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Ask Lifehacker: Sync folders between a Mac and PC?
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<blockquote data-quote="h@ker" data-source="post: 1078" data-attributes="member: 6"><p>Dear Lifehacker,</p><p>I'm looking for a program to synchronize folders on two different computers (very different - one is a PC and one is a Macbook). Any suggestions?</p><p>Signed,</p><p>A Dell + MacBook owner</p><p></p><p></p><p>Dear Dell + MacBook,</p><p>There are several file syncing applications for both Windows and OS X, but few point and click options are cross-platform. However, that doesn't matter: most can write to network drives, and it's easy to mount your Windows hard drive on your Mac or vice versa. (Here's how to <a href="http://lifehacker.com/software/mac-os-x/how-to-mount-a-windows-shared-folder-on-your-mac-247148.php" target="_blank">mount a shared Windows drive on the MacBook</a>, and here's how to see <a href="http://lifehacker.com/software/mac-os-x/how-to-access-a-macs-files-on-your-pc-247541.php" target="_blank">your MacBook share on your PC</a>.)</p><p>Once you've got the network drive mounted, you can use an operating system-specific syncing program to work with it. For instance, <a href="http://lifehacker.com/software/backup-utilities/download-of-the-day-part-ii-silverkeeper-mac-backup-156468.php" target="_blank">SilverKeeper</a> for Mac can synchronize a local folder with the mounted Windows drive. On Windows, my favorite app is <a href="http://www.lifehacker.com/software/geek-to-live/geek-to-live-automatically-back-up-your-hard-drive-147855.php" target="_blank">SyncBack SE</a>, which offers a free version and paid upgrades for more features. If you don't mind working in the Mac Terminal or in Cygwin for Windows, the powerful old-school <a href="http://lifehacker.com/software/rsync/geek-to-live--mirror-files-across-systems-with-rsync-196122.php" target="_blank">rsync</a> can mirror files across systems using an encrypted connection.</p><p>Whatever route you choose, do be prepared to see hidden system files like the Mac's .DS_Store and Windows' Thumbs.db to show up on the other operating system (which doesn't hide them.) Here's more on <a href="http://lifehacker.com/software/annoyances/dual-os-annoyances-turn-off-thumbsdb-and-ds_store-250292.php" target="_blank">dealing with .DS_Store and Thumbs.db</a>.</p><p>Bi-OS readers, how do you sync up files between your Mac and PC? Let us know in the comments.</p><p>Love,</p><p>Lifehacker</p><p><a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~a/lifehacker/full?a=VZErq6" target="_blank"><img src="http://feeds.gawker.com/~a/lifehacker/full?i=VZErq6" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></img></a></p><p></p><p></p><p><a href="http://lifehacker.com/software/ask-lifehacker/sync-folders-between-a-mac-and-pc-269436.php" target="_blank">More...</a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="h@ker, post: 1078, member: 6"] Dear Lifehacker, I'm looking for a program to synchronize folders on two different computers (very different - one is a PC and one is a Macbook). Any suggestions? Signed, A Dell + MacBook owner Dear Dell + MacBook, There are several file syncing applications for both Windows and OS X, but few point and click options are cross-platform. However, that doesn't matter: most can write to network drives, and it's easy to mount your Windows hard drive on your Mac or vice versa. (Here's how to [URL="http://lifehacker.com/software/mac-os-x/how-to-mount-a-windows-shared-folder-on-your-mac-247148.php"]mount a shared Windows drive on the MacBook[/URL], and here's how to see [URL="http://lifehacker.com/software/mac-os-x/how-to-access-a-macs-files-on-your-pc-247541.php"]your MacBook share on your PC[/URL].) Once you've got the network drive mounted, you can use an operating system-specific syncing program to work with it. For instance, [URL="http://lifehacker.com/software/backup-utilities/download-of-the-day-part-ii-silverkeeper-mac-backup-156468.php"]SilverKeeper[/URL] for Mac can synchronize a local folder with the mounted Windows drive. On Windows, my favorite app is [URL="http://www.lifehacker.com/software/geek-to-live/geek-to-live-automatically-back-up-your-hard-drive-147855.php"]SyncBack SE[/URL], which offers a free version and paid upgrades for more features. If you don't mind working in the Mac Terminal or in Cygwin for Windows, the powerful old-school [URL="http://lifehacker.com/software/rsync/geek-to-live--mirror-files-across-systems-with-rsync-196122.php"]rsync[/URL] can mirror files across systems using an encrypted connection. Whatever route you choose, do be prepared to see hidden system files like the Mac's .DS_Store and Windows' Thumbs.db to show up on the other operating system (which doesn't hide them.) Here's more on [URL="http://lifehacker.com/software/annoyances/dual-os-annoyances-turn-off-thumbsdb-and-ds_store-250292.php"]dealing with .DS_Store and Thumbs.db[/URL]. Bi-OS readers, how do you sync up files between your Mac and PC? Let us know in the comments. Love, Lifehacker [URL="http://feeds.gawker.com/~a/lifehacker/full?a=VZErq6"][IMG]http://feeds.gawker.com/~a/lifehacker/full?i=VZErq6[/IMG]</img>[/URL] [url=http://lifehacker.com/software/ask-lifehacker/sync-folders-between-a-mac-and-pc-269436.php]More...[/url] [/QUOTE]
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