Best way to get these files to sync?

[soulred12]

I've been working with a MBP early 2008 (pre-unibody) for a while now.

It's starting to show signs of a good deal of wear, so I'm looking to buy another computer soon. I'm interested in getting myself an iMac, at least when the next generation comes out (which should be soon since it's been a long time since the last generation was introduced, almost a year I think).

I use dropbox to sync all my university files between my MBP, iPad, and PC. But I have a good number of Garageband projects (as well as a number of other documents, etc.) that I'd like to be able to sync between Macs when I get the new iMac. What's the best way to do this? Does iCloud sync garageband files as part of the "documents and data" option? What about the "documents" folder? Can I tell iCloud to sync other folders that I need to leave in place (i.e., that I can't move into the dropbox folder or that would be too big for dropbox, as the garageband files might be)?

 

[Macman45]

You could create a VPN between your mac at home, and your newbie at college. This would allow access to all the files on your old Mac...You would need to enable file sharing on your old Mac:

https://www.publicvpn.com/support/MacOS10.4pptp.php

 

[And1ss]

In my opinion, I think it'll be less of a hassle to resolve your issue if you pay to increase your dropbox account.

 

[floling]

usually you dont change the source files of the audio project, but just the song-edit file...
what about using a small 2.5inch harddrive to keep them sync?


cheers

 

[KylePowers]

Go spam your dropbox referral link to all your friends. With a verified university email, you can get double the amount of referral space (and it's retroactive). You can get up to 16GB, let alone all the other ways to get free space.

I'm at 13GB, but 5GB were from beta testing the latest version. So if I maxed my referrals, I could be at 24GB which is actually a decent amount for syncing important documents and whatnot. I also think if someone you refer signs up for a paid account, you get an additional bonus. So I'd look into all that.

 

[soulred12]

You could create a VPN between your mac at home, and your newbie at college. This would allow access to all the files on your old Mac...You would need to enable file sharing on your old Mac:

https://www.publicvpn.com/support/MacOS10.4pptp.php

Thanks for the link, but I'd rather not enable file sharing, and I don't think I really want to take the time to set up a VPN either esp. since I'm not so sure what that is or how it works. Also that link is for OSX 10.4, whereas my current MBP is running OSX 10.7.3.

And, I really want something to sync for me automatically rather than having to continually copy back and forth manually. I'm always afraid of starting to work on an older version of e.g. a song and then having to discover later when I overwrite what was the current version that I lost some changes I made.

usually you dont change the source files of the audio project, but just the song-edit file...
what about using a small 2.5inch harddrive to keep them sync?


cheers

But since GB project files are contained in "packages," won't any change in the song cause Dropbox to think it needs to reupload the whole package? Or will it treat the packages as regular folders and only upload the individual files that have been modified?

In my opinion, I think it'll be less of a hassle to resolve your issue if you pay to increase your dropbox account.

Go spam your dropbox referral link to all your friends. With a verified university email, you can get double the amount of referral space (and it's retroactive). You can get up to 16GB, let alone all the other ways to get free space.

I'm at 13GB, but 5GB were from beta testing the latest version. So if I maxed my referrals, I could be at 24GB which is actually a decent amount for syncing important documents and whatnot. I also think if someone you refer signs up for a paid account, you get an additional bonus. So I'd look into all that.

I have actually verified my school email address with them but I haven't had much luck with the referrals. Right now I'm only at 3.75GB...guess most of my friends either already have it or aren't interested. If I could manage to get more it might work. And I suppose $100/year isn't too bad to get 50GB and all the other benefits, but...well that still leaves out things like my documents folder and other folders that need to stay where they are (i.e., ones that can't be moved inside the dropbox folder).

I suppose currently dropbox is the best option but not quite perfect...

 

[KylePowers]

I have actually verified my school email address with them but I haven't had much luck with the referrals. Right now I'm only at 3.75GB...guess most of my friends either already have it or aren't interested. If I could manage to get more it might work. And I suppose $100/year isn't too bad to get 50GB and all the other benefits, but...well that still leaves out things like my documents folder and other folders that need to stay where they are (i.e., ones that can't be moved inside the dropbox folder).

I suppose currently dropbox is the best option but not quite perfect...

I just found this and have never used it (yet..), but you can actually sync files and folders outside your Dropbox folder. The manual way has to do with making symbolic links or something, but there's an application that apparently does this fairly easily - http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/37029/macdropany

Here's a year old review about it- http://www.macworld.com/article/157939/2011/02/macdropany.html

And here's a Lifehacker article about it- http://lifehacker.com/5756226/macdropany-syncs-local-folders-with-your-dropbox-account

 

[soulred12]

I just found this and have never used it (yet..), but you can actually sync files and folders outside your Dropbox folder. The manual way has to do with making symbolic links or something, but there's an application that apparently does this fairly easily - http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/37029/macdropany

Here's a year old review about it- http://www.macworld.com/article/157939/2011/02/macdropany.html

And here's a Lifehacker article about it- http://lifehacker.com/5756226/macdropany-syncs-local-folders-with-your-dropbox-account

Wow!! This looks fantastic, thank you!!