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From: TNW7Z7Z7Z12345 on 14 Sep 2005 13:40
Please excuse my cluelessness regarding this --

I've been using 2 Macs (desktop with OS 9.1 and laptop with OS 10.2.3,
administrator is the only user.). I transfer files back and forth via a
small Lacie drive to keep them both in sync.

I'm about to upgrade both to Tiger, so this is the first time I'll be
trying to keep two OSX machines in sync. (Not sure if it's relevant,
but on my laptop, I use OSX and Classic about equally, and imagine I'll
continue to do so on both machines.)

I had a 2-part question:

- When I transfer files from one OS X machine to another - what do I
need to be careful about with regard to permissions? Do the Users on
both machines need to be identical to avoid problems?

- If so, when I load Tiger on the OS 9 machine, should I give that
machine the same User name and short name as on my OSX laptop?

I assume the 2 computers need different computer names/rendezvous names
for File Sharing. But is it OK if the administrator info. is identical
on both?

[Not sure if it's relevant, but they are networked via Airport Extreme
base station. Desktop (currently OS 9.1) is connected to base station
via ethernet. Laptop (10.2.3) is wireless. I turn on file sharing only occasionally.]

Thanks in advance.

- TNW

[To e-mail me, remove 12345 from my address.]
From: Gnarlodious on 14 Sep 2005 17:17
Entity TNW7Z7Z7Z12345 spoke thus:

> - When I transfer files from one OS X machine to another - what do I
> need to be careful about with regard to permissions? Do the Users on
> both machines need to be identical to avoid problems?
No.

> - If so, when I load Tiger on the OS 9 machine, should I give that
> machine the same User name and short name as on my OSX laptop?
No.

> I assume the 2 computers need different computer names/rendezvous names
> for File Sharing.
Not necessarily, although there are some problems with identically named
volumes. Finder cannot distinguish between identically named volumes, but
shell can. You can therefore use powerful UNIX tools like rsync to keep your
disks synchronized.

The problem is aggravated by the change from 10.3 to 10.4. Panther mounted
identically named disks by appending "-1" to the folder name in the
/Volumes/ folder. However Tiger now mounts them appending a " 1" (space1)
to the folder name. This does present a problem writing Applescripts or
shell scripts to do your syncs.

In any case, it's a bad idea to synchronize your entire userfolder as all
kinds of things will get messed up. You should synchronize major folders
such as "Documents", "Public" and avoid folders such as "Preferences" and
"Caches". The rsync tool I mentioned above allows you to exclude certain
folder and filenames which is what I do.

> But is it OK if the administrator info is identical on both?
Yes.

-- Gnarlie's Applescript page:
http://Gnarlodious.com/Apple/AppleScript/

From: Gnarlodious on 14 Sep 2005 17:20
Oops, in my previous post I meant to say that your computer names must be
different, usernames can be the same.

-- Gnarlie

From: Scott Ellsworth on 14 Sep 2005 18:50
In article <43286088.9C72D980(a)aol.com>,
TNW7Z7Z7Z12345 <TNW7Z7Z7Z12345(a)aol.com> wrote:

> - When I transfer files from one OS X machine to another - what do I
> need to be careful about with regard to permissions? Do the Users on
> both machines need to be identical to avoid problems?

I use rsync between my laptop and desktop.

Rather than try to keep everything in sync, I explicitly sync each user
account's home directory, skipping the ~/Library folder. I then sync
the mail folder inside ~/Library.

Thus, for my home account, work account, and my wife's account, I run
six separate rsync processes. Works like a champ, takes about ten
minutes most of the time. I do need to install software separately on
each machine, but I can live with that.

Be sure you use an hfs-aware rsync like rsyncX. (Apple's 10.4 rsync
still blows the modified time when you use resource aware sync. How
hard is this to fix?)

Scott

--
Scott Ellsworth
scott(a)alodar.nospam.com
Java and database consulting for the life sciences
From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Anders_Ekl=F6f?= on 15 Sep 2005 17:33
Scott Ellsworth <scott(a)alodar.com> wrote:

> I use rsync between my laptop and desktop.
>
> Rather than try to keep everything in sync, I explicitly sync each user
> account's home directory, skipping the ~/Library folder. I then sync
> the mail folder inside ~/Library.

I'd leave out ~/.Trash as well ...

--
I recommend Macs to my friends, and Windows machines
to those whom I don't mind billing by the hour
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