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-   -   Cloning two laptops (https://www.shirt-pocket.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4204)

j2bryson 06-18-2008 05:38 AM

Cloning two laptops
 
This has to be a thing many people want --- to use two of their computers interchangeably, so that they can work on whichever is convenient *and* have an extra backup if one fails.

However, I searched for a long time two months ago and couldn't find a solution. However, SuperDuper! were impressive in that at least they wrote back quickly saying they didn't support that kind of thing.

I just downloaded a copy anyway, and while I see there's no explicit support to cover the case where you have changed the same file on two machines, otherwise I don't see why you can't just have two machines backing up at least their user files to each other using the "copy changed" option. It's not the same as a bootable backup, but that would be hard to do unless two machines were identical.

Would people trust SuperDuper! enough to copy their user files from one one mac to another? How about their Applications folders (assuming they are both the same OS?)

Finally: One of my laptops is an air! Would you do the above over wireless?

dnanian 06-18-2008 08:33 AM

This definitely isn't going to work with SuperDuper! - we can't isolate a single folder and 'sync' it. Have you considered sharing a networked folder (or iDisk) between the Macs?

Brad 06-19-2008 08:31 PM

Has Shirt-Pocket looked at MobileMe and/or tried .mac accounts for syncing?
 
Hi Dave,

A buddy of mine and his wife have a gorgeous desktop iMac 24" + a Macbook and they'd like to do the same. Work on either, but have them synced "automagically" ...

I told him that perhaps MobileMe would do this for him relatively painlessly. He's also going to get a Time Capsule (I will also recommend that he SD! to an additional external drive too, for at least the home machine--which they could always boot on their Macbook, if necessary, as well as their desktop of course, then update that machine/those machines with Time Capsule).

So... Have you looked at Mobile Me or its predecessor .mac? What's your recommendation for keeping things looking relatively similar on two pieces of Mac hardware? Set up both /Desktop and /Macbook document folders on each, where all productivity apps save to their appropriately named folders, then sync regularly, and whenever one needs to copy between the two folders, do so? (Ugh.)

Or does the sync "just work" (in either .mac or MobileMe) to use a common docs folder, and only worry about the occasional instance as they arise (probably rare for them--they're not developers!) that they'd have to do a "merge" of some particular doc they've both worked on (this really would be *quite* rare for them--most of the time their Macbook just sits there waiting for a trip they're taking)?

Thanks for any advice--sorry for the long post...

~ Brad

dnanian 06-19-2008 09:01 PM

Neither .Mac, MobileMe nor Time Capsule will automatically sync data. It's easy enough to keep contacts, calendars, email and the like -- native .Mac/MobileMe sync items -- synced. And you can share documents on an iDisk.

But as far as keeping two machines effectively identical... I don't think it's truly practical.


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