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The problem I'm trying to solve: I don't have wifi at my current studio and won't be able to get it until I move to a new studio, which I won't for at least the next year.

I need to backup the contents of my work computer (Macbook 15") and be able to access them from my personal computer (Macbook 13"). So the solution I've come up with (until I find a new studio) is to use an external harddrive as a "sync-drive", that I connect to my work computer at the office and can take with me and use to access and edit files on the go on my personal computer.

To do this I need to find a solution to continually sync the contents of my work mac to the harddrive while I'm working on it, and that can sync files from the harddrive to the work mac if I've been working on something on my personal computer. (I don't need to sync the files to my personal mac, just be able to access and edit them with the external harddrive connected.)

I work with large images and video, so it needs to be able to sync while I work (or in 5/10min intervals like Backblaze), so I don't need to wait for it to sync when I leave my studio.

How can I solve this?

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  • What kind of applications are you using, what kind of files do need to get synced? With background syncing, how can you be sure that everything is really synced before you disconnect the drive?
    – nohillside ♦
    Commented Sep 1, 2022 at 7:35
  • When you say "don't have Wifi", do you mean any internet, or just Wifi?
    – benwiggy
    Commented Sep 1, 2022 at 10:21
  • @nohillside I'm a digital artist and use photo- and videoediting software, and need to sync both the files used for the artworks, the workfiles (Affinity Photo, - Publisher, - Designer, Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator, Davinci Resolve, Premiere, After Effects, etc.). Preferably I'd be able to check the program and see if all files are done syncing.
    – ssssaaaa
    Commented Sep 9, 2022 at 12:42
  • @benwiggy I mean I have internet over hotspot on my phone, but apart from being to slow it would also be too expensive. If I had the money, I'd just use it to move my studio to another place where I could get wired internet (which I can't at my current location).
    – ssssaaaa
    Commented Sep 9, 2022 at 12:47
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    For big files (or even groups of files which need to be in sync), any automated syncing solution which copies files in the background will sooner or later lead to partially synced files on the external drive, unless you quit the applications first and then wait for the next sync to complete. But then you can also just run it manually at the beginning and end of day (or use only the external drive as proposed by Allan).
    – nohillside ♦
    Commented Sep 9, 2022 at 13:04

2 Answers 2

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Just store your work on the external drive only.

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  • Working on files directly from my external HDD would be quite slower, compared to working on the machines build in SSD and syncing the files to the HDD. If I had the budget for buying an new external SSD, it would have been useful.
    – ssssaaaa
    Commented Dec 8, 2022 at 17:01
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You can use an app like Forklift to compare and sync folders on the drive, or merge work between your computers that you have copied to the drive:

Compare local or remote source and target folders identifying matching, modified, new and deleted files. Synchronize them one or two-way with a single mouseclick, or save it as a favorite. If you are a web developer, you'll love this feature. From Forklift website

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