Is it possible to have only one folder?

[jimmyfarmer123]

Here is my dilemma, any help would be appreciated.

I have an external hard drive connected to my router in which my desktop and laptop both back up to. Right now it's not so bad, but once my kids start using laptops and backing up their files, I fear it's going to get confusing for everyone so I'm trying to keep it as simple as I can.

Basically, on the external drive I had a documents, pictures and videos folder in which both the desktop and laptops would do two way syncs into. This worked great and is exactly what I want, the problem is, the hard drive on the laptop isn't as big as the desktop and it gets full if I do that.

I currently have it so that there is "desktop documents" and a "laptop documents" folder on the external drive. Is there a way to do this so that there is only one "documents' folder on the external drive so that it's not doing a full two way sync with my laptop?

My end goal would be to have it so that regardless of which computer I'm using, I always have the most up to date files on the local drive and then the backup is on the external drive.

I'm thinking there has to be a way to do this, but I'm just blanking in my mind on how to do it.

[xCSxXenon]

You may want to switch to 'update' mode instead of two-way

[Plerry]

You don't need to sync your entire laptop and desktop to your external drive.
You are free to limit the scope of your syncs, either by:
• using multiple, more specific left-right base folder pairs
• using the Include and/or Exclude Filter

[jimmyfarmer123]

You may want to switch to 'update' mode instead of two-way

I read the help regarding "update" mode, but that won't do what I'm trying to accomplish. That won't allow me to have the most up to date version of my files on my local drive

[jimmyfarmer123]

You don't need to sync your entire laptop and desktop to your external drive.
You are free to limit the scope of your syncs, either by:
• using multiple, more specific left-right base folder pairs
• using the Include and/or Exclude Filter

I am not syncing my entire laptop and desktop, I am only backing up my personal files that I want to have a backup of.
My wife has a tonne of pictures and videos, that's where the problem lies because using two way sync they fill up the laptop hard drive in no time.

I did play around with the custom settings, I think that could work. I would have to make it so that my laptop was backing up pictures and videos to the external drive, but it wouldn't have a two way sync back to the laptop.

I think the only way to have my ideal scenario of the most up to date files on each local hard drive would be to install a larger hard drive in the laptop. The idea of three copies of the data is nice, but it's probably overkill.

I'll play around with the custom settings and try it out for a while and see if things work out the way I want.