Synchronizing Data on Multiple Macs
Now that my new Mac Mini arrived, I am facing the age-old problem of synchronizing information across multiple machines. I have a lot of transient information (addresses, mail, bookmarks, etc.) on my PowerBook that will need to be synchronized with the Mini. Since both machines are equipped with Bluetooth, I thought that they would be able to sync with each other in the same way that they would sync with a Bluetooth-enabled phone or PDA. Apparently, this is not the case. I believe that Apple chose to not enable this feature in order to promote the synchronization features in their .Mac subscription-based service.
So, I've been looking around for alternate methods of synchronizing data on the two machines. It's got to be a network-based solution since moving USB thumbdrives around is not something I'm willing to do.
The fact that both machines are UNIX-based opens the avenue of using the 'rsync' program to synchronize points on the disparate filesystems. Rsync can easily be secured with SSH, operates over any network, and has been around for years. It's also a generic solution that can be used to sync any data, application-oriented or otherwise.
This morning, I came across a Rendezvous/Bonjour-based program called 'address-o-sync' (yeah, pretty bad name) for synchronizing AddressBook data across multiple Macs. Bonjour is a zero-configuration network protocol that is the successor of AppleTalk. It seems like a cool idea, though the program doesn't encrypt any of the data transmitted over the network, and solves synchronization issues for AddressBook only. I'd like to get the Mail data synchronized, too.
I think that I'll try out the rsync solution next week. But only after I've made a verified back-up of my data! :)
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