Comments on: Syncing Data on Multiple Macs

By: Daisy

Daisy — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 14:11:31 +0000

I don’t know what you guys are calling light and heavy but for reference, I have about 10GB of working documents (word, powerpoint, excel) + images which I keep in sync.

I like to keep things as simple as possible so just use .Mac’s automated syncing ,it’s instantaneous enough for me. I use it across an Imac and a Macbook Air - the only thing I do is double check the last time the machine synced with Idisk before I shut down.

For backups, I still haven’t got around to working out Time Machine (!) but I’m not sure I’d trust it either. I do have a weekly schedule set up on Back up, but I’m paranoid so do a regular manual back up, as the syncing means there’s a local copy, it only takes a teeny bit of time to copy the entire Idisk to another part of my Imac’s hard drive and/or an external disk. It does eat up hard drive on my Idisk but I have tons left and when I start running low, I’ll delete some of the older back ups.

By: Justy

Justy — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:48:42 +0000

It seems the “.Mac for lightweight data, Chronosync for heavy data” approach is a common one- I certainly use it.

The issue becomes when to sync- i.e. as often as convenient, and whenever you go in/out of the office. This is important because syncing (even just the comparison phase) doesn’t happen ‘instantaneously’, and when you multiply this delay by the number of separate things you wish to synchronise, it does add up.

I like the idea of syncing when a volume connects, -it’d be nice to have a ‘before disconnect’ option; of course it’d be weird to wait for CS to fire up and do its thing before the volume is ejected, but I’d be happy to pay that price! There’s got to be a hack somewhere out there to do this!

By: Jono

Jono — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:29:52 +0000

I do pretty much the same thing between my Macs.

.Mac to sync preferences, bookmarks, contacs etc. Then use ChronoSync to sync my home folder between the different Macs.

I also use ChronoSync to backup important files (quite a lot of my home folder but not everything) to my iDisk every night for an off site backup.

By: MacSparky

MacSparky — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:33:56 +0000

You got it right. I have all my applications pointed at the local documents folder. I don’t access the iDisk directly, although I do have syncing turned on. So when I know I’m done with the MacBook Pro and switching over to the air, I fire up Chronosync and sync up the local “documents” items with their counterparts on the iDisk. Chronosync only updates those files that have changed.

Then when I log into the MacBook Air, I load up chronosync and it pulls those changed files down to my MBA local “documents” folder and I’m good to go. It can be a little more tedious than just using the iDisk, but I think it is probably safer.

Like I said though, I’m just figuring it out and I’m sure the process will get refined as I go on.

By: Adam

Adam — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:44:04 +0000

Hi David. I am curious to hear more of a detailed explanation of your current “2-Mac” backup solution. I too am new to “2 Macs” - and in fact, I am very new to Macs in general. I’m getting it down fairly easily, but I’m a bit stuck on the best way to truly Sync my iMac and my MBA. I signed up for a .Mac account and have my iDisk setup on both machines. However, from what I am reading, using the “automatic” iDisk Sync built into the OS isn’t as reliable as I may need (I’m syncing just Word, Excel, PDF’s and other day-to-day business documents).

From what I read in your Blog post, you are using ChronoSync to Sync your local documents directly to your web-based iDisk folder…? Or to your local iDisk image, and then letting iDisk Sync its local image back up to the server? Then, when you get to your 2nd Mac, you are using iDisk’s Sync to bring the most recent files down to the local iDisk image on your Mac, and then using ChronoSync to sync this over to your local Documents folder on the 2nd Mac?

Do I have this right? Thanks in advance for all you do for the user community.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:50:31 +0000

As with so many of the issues you raise in your posts David, I am very interested in how you make your way on this one. Indeed, I think that you are highlighting a missing link in my Mac workflow evolution. I love the .mac synchronization of my .mac email flawlessly on all three of the Macs that I use regularly. However, without having really invested too much time in trying to work with iDisk, my impression is that there is not a comparably simple and reliable means of synching data files and for that reason I keep all my working data files (about 30-40 GBs) on one MBP that goes where I go (and I keep it backed up with Time Machine and Superduper on two external drives, one at work, one at home). Were there a synching option easy and reliable as .mac email, I would run, not walk, to the Apple Store and get a MB Air; and such data synching would open a lot more avenues for more flexible use of my various Macs. Looking forward to hearing more about how you get over or around this hurdle.