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gif32 · Oct 17, 2005, 06:59 PM

I'm considering purchasing a second Mac so I can keep one at home and one at work and quit beating up my PowerBook.

Here's the million dollar question:

Is it easy to keep data (documents, iPhoto library, iTunes library, etc) in sync between two Macs? I know .mac will do iCal, Safari, and Address book, but is there some way to use an external hard drive to just shuttle data back and forth?

If I was careful I'm sure I could handle the documents part manually, but the iPhoto and iTunes libraries don't seem like they'd make it easy.

Let's see if something good comes out tomorrow (Tue 18 Oct)! Hopefully there's an easy way (either Apple or third-party) to do what I want to do.

Thanks,
-gif

gif32 · Oct 17, 2005, 07:08 PM

Oh and Mail too ... that's a big one. I just discovered ChronoSync, but how does it handle something like Mail?

CatOne · Oct 18, 2005, 10:59 AM

Originally Posted by gif32

Oh and Mail too ... that's a big one. I just discovered ChronoSync, but how does it handle something like Mail?

You should use IMAP if you want to synchronize mail. That what IMAP is designed for.

ChronoSync may work okay for Mail synchronization -- I use it all the time, though I don't sync mail folders regularly. Synchronizing the mail files (each email is a file in 10.4 -- this is NOT the case in 10.3, I can guarantee you couldn't sync mail in 10.3!) would be easy enough, but I don't know how the index files would work. IMAP is the way here, trust me.

Anyway, synchronizing other files with ChronoSync is a cinch. I highly recommend it, and Econ's upgrade policy is excellent.

You can synchronize Safari bookmarks, Address Book contacts, Mail accounts (the accounts, not the messages!), etc., if you have a .Mac subscription. And also you could use an iDisk and set it up for auto sync and have everything not only synchronized between 2 machines, but also backed up off site (1 GB limit for $99/year, 2 GB limit for $149/year I think).

tomrock · Oct 19, 2005, 11:19 AM

You could also put your Home folder on an external disk. Use Netinfo to point to the external drive. But you'd always have to have the external connected to make this work.

Randman · Oct 19, 2005, 02:58 PM

Mail can be synced with .Mac.

As far as iPhoto and iTunes, both are quite easy to do manually. Get a FireWire cable and connect the two.

Jonesy · Oct 22, 2005, 05:04 PM

I am also looking at the various synchronisation applications out there at the moment. I have a Powerbook and a Powermac and I want to sync directly between the two. I have downloaded a few of them and Chronosync looks good. File Synchronization also looks pretty good. Does anyone else use one of these apps?

Salty · Oct 23, 2005, 10:17 AM

I heard about a Unixy app called unison a while ago when i was looking at doing this. I really think Apple should add this as a big feature in OS X.5 The ability to have a Mac desktop and a laptop and have certain folders sync by default.

Jonesy · Oct 24, 2005, 07:12 AM

I agree. This is something which was found in OS 9 and we lost in OS X. I miss it. Backup helps to ensure I don't lose things but it would be convenient to have a good app to do it for me.

Personally I really like the look of ChronoSync but I would like to have people's views before I go for one. What I want has to be user-friendly and idiot proof like the old OS 9 application.