WorkBench allows you to work online (working with a real drive) or offline (working without any drive hardware).
Online Drive
An "online drive" means that WorkBench is working with a specific physical drive on your network.
Each online drive can either be connected to WorkBench (WorkBench has an active connection with the drive and data is being passed between WorkBench and the drive) or it can be disconnected (there is no communication between WorkBench and the drive). If communications are lost (for example a network cable is disconnected) with a drive then WorkBench will switch the drive to the disconnected state.
Only one PC can be connected to a drive at a time.
Offline Drive
An offline drive allows you to use WorkBench without having any drive hardware. The parameters of a drive are simulated within WorkBench. An offline drive allows you to create a drive configuration as well as explore the different screens within WorkBench. Because this is a simulation, there are a number of operations that are not possible (for example commanding motion).
Switching Between Online and Offline
WorkBench does not allow you to change a drive instance from offline or online. If you wish to move a configuration between two devices that you can save the parameters to a file and then import this parameter file into a new drive you have created.
