Syncing with external hard disk
Ivan | Sat, 2006-02-04 17:33Here is the deal. I have bought a massive external hard disk. I want to use it as a shuttle between work and home.
Here is what I want to do:
1. I want to work on my office machine and sync the files to the external disk.
2. Go home and work on the external disk directly changing and updating files.
3. Go back to work and update the files on the office machine that have been changed at home.
What's the best way to achive this? I don't mind installing a software for it if necessarry. I don't want to do it manually and want to avoid replacing all the dozens of gigabytes every time. I wish there was an intelligent software to check for only changed files.
Thanks for the help!
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For years I used Carbon Copy Cloner. Basically what you do is install a command line tool called Psync. Make a partition that is big enough to hold your work compie's entire HD. The leftover part you can use for personal backup. Now just run the syncing tool. I am not sure how long it would take to sync but it's worth a try.
I found a piece of software that seems to work well for syncing info between my powerbook and imac. I'm only doing it to keep my Powerbook up to date on the design work on my imac but it may work in both directions as well.
Martian Slingshot
Using an external drive means that this might not be the best option for you but there is the possibility of syncing the work directly and not using the drive at all.
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PC and Mac.... i got a small hard drive to take files back and forth from work. And i do most of the work on the PC but the mac is there to do edits on the mac such as PSCS2 and ILLCS2 with the bridge and version cue. The PC has alot more processing power but a slower USB speed. SO long story short PC to MAC to HARD DRIVE.? SYNC annoyance? Any help?
What does this button d.... CRAP!
Chris Brophy
Iklectek Designs
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An Automator Action called Sync Folders would probably achieve what you want to do.
"Synchronizes the content of any two folders. Ensures that both folders contain copies of all of the same files and sub-folders. If two folders contain files of the same name, then the newer file is duped over the older. Provides an option for logging all changes. I find this particularly useful for times when I've copied different versions of images in process to different machines. I can quickly consolidate them into one folder, keeping only the latest versions of each."
You can get it from here:
http://www.completedigitalphotography.com/index.php?p=373#more-373
You'll find SyncFolders near the bottom of the page. There's another Action on this page called Backup Folder which may also be of use. A few other interesting Actions are available here too.
I've used this for ages. It's PC only.. so possibly not of help to you Ivan, but maybe of some assistance to cbrophy78?
Vice Versa Pro
http://www.tgrmn.com/
This has good synchronisation options - allowing you to mirror drives, archive old content, perform advanced synchronisation utilising a history database for file comparison. It'll keep track of which files are newer, which files have been removed, and warn you when a file has been modified in both locations since the last synchronisation.
It's saved me from absolute nightmares trying to keep files synchronised between a desktop, external HDD, laptop and my business partner's laptop. I'd be screwed without it.
The only free option I've seen for Windows is Microsoft's Sync Toy - though I felt this was not as fast or detailed as Vice Versa. Only other free ones are very much command line based... personally a bit confusing to me.
Sync Toy
Hope this is of some help to somebody!
Alex
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Business: www.pixelapes.com
Personal: www.ebauche.net
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Business: www.pixelapes.com
Personal: www.ebauche.net
Blog: ebauchemusic.blogspot.com
Thanks a lot guys, I'll report back which option worked best!
For 2 way syncing on PC I recommend a program called 'Goodsync'. For simple 1 way program visit comodo, they offer a free app.
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Somewhat different than what you are looking for I think.. but looks fairly handy for mac people?
Super Duper backup
Alex
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Business: www.pixelapes.com
Personal: www.ebauche.net
--------------
Business: www.pixelapes.com
Personal: www.ebauche.net
Blog: ebauchemusic.blogspot.com
Just wondering if there was any conclusive evidence?
Cheers,
J.
With high internet speeds today this is the best solution:
http://getdropbox.com
Hi,
I have a Macbook (black) and a 1tb WD mac hard drive.
The hard drive is brand new and empty.
I want to sync all my files including photos, music, documents etc from my macbook to the hard drive. And be able to do this regularly.
I download a lot of music and movies and want to not have to keep adding it to my hard drive manually as it's frustrating. Also I would like the hard drive to sync to the macbook too if there is music on there that my macbook doesn't have.
When I first got the macbook I'm pretty sure it had something installed on it enabling me to do this but as I wasn't paying attention; not only can I not find it but I can't even remember what it was called and if it was a function on the macbook or if it was a programme I have installed on here.
Please can anyone help me? Thanks! Gem
Something you might want to research is setting up a RAID 1. It's two hard drives... one is the master and the other one, in this case, is the 'mirror'. Anything you do on the master is automatically written to both drives. There is no additional processes to run.
Another type of RAID that most PC gamers setup is called 'Stripping'. Again, it's two hard drives but in this situation files are split across both. By having multiple drives working on saving and opening a file it cuts the read-write time in half. When dealing with big files this can save a ton of time.
You setup a RAID with Disk Utility and the process is pretty straight forward. However, I'm not sure if it will let you create a RAID with the startup drive as both drives need to be available for it to function. If the second drive isn't running I believe the master won't be accessible.
You will also need a PCI card that comes with a RAID controller. I don't believe you can accomplish this over USB or Firewire. With a laptop you may need to get a eSata card that supports RAID. I'm not an expert so please do your homework before attempting.