minute the sync service triggers it is performing this sync and so it slows the computers performance while also trying to load other services and this has somewhat crippled systems I dealt with in the past. Also on shutdown of the systems with the sync service, it once again is slowed to make sure that the data between the local PC and the NAS updates before shutdown. Better sync software will check periodically while the service is running to update the NAS which what was last modified locally, but those that dont really drag down boot and shutdown performance.

So my preference is not to have it automatic and instead chose to do this when I am walking away for a minute or for 30 minutes on a LUNCH break etc so that its doing this when I am not needing the full power of the PC.

*Also, the time it takes to sync is dependent on the volume of data that has been added, removed, or altered. So if you just have a couple MS Word files that are like 10MB in size total it will sync fast, while if you are video editing or performing graphics projects with many large files that get altered your looking at a longer time to sync.

My experience with these sync programs was with application for a Graphics / Video Editing Department at a business that issued laptops to the graphic artists and video editors and so they could work on their digital artwork / edits anywhere, but when they docked their laptops there could be data in the GIGABYTES to sync between the NAS and the Laptop.Hmmm, well thanks Dave.  I had no idea the sync overhead would compromise the speed of everything, although I suppose in hindsight it makes perfect sense.  I guess I'll stick with WUALA.  It works well and doesn't cause any noticeable slowdown in anything I do (which isn't much).  I'm using it just to maintain sync between our two computers on a password vault file.  It's just that I was considering getting a new router and was looking for an excuse to do that.  But, other than not having a USB port, the router I'm using works perfectly well.

Thanks for your input.I use Karen's Replicator to do exactly why you are trying to do.