Life with two Macs

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Level 1

9 points

Life with two Macs

Hi All,

In the past I've exclusively used a MacBook Pro for all my work stuff. Due to some changes, I now have a Mac Pro as well in addition to a MacBook Pro. Both use the same account (hooked to a corporate directory server). It looks like I'll be using the Mac Pro for most of my work now, due to the resource requirements. However, I want to use the MBP when on the road and not at my desk - which could be quite often (eg., in the evening hours). My work is mostly development/programming. But I also have a few apps that I use (financial, tax, etc.) which do not hook into iCloud. Also, not all preferences/settings are sync'ed via iCloud. 😟

I was wondering for any tips/best practices/recommendations for working with them both. I'd like to keep the user environments in sync as much as possible - basically switching between them without noticing. I'm not so much concerned about the work specifics. This is mostly solvable using ChronoSync.

I use iCloud a lot but I keep sensitive data in an encrypted sparsebundle, which I don't store in iCloud. Some apps sync well using iCloud. A few don't at all. For some I was thinking of moving off of iCloud and going with another sync-service (1Password, Evernote) because of other limitations .

Thanks!

Posted on Apr 24, 2016 2:46 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 24, 2016 3:35 PM in response to eclipseguru

Both use the same account (hooked to a corporate directory server).

does this directory server provide a Home Directory on the Server? can you sync with that?

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Answer 2

eclipseguru Author

Level 1

9 points

Apr 25, 2016 12:04 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Unfortunately not. But I have ChronoSync available. Can I sync the entire ~ folder? What about ~/Library?

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Answer 3

Apr 25, 2016 7:48 AM in response to eclipseguru

I use a Mac Server, and have some Accounts, including my own, where the ENTIRE Home Directory (yes, including ~/Library) exists ONLY on the Network Server. This was common setup for School computer clusters, and some businesses as well, but has become less popular. The compromise (which I believe is a common one) is to alias ~/Library/Caches to a folder on the Boot Drive of the Workstation.

I also have some users who have "Portable Home Directories" where the notebook carries a duplicate of the Network Home Folder, and it is sync-ed from time-to-time, with the latest modified file from either source taking precedence. The biggest problem is that sync-ing takes far too long. When that notebook had to go for service, the user reverted to a Network Home Directory, but lost the ability to operate "off network".

If you had a Mac Server, the "trick" that makes sync-ing nearly-tolerable is that you can get the Network Home Directory Server to compute which files have changed since last Sync. Lacking that, it can take all day and half the night to Sync, because every file must be checked for date changes.

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