I currently use a MacBook Pro with all documents stored locally. I am thinking of buying an iMac but want to be able to use either device. Do I need to consider some form of NAS and how would I go about it to ensure I could access any document on either device? TIA
It depends on your use-case. If you're only ever going to be at home then you could put storage on your network and use that. This could be a home/small office NAS on wired ethernet into your router or even a USB hard disk attached to your router (if your router supports it). You could even just designate one of the Macs as the master data store and just allow file sharing between the two.
If you want access to the files when you are away from home then you could use the same sort of set up, preferably with a NAS, but you're going to have to get up a learning curve of how to open your network up for external access. If you buy a NAS then the provider will have almost certainly have a simple-ish way of doing this but......... you're going to have to read up on network security, understand it and be sure your network is secure. I've got a NAS but it sits behind a firewall with no access to the internet in either direction because NAS's and their management web-pages are prime targets for attacks. I don't really want to put the fear of god into you about it, but you should be circumspect. However, all this is doing is creating your own cloud with an amateur network manager, amateur security manager and amateur help desk (they'll all be you, in case you hadn't guessed). I'm not a great fan of iCloud but provided you haven't got terabytes of information the iCloud can provide all the above. There are other cloud providers too which I've got no experience of other than don't use Dropbox. If you go that route then do your research.
Finally - I assume you've got proper backups of all your stuff on separate drives somewhere. Whatever you choose to do, get a backup system in place first. iCloud isn't backup.
It depends on your use-case. If you're only ever going to be at home then you could put storage on your network and use that. This could be a home/small office NAS on wired ethernet into your router or even a USB hard disk attached to your router (if your router supports it). You could even just designate one of the Macs as the master data store and just allow file sharing between the two.
If you want access to the files when you are away from home then you could use the same sort of set up, preferably with a NAS, but you're going to have to get up a learning curve of how to open your network up for external access. If you buy a NAS then the provider will have almost certainly have a simple-ish way of doing this but......... you're going to have to read up on network security, understand it and be sure your network is secure. I've got a NAS but it sits behind a firewall with no access to the internet in either direction because NAS's and their management web-pages are prime targets for attacks. I don't really want to put the fear of god into you about it, but you should be circumspect. However, all this is doing is creating your own cloud with an amateur network manager, amateur security manager and amateur help desk (they'll all be you, in case you hadn't guessed). I'm not a great fan of iCloud but provided you haven't got terabytes of information the iCloud can provide all the above. There are other cloud providers too which I've got no experience of other than don't use Dropbox. If you go that route then do your research.
Finally - I assume you've got proper backups of all your stuff on separate drives somewhere. Whatever you choose to do, get a backup system in place first. iCloud isn't backup.
Other than the Cloud (a very wise decision for many reasons) the other solution is a NAS. The upside of a NAS is pay once, the downsides of a NAS are relatively expensive, higher maintenance needed and staying on top of the developers to ensure software updates work with version of Mac OS on your computer. The last one is a very real issue! The wisdom of going on iCloud is setup is dead simple, virtually no maintenance, secure, quick syncing and of course ease of use. The downside of iCloud is possible monthly expense however those costs are very moderate.
I have used iCloud since it was introduced and use it with our 4 Macs, 2 iPads and 2 iPhones which has proven to be dead reliable. When my wife ran her business (has now retired) we had to upgrade our storage plan but the costs as mentioned are very moderate.
Hello. I am a retired Navy person with 45 years experience in computers, design and systems operation. I have 7 Apple computers that are up to date as I do professional genealogy research. My network system is set up that when I document research, it is stored on all computers on the network instantly. All you have to do is use the cloud when you save information, then turn on cloud syncing on each device(from the settings menu) and everything you do will be sent to all other devices and saved in the cloud. Be sure to have Time Machine on for your main computer that you use. Then also have a small external hard drive that plugs into your main Mac that can also hold your data. If you have a system failure at any time, the cloud, along with Apple's restore function, will get you back up just where you left off. Also, your data (files, folders) stored on the external hard drive will guarantee none of your data was lost and can be retrieved if needed. Simple: Just turn on cloud sync. You will be good to go
The simplest way to deal with it would be to use iCloud Drive or another cloud storage system.
iCloud drive can sync your desktop and documents to the cloud so that you can access them on Mac or iOS/iPadOS devices you have.
You may have to subscribe to more than the free 5GB of storage in your icloud account, but it’s well worth it. It also means you would not have to be physically present at home where a NAS device would be in order to access documents stored on it.
rkaufmann87 wrote:
Other than the Cloud (a very wise decision for many reasons) the other solution is a NAS. The upside of a NAS is pay once, the downsides of a NAS are relatively expensive, higher maintenance needed and staying on top of the developers to ensure software updates work with version of Mac OS on your computer. The last one is a very real issue!
OS compatibility won't be a problem. SOHO NAS management interfaces are nearly always web-based, not apps so there's not a compatibility problem. Most run TCP or some other command line access too. Comms is SMB, which Apple aren't going to drop now they've deprecated AFP, although mine runs SMB, AFP and Windows.
You should be aware that with a NAS server you cannot share a Photos library with it. The system on the NAS does not support a Photos library. For sharing of Photos libraries your only option is with iCloud Photos which is enabled in the Photos app iCloud settings on each device you play to share with.
Appreciate your quick response. Is there any other option of not having to use the cloud?
What are you looking for - just sharing over home network or having access when away from home? More detail is better.
You don't seem to like the idea of iCloud. Any reason?
Creating a home network for multiple devices
