Sync MacBook Air like iPhone?

[bigdaddymac]

Since the MacBook Air has limited hard drive space, I'm wondering - Would it be possible to "sync" things like music, photos, videos, etc. - like I can with my iPhone? I'm thinking I could sync the MacBook Air with my desktop, and take with me only the photos/music/etc that I want to travel with.

Possible? If so, how would this work?

 

[Hellishness]

Have your stuff on an external HDD. Pick what you want from it and put it on your MBA.

 

[bigdaddymac]

Have your stuff on an external HDD. Pick what you want from it and put it on your MBA.

Yes, that's an option, but not an easy one. I'm looking for something that makes this simple, a la the iTunes syncing of my iPhone with my desktop. Obviously if this were possible to do wirelessly, even better.

Any ideas?

 

[coelacanth]

My plan:

Have all media (music, video, etc) on a desktop. In my case, it's a Mac mini hooked up to TV and used as media server/player at home.

I can stream media files within wireless network at home, or use DNS forwarding service or Back to My Mac (when possible) when I'm outside. All I need is an internet connection.

Also I will sync some of my Dropbox contents via Selective Sync feature they offer.

I'm quite confident I'll be just fine with 64GB local space.

 

[bouncer1]

Yes, that's an option, but not an easy one. I'm looking for something that makes this simple, a la the iTunes syncing of my iPhone with my desktop. Obviously if this were possible to do wirelessly, even better.

Any ideas?

As far as I know, and I've looked into this thing extensively since I think it's the most natural and useful feature, sadly there's nothing like what you want. Chronosync is a half baked solutions to sync folder between macs, and of course there's idisk, but nothing like what you are really asking for sadly. A nas could be also helpful as an intermediate device to draw files from, but I mean, really, it's complex the way things are now. Ideally to me everything should sync to the cloud and then to each mac based on preferences, but I am not holding my breath out for this.

I've been wanting this so long, but it's not happening any time soon. So for the time being I am thinking of somehow centralizing media on a nas and then drawing from there, centralizing the most commonly used current files on the cloud in say idisk and dropbox, and using mobileme to sync the rest as I do already.

It's cumbersome though, I get a headache just thinking about it.

But we can't even sync our iphones to two different itunes libraries at the moment (without a hack that is) let alone syncing all devices seamlessly together. I sure hope that N. Carolina center from apple is put into good use, because I am starting to get pissed off with coughing up my annual subscription to mm just for a mere 20gb shared between mail and idisk.

Sd cards, usb flashes, and external hds are always an option, but these are all half measures...

 

[bigdaddymac]

As far as I know, and I've looked into this thing extensively since I think it's the most natural and useful feature, sadly there's nothing like what you want. Chronosync is a half baked solutions to sync folder between macs, and of course there's idisk, but nothing like what you are really asking for sadly. A nas could be also helpful as an intermediate device to draw files from, but I mean, really, it's complex the way things are now. Ideally to me everything should sync to the cloud and then to each mac based on preferences, but I am not holding my breath out for this.

I've been wanting this so long, but it's not happening any time soon. So for the time being I am thinking of somehow centralizing media on a nas and then drawing from there, centralizing the most commonly used current files on the cloud in say idisk and dropbox, and using mobileme to sync the rest as I do already.

It's cumbersome though, I get a headache just thinking about it.

But we can't even sync our iphones to two different itunes libraries at the moment (without a hack that is) let alone syncing all devices seamlessly together. I sure hope that N. Carolina center from apple is put into good use, because I am starting to get pissed off with coughing up my annual subscription to mm just for a mere 20gb shared between mail and idisk.

Sd cards, usb flashes, and external hds are always an option, but these are all half measures...

Agreed, this is a possibility, but wow - headache! I'm using MobileMe/iDisk as well, also 20GB. As good as that cloud is, it still leaves a copy of everything on my hard drive, so you don't really save the 20GB on the MacBook.

Is there some way to sync with the iDisk in the way that it syncs with my iPhone via the Mobile Me iDisk app, whereby all items are available, but downloaded on an "as needed" basis, and therefore not taking up room on the hard drive?

Am thinking this through. In my case, the largest files I need are Photos/Videos, Music, and then a very large number of PDF scans of documents. So, maybe this -

PHOTOS - I suppose I could access photos via MobileMe online gallery - syncing all the galleries that I want to access on my MacBook Air, with my desktop.

MUSIC/PODCASTS - Sync a limited iTunes library wirelessly with my external hard drive, via its connection with my airport express. Other music accessed online with Pandora, etc.

PDFS/DOCS/ASSORTED LARGE FILES - Downloaded as needed via MobileMe's online iDisk public folder (not the sparse bundle that syncs with my desktop) and/or sync with Drop Box

Hmm...so maybe this can work. Anyone else have suggestions? Seems like Apple should make this a lot easier...

 

[iCheddar]

Like the above poster said, Chronosync is your best option.

I used it with my 13" MBP and it worked fairly well. You can use it to sync your entire Home folder, or just certain folders. Most of why I used it for was syncing my iTunes library - an interesting note about that, since I synced the entire library I was able to sync my iPhone with both my MBP and my iMac.