cloning my iMac

[zoran]

When going for long term holidays, i want to have all of my files with me, so i can continue doing work from there. But im not talking about remotely connecting to my home computer, nor carrying the 27"iMac with me. I guess i could just get a MacBookPro and connect it to some display and have all my iMac files in it.
But how would i do that, what are my options in doing it? Can i just sync the Macbook with all my iMac's files, kinda clone it, so the whole look n feel would be like working on the iMac? And then when i return home i could just sync back the Macbook's files to my iMac?

 

[chrfr]

But how would i do that, what are my options in doing it? Can i just sync the Macbook with all my iMac's files, kinda clone it, so the whole look n feel would be like working on the iMac? And then when i return home i could just sync back the Macbook's files to my iMac?

Your use case is exactly why cloud services exist. Put your files in iCloud Drive/Dropbox/OneDrive and they sync between computers automatically.

 

[zoran]

Transfer all personal data to a Cloud doesnt sound like a good idea to me. Plus the fact im not talking about 2-3GB but 8-10TB. Can this whole process be done manually?

 

[LuisN]

Transfer all personal data to a Cloud doesnt sound like a good idea to me. Plus the fact im not talking about 2-3GB but 8-10TB. Can this whole process be done manually?

So, you are saying you're not using external drives for all your data? All that in internal drive?

 

[Fishrrman]

Get an external drive

Get either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper
(both are free to download for 30 days, this will cost you nothing)

Use either CCC or SD to create a bootable clone of your iMac drive onto the external drive.

Now you can just plug that into your MacBook to access the files.

A possible tip to eliminate any permissions problems:
- connect the cloned backup to the MacBook
- click ONE TIME on its icon to select it
- type "command-i" (eye) to bring up the "get info" box
- at the bottom of get info, click the lock and enter your password (the one you use on the MacBook)
- in "sharing and permissions", put a check into "ignore ownership on this volume"
- close get info

Now you can copy data from the drive, change it if you need to, and copy it back over to the external drive without any permissions problems.

This scenario should work well on your trip.

 

[chrfr]

Transfer all personal data to a Cloud doesnt sound like a good idea to me. Plus the fact im not talking about 2-3GB but 8-10TB. Can this whole process be done manually?

No cloud service offers 10TB of capacity. Dropbox has a 3TB tier.
There's no way to put 8-10TB on a laptop or in an iMac either. How are you handling that storage now?

 

[zoran]

Yeah guys you are absolutely correct, i am using external drives for all the capacity im referring to. The iMac only has 1.5TB of data.

 

[chrfr]

Yeah guys you are absolutely correct, i am using external drives for all the capacity im referring to. The iMac only has 1.5TB of data.

I'd consider not carrying 10TB of external drives on your trip but instead put the files you actively need to do work in a cloud service. This would avoid the hassle of carrying the external drives and reduce the risk of losing that data.

 

[zoran]

Not a bad idea, its just that i prefer not to upload my work to a cloud service... i guess i can use a flash drive for the critical files.
And to be frank, i was expecting that Apple would have an app in OSX, that could just clone my iMac to my MacBookPro.

 

[chrfr]

Not a bad idea, its just that i prefer not to upload my work to a cloud service... i guess i can use a flash drive for the critical files.
And to be frank, i was expecting that Apple would have an app in OSX, that could just clone my iMac to my MacBookPro.

There’s Migration Assistant and Disk Utility, but neither will solve the problem that the files you’re looking to use on both computers aren’t actually stored on either computer but are actually on external disks.

 

[Taz Mangus]

And to be frank, i was expecting that Apple would have an app in OSX, that could just clone my iMac to my MacBookPro.

If you want to clone one system to another there are apps like Carbon Cooy Cloner that will do that.