Syncing idisk with desktop folders?

[applesuper]

How do I do that? Should I have as I suppose I should a separate app to sync idisk folders to desktop folders, because it would be a bummer to have to run them or auto run them an all computers....

But as I understand only the idisk is synced, well not synced but at least anything you save there will appear on the idisk of the other system. But I d like it to be idisk syncs automatically with folder A on cmputer 1, and then in turn when cmputer 2 is turned on it syncs folder A on computer 2 with the idisk folder.

 

[229665]

iDisk syncing

Hi there,
You're right - as far as I know you can't do this with iDisk; but, in case you're not aware of it, you can do this very easily, and for free, with Dropbox. (www.getdropbox.com)

This is what i do! The good news is that you don't need to install dropbox on all computers; if you're on a shared computer, you can log in to dropbox over the internet to access your files, as well.

Hope this is of some help.

James

 

[applesuper]

Thanks James, yes you really did help a lot, I will give dropbox ago, are you sure it does what I just said, monitor external folders and sync them, wow, not even have to set up a sync time?

Shame though that idisk wont do this.

 

[applesuper]

hey guys, it seems dropbox wont do that function I want it for...as per here...

http://www.macuser.co.uk/reviews/232071/dropbox.html


The only drawback is that Dropbox only watches the one specified folder. The stuff you wish to keep synced has to live there, even if you'd normally file it elsewhere.

 

[VirtualRain]

The best way to do this is not to do it

This is what I do, and it works great...

Create the desired folder structure on your iDisk, and then create aliases of those folders and drag them where ever you like on your computer (desktop, home/documents, etc.)

For example, I have a folder I created called "Finances" in iDisk > Documents > Finances. I simply created an alias (right click and "make alias") and dragged it to my Home > Documents folder. So now I have a Home > Documents > Finances folder but it actually points to iDisk > Documents > Finances. Whenever I need to pull up my budget, I just go into Home > Documents > Finances and open the file. I then edit it, save it and next time I'm online, it seamlessly sync's to the iDisk in the cloud.

This way, all your files are synced to the cloud and you can access them from whatever location on your system is most convenient by simply dragging and dropping aliases to them wherever you prefer.

If you have multiple Mac's, this is a god-send!

 

[229665]

Many ways to skin a cat!

Hi both of you,
The Alias method which 'VirtualRain' suggests is a great idea; I've actually done something similar with Dropbox (I forgot to mention the fixed directory nature of DB) :

I create symbolic links, using Terminal, in the Dropbox directory.

Now, if you're not familiar with Terminal this can be a scary thing, but I'll show you how easy it is, and then you can choose which method you'd like.

1) Start terminal (it's in Applications / Utilities)

For the sake of this explanation, the Dropbox directory is in my home directory (/Users/James/Dropbox), and the Directory I want to sync is called /Users/James/Documents/IT

2) First, in Terminal, 'go' to the Dropbox directory: (type the following exactly)

cd ~/Dropbox (the tilde key is to the left of the Z key!)

3) type 'ls -l' without the quotes to see all the files currently in Dropbox

4) To create the link from the 'IT' directory to Dropbox, type the following:

ln -s ~/Documents/IT IT

what this means is:
i) ln -s (create a symbolic link)
ii) ~/Documents/IT (from the directory /Documents/IT in my home directory)
iii) IT (to a linked file called IT in the current directory)

when this is done, again type 'ls -l' without the quotes, and you'll see the new file listed, a bit like this:

lrwxr-xr-x 1 James staff 26 13 Aug 16:56 IT -> /Users/James/Documents/IT/

...this shows that the file 'IT' is actually a link.

...and if you look at the dropbox icon if it's in the menubar, you'll see it's syncing.

If you ever want to stop syncing the directory, you can just delete the file in the Dropbox directory, and the original file will remain untouched.

Again, hope this helps. I'm watching this thread now, so let me know if anything's unclear.

All the best
James