Syncing files between MacBook Pro and iMac on a home network

adrianfrombraddan wrote:

I would be happy for the 2 machines to catch up/sync once I get home especially as I don't always have internet access when travelling. Prefer to avoid dropbox etc

I use CarbonCopyCloner for that purpose. (I too prefer not to use cloud services.)

Chronosync is also frequently recommended but I have not used it myself.

FWIW, I treat my 2 Macs as mothership & satellite, meaning that the mothership is the official home of everything and the satellite temporarily holds what it needs to; changes on the satellite are replicated back to the mothership. They are not identical peers.

Why not simply turn on iCloud on both machines, that will sync everything without any user intervention. This assumes you use the same AppleID on both machines. I've been doing this for years and can save a file on my MBA while I'm traveling and when I get home and use my iMac the file is right there.

rkaufmann87 wrote:

Why not simply turn on iCloud on both machines, that will sync everything without any user intervention.

My understanding is that iCloud only syncs the Desktop & Documents folders, not "everything." It would be necessary to keep "everything" within the Desktop & Documents folders. And while you can add app folders, they are unique to each app and only files the app can open.

Offline use can also be troublesome to use. Only recently used files are cached on the local Mac. Large files & older files are kept in the cloud and must be downloaded to use. Offline changes are stored locally and uploaded to iCloud only when you reconnect.

The only way to automatically have the documents synced to both Macs is to use iCloud Drive. Then when you get home an on your local WiFi they will be synced.

Other than that you will have to manually sync the files between the two. The best opeiotn for that is Carbon Copy Cloner . You would have to connect the two Macs via cable and use the MBP into Target Disk Mode  and sync the folders where the files of interest are located.

With iCloud Drive there's always a version of the files on your Mac in the User/Home/Library/Mobile Documents folder:

which you can access via the Finder's sidebar for use when you're not able to get on WiFi.

when it has to work when they are not present on the same lan then you need to resort to services such as apples icloud or dropbox or googles google drive or microsofts onedrive

Hi,

I agree with rkaufmann87's suggestion, though if you don't have good enough space on iCloud, try to use third party utility, called GoodSync which is available for free.

https://www.goodsync.com/file-sync?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20967460009&gbraid=0AAAAAD8L6Q2d_KVb-lXc4QVk3L7hImkKT&gclid=Cj0KCQiA9t3KBhCQARIsAJOcR7y-9E3pZ_p9Fgk-rcai6xTdhNWtmFbERRd0n1brkN080S7Y1qayIt4aAi1AEALw_wcB