Can you sync a MBP and an iMac?

[cleung]

I currently have a MBP and travel A LOT with it. I have started to do a lot of photography post prodution work and would really rather be doing it on a desktop. If I get an iMac or a Mac Pro, is there any way I can sync everything between the two computers? Ultimately, I'd like to get the Apple sub-notebook, travel with it but be able to sync it with the desktop.

Thanks!

 

[mad jew]

There are ways to sync folders via rsync or some such other feature/app. However, I reckon it might be easier for you to use an external drive. That way you can work from the same data each time.

 

[Maui]

It is easy to synch folders or even entire users between systems. You can use native OS X commands if you are comfortable with terminal, or you can use programs like Chronosync or Synchronize! Plus. But, if you shoot a lot of pictures, you will fairly quickly run into space problems on your laptop, so you likely will end up moving instead of synching. The 2 leading photography workflow apps, Aperture and Lightroom, handle this by letting you export projects to the other computer, although they do it very differently. The advantage there is you can create automatic backups during the export projects.

Lots of ways to do what you want.

 

[twoodcc]

there are ways to do this. most aren't free, and the ones that are free, aren't very "user-friendly". but it can be done with a little work

 

[cleung]

Actually, I'm less concerned with the photo files because I will likely leave most of them on the desktop. I'm more concerned about having access to my Excel, Word and Mail everywhere. I don't mind paying as long as I don't need to get a server to house everything! I'll check out Chronosync and Synchronize Plus. Thanks!!

 

[Serge N Gin]

Syncing Multiple Macs

Here are some links for you to consider:

http://sidesh0w.com/weblog/2005/02/02/mac_sync/

http://www.markspace.com/synctogether.php

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61766

http://www.designersdomain.com/filesync/

Filesync (above link) only need be installed on one machine (which one does not matter). The other volume(s) can be mounted from anywhere - network shares, external devices (USB Flash drives, external hard drives) - anything really, as long as it shows in Finder.

http://www.maclive.net/sid/221

Keep in mind that you need to be vigilant about syncing after making any change on either computer. If you make changes in both places and then sync, you're doing to lose some data.

Some people have reported problems with syncing such as during the syncing process, important data can be replaced without you being asked first or the Sync App will "forget" which files get synced and make unnecessary duplicates.

DragThing is another alternative, so is MySync. While Apple has made Mac-to-Mac synchronizing available only to .Mac members. Thanks to MildMannered Industries’ MySync software, you can use Apple’s syncing engine to synchronize two or more networked computers, without .Mac.

After downloading and installing MySync (which may still be public beta) on each machine, you designate one machine as the master (meaning that it serves as the central repository for your data) and all others as slaves. You then launch MySync on each computer, and select the options for the data types you want to sync (see “Another Way to Sync”). Click on Sync Now on each slave machine to synchronize it with the master.

Another Way to Sync If you want to sync data between two or more Macs but don’t have a .Mac account, MySync lets you do it.

 

[cleung]

How about this: put all my files in a shared folder on my MBP and access them from my desktop through the network. Can it be that easy? Or is there something I'm missing?