Syncing ?

[hoody]

I know I should probably know this after 5 years of macs, but if I sync my macbook air with my iMac, does that mean that anything I put on the iMac automatically goes on the macbook and vise versa?

I don't want to have so much on the macbook that it can't handle it.

 

[Slydude]

It depends upon what you mean by synching. If you are truly "cloning" things from one Mac to another the answer would be no if you want them to be exactly the same and bootable. There are some tools out there that allow you to select individual files, folders, or groups of folders. There are a number of these apps so perhaps one of our other members can suggest one.

 

[hoody]

Thanks. It's just that I keep seeing things about 'sync your mac.' I know it could be handy sometimes, but I don't want the macbook to be swamped.

 

[IWT]

@hoody

No offence intended here, when I ask you if you might be referring to things like Contacts, Calendar, Reminders, Safari, Bookmarks, Notes etc.

Because all or any of these can by synced between any Mac devices via iCloud (System Preferences > iCloud > tick the ones you want).

But I guess you know that already.

Ian

 

[hoody]

No offence taken. What I was getting at was some files. Say I put something on the desktop of the macbook, I sometimes wouldn't mind it also being on the iMac without having to send it via email. Could it be that what I'm talking about is under sharing, with screen sharing, file sharing, etc.

 

[IWT]

Okay. Got it now.

How about using AirDrop? This can be between Macs, and between a Mac and an iDevice.

This article deals with Mac-to-Mac: http://osxdaily.com/2011/11/14/how-to-use-airdrop-in-mac-os-x/

And this deals with Mac to iDevices: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT203106

Ian

 

[MacInWin]

If you want that sync of files to be automatic, look at ChronoSync from Econ Technologies. https://www.econtechnologies.com

We use it here to keep two business computers in sync, a Mac Mini and an iMac. You can select what you want synced, all the way down to files, but we just use a dedicated folder for moving documents.

 

[hoody]

Ian and Jake, thanks both of you... air drop :Blushing: Age must have caught up with me. Air drop seems to be the way to cover it, so simple and no cost.

 

[badshoehabit]

I've found AirDrop very useful in bump starting Photo Stream. Sometimes, photos on my phone are slow to get to the MBP; I airdrop one and the rest hustle over!

 

[hoody]

I've known air drop was there for ages, but it never occurred to me to use it.

 

[Slydude]

I did a tip recently about AirDrop and IOS devices. Some people are finding that if they have AirDrop set to receive content from everyone that they have received things they don't want to see. Imagine being on public transportation for example and receive a vulgar picture from someone a few feet away. you can solve this problem by changing settings to have better control over who can send you info. See here

 

[chscag]

Great reminder about that Sly. I personally do not use Air Drop on my mobile devices but I can see where you could into trouble real fast allowing content to be received from anyone or anywhere.

 

[Slydude]

I would never have thought of that until I read an article one weekend prepping for the Sunday chats. IIRC the article suggested that a number of women using mass transit had experienced this. Theoretically, one doesn't have to be on transit just nearby and encounter a recipient with AirDrop set to accept info from everyone.

 

[chscag]

Imagine a person riding on mass transit and texting back and forth with their better half and all of a sudden porn photos appear in the text. "But honey, honestly that photo came out of nowhere". LOL.

 

[IWT]

Great and important points.

Luckily the OP wanted Mac-to-Mac transfer on an occasional basis. AirDrop is easily switched on/off. True, one of his Macs is an Air, but from his subsequent comments, I rather doubt he would be using it "on the road".

Ian

 

[Slydude]

Yeah. I use AirDrop once in a while to transfer things between my Mac and phone. It's nice to have that as a transfer option as long as we're aware of the risks.

One of the Android devices used to brag about how easy it was to transfer files among devices in close proximity to each other. Maybe this is why they don't tout that feature anymore.

 

[hoody]

You're dead right Ian. I have an iphone 3, given to me by my son who'd bought a new one. It spends 99.999% of it's time on the radio cum charger. I can't remember the last time I took it anywhere. Luddite? moi?