How to make a working copy of a SharePoint 2010 document library?

Question

I'm looking for a way to make a local working copy of a document library placed on SharePoint 2010 server. An approach I keep in mind is similar to the one used in source code management systems like git, SVN, etc. I want to copy a library to a local drive with ability to update that copy from time to time without downloading whole library at every update. It also would be useful if there was a way to lock existing document right from the local copy, make some changes in it, commit these changes and then unlock the document, or upload all new documents added to the local copy to the server at once. Is it possible to make that having Windows 7 on a local computer?

Answer 1

I've made some investigation and found that SharePoint provides an ability to mount a document library as a network drive. You should just put URL of a library from address bar of your browser when mounting a drive. MS Word and Excel recognize documents placed on such drive as placed in SharePoint and provide functionality to lock/unlock them. Actually it's even more convenient way than checking out the library onto a local drive.