# Syncing Macintosh computers **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 2, 2007, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/syncing-macintosh-computers/414206 "2007-08-02T23:15:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Carnick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carnick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnick)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/syncing-macintosh-computers/414206/1 "2007-08-02T23:15:24Z")
I just got a shiny new Apple laptop to compliment my desktop Mac. Is there a way to easily keep files synchronized between the two computers? For example, I have a folder full of important documents. If I add or change a file in this folder on my laptop, I’d want it to automatically add it to my desktop as well. I could do it manually through the network of course, but is there an easy automated Apple-it-just-works way of doing it? You can sync address books and email through .mac, but not actual files as far as I can tell. I’d also like to keep my iTunes files syncronized, so if I buy a song on my laptop I can easily upload it to my desktop. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/syncing-macintosh-computers/414206/2 "2007-08-02T23:41:41Z")
You can sync files through .mac but you do have to pay about $100 a year for it. Some cheaper options that don’t involve trusting your files to the internet are discussed [here](http://www.macworld.com/2006/08/secrets/takecontrolsync/index.php?pf=1) ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/syncing-macintosh-computers/414206/3 "2007-08-03T00:19:00Z")
I keep one master, and then just use the built-in rsync to sync to my other Mac and my NAS box. It’s quick as hell, but you really need one “master” box. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/syncing-macintosh-computers/414206/4 "2007-08-03T15:37:23Z")
Heh, and here I was, specifically not mentioning rsync because it’s more of a “geeky” than “Mac-like” way to do the job as it’s a Unix utility. Truth be told, most commercial file sync apps are using rsync internally, but natively, it’s not particularly user-friendly. eg: if you know what this means: rsync -az -e ssh --delete ~ftp/pub/stuff/ othermac:"~ftp/pub/yourname/stuff" you are a Grade A Unix geek and wouldn’t be asking about file sync utilities. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/syncing-macintosh-computers/414206/5 "2007-08-03T17:05:02Z")
[QUOTE=gotpasswords] eg: if you know what this means: rsync -az -e ssh --delete ~ftp/pub/stuff/ othermac:“~ftp/pub/yourname/stuff” you are a Grade A Unix geek and wouldn’t be asking about file sync utilities. 😃 [/QUOTE] Not a grade A Unix geek myself (despite [this](http://www.balthisar.com/printing)), but I’m not uncomfortable there. It took me a long time to adopt rsync because I wanted to do it the Mac way, but nothing else ever suited me. It actually wasn’t rsync that was the learning curve, but figuring out how to set up public-key authentication for ssh between the Macs and Linux box that made me drag my feet! It was worth it, though.