[manofsteel300]

Hello all!

I am going to college this sunday (eek!). I intend to bring along my trusty b&w, which is my main computer at home. In addition I am going to bring a pismo laptop to take notes on in class and use at the library. The pismo is empty, has a newly installed copy of 10.3, software updated to 10.3.5.

I am wondering what software I need to purchase, if any, to be able sync the two computers. Basically, I want my documents, application preferences, etc from the b&w to be mirrored on the laptop. I want to be able to take my laptop to class, have access to the same applications and files that are currently stored on my desktop. I want to be able to open up mail, and read and write emails, and then come back to my dorm room and see the same changes on my desktop. Same goes for Adium chat logs. I continue to work on a file that i started in class on my desktop, and then the next day, i want to see the updated file on the laptop. etc etc. you get the point.

Is this possible? My desktop will be the one connected to the wall in my dorm, and since we aren't allowed to bring routers, I will use my ethernet hub to connect the pismo and the b&w. I guess it would be nice that whenever i connect the pismo back onto my little internal network, it syncs with the b&w.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Gerrit Vanoppen]

Originally posted by manofsteel300:
Hello all!
I am wondering what software I need to purchase, if any, to be able sync the two computers. Basically, I want my documents, application preferences, etc from the b&w to be mirrored on the laptop. I want to be able to take my laptop to class, have access to the same applications and files that are currently stored on my desktop. I want to be able to open up mail, and read and write emails, and then come back to my dorm room and see the same changes on my desktop. Same goes for Adium chat logs. I continue to work on a file that i started in class on my desktop, and then the next day, i want to see the updated file on the laptop. etc etc. you get the point.
Thanks in advance for any help!

Sounds like a real typical sync job. I'm using ChronoSync

[manofsteel300]

Fast reply :-) thanks!

Are you happy with the software? Would i have it sync my user preference folder and that would take care of Mail?

[Gerrit Vanoppen]

Originally posted by manofsteel300:
Fast reply :-) thanks!

Are you happy with the software? Would i have it sync my user preference folder and that would take care of Mail?

Absolutely happy. During demo period people over at Econ have been very helpfull.

I've set up schedules on my office G4 for daily backup to an external firewire drive and daily sync with my iBook. Backup typically takes 2-3 min, sync about half that time (about 20 GB data).

The schedules include the full user folder (so yes, pref folder, mail... all is taken care of), the main library folder, the app folder (for MS templates etc). You can create rules that skip certain types of files like p.e. app, cache etc. You can automatically mount/unmount network volumes.

Schedules are really easy to create, simply drag 'n drop.

An alternative could be Apple's Backup that comes with a .mac subscription.

[manofsteel300]

I guess i would like it to sync the whole user folder, but not the movies folder in the user folder. Is it possible to exclude subfolders instead of file types?

[Gerrit Vanoppen]

Originally posted by manofsteel300:
I guess i would like it to sync the whole user folder, but not the movies folder in the user folder. Is it possible to exclude subfolders instead of file types?

Sorry for having been incomplete.

There are rules for :
- filename is, is not, contains...
- filename extension is , is not, contains...
- data size is equal, greater, less
- date/time last modified
- OS Type/creator codes (no need to memorize these, just drop a file to have its attributes captured by the schedule rules)

BTW, you can download a demo with certain limitations.

[bergy]

For your info .... here are some more syncing apps ...

Tri - Backup
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/4874

I use ...

iMsafe
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/8874

Make your first backup and then do "copy only changed files"
for incremental backups ... Do not check "remove obsolete files"

[manofsteel300]

iMsafe looks pretty, but, it syncs only in one direction right? If i then decide to update something on the laptop, would iMsafe look at the syncronized disk and update backwards?

[Old Toad]

Take a look a Synk. It has a lot of options and is very easy to use.

[jonzilla]

I second that, Synk's interface is very user-friendly and does the job very well. Do try it out.