Sharing between two macs with one user account?

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Level 1

6 points

Sharing between two macs with one user account?

Is it possible to connect two macs to share documents and music if they are both logged into the same user account?

I recently bought a Mac Mini and when setting it up, I transferred everything from my Macbook Pro to it, including my user profile which I now also use on the Mini.

Since setting up the Mini, I've been using both machines so the content on both is no longer identical. There have been occassions where I have wanted to transfer something from the MBP to the Mini or vice-versa over wi-fi and have encountered problems. I suspect this is because I am using the same user account and they get confused.

I don't need the two macs to be identical in their content, however there are times when I want to share or quickly transfer music, documents or Garageband files from one to another. Would I be better off setting up different profiles for the Mini and the MBP to achieve this? Is there a better way to do what I'm trying to do?

Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)

Posted on Aug 16, 2013 7:15 PM

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Answer 1

markwmsn

Level 6

16,715 points

Aug 17, 2013 12:56 PM in response to funkywrench

There should be no problem sharing files between two Macs using the same account. I do this all the time. I use one of my Macs to hold common files, and the others connect to it to pick up or drop off files, but it can go both ways.

Enter "file sharing" in Help Center and follow the directions. Write back if you have specific questions.

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

200,657 points

Aug 17, 2013 2:16 PM in response to funkywrench

There have been occassions where I have wanted to transfer something from the MBP to the Mini or vice-versa over wi-fi and have encountered problems. I suspect this is because I am using the same user account and they get confused.

Could you please explain, what kind of problems exactly you encountered? Error messages? Corrupted files? And why do you think the problem is caused by the same user profiles?

Like markwmsn I have no problem with sharing using the same account name on all my macs. Only since upgrading to Mt. Lion I usually use AirDrop to send single files. That saves the trouble to copy the files to a public folder.

Do both your macs support Air Drop?

OS X Lion: Share your files with others near you

and the requirements: HT5444

Regards

Léonie

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