I have an older PowerPC desktop that still works well. I just bought a new MacBook Pro and need a good networking solution for the following problem:

I run a business and have a lot of client work that needs to be accessed both on my desktop (used for imaging) and laptop (used while on the road). It would be fantastic to set up a network where I have an external HDD with these files on it, and could be accessed from both machines. I know the airport extreme can do this, but it's way too expensive and would also require a MobileMe subscription which i don't need for any other reason.

If I can't do that, I know there is a way to synchronize folders over a network with some different software, some of it for free. Has anyone solved this problem successfully and reliably? I have already backed up all of my data from both machines on DVD's so i'm willing to try about anything.

Thanks!

4/30/2009 8:02:02 PM

maybe look at dropbox, or something more inexpensive like jungledisk

4/30/2009 9:56:58 PM

thanks. will check those out.

4/30/2009 10:06:44 PM

FTP would also work for this. Just forward the right ports and stuff.

4/30/2009 10:31:15 PM

NAS?

4/30/2009 10:42:58 PM

step 1: enable file sharing in the sharing prefpane
step 2: present a folder to share via AFP
step 3: forward port 548 to your desktop on your NAT device
step 4: get something like the dyndns daemon to give you a static hostname
step 5: connect while on the road by hitting command+K, type afp://your_hostname_here.whatever.com
step 6: it'll ask you for credentials, log in with the same credentials you'd use to log in to your desktop at home
step 7: ...
step 8: profit

or just use something like dropbox or zumodrive like omar suggested
jungledisk is pretty awesome, you can either use amazon S3 or their own proprietary cloud filesystem

all of the above are cheap as hell, but i personally use amazon S3. $0.15/GB is damn cheap for what's essentially enterprise-grade storage.

[Edited on April 30, 2009 at 11:39 PM. Reason : damn TWW and its non unicode support attn: qntmfred: plz2change field type to ntext]

4/30/2009 11:36:50 PM

^ IME, AFP is very unstable over the internet. OS X beachballs like crazy...

5/1/2009 1:32:08 AM

yeah, i've never tried it over a WAN link before. it really wasn't designed for that, anyway.

5/1/2009 1:38:02 AM

I've been using the MobileMe free trial, and it works alright, but it's not as much space as I need, and a service I really feel like should've been a free selling point for Windows users considering OSX. $100/yr plus extra storage space is probably worth it, but pisses me off.

5/1/2009 6:10:23 PM

One solution is to just have those computer synchronize the files you care about.
There are a lot of programs out there that can do that -- you can actually do it from the terminal for free. If your network connection is fast enough however you can do it over the net as well while you are away. ChronoSync is one I've used before.

5/1/2009 6:51:22 PM

http://sync.live.com +
http://skydrive.live.com

Is exactly what you are asking for. Sync handles your folder synchronization needs. Skydrive gives you 25gb in the cloud. Both are free, and both are fully supported for OSX.

And both services are fucking sweet.

If you are a Windows user, http://www.mesh.com gives you all that and more, because you can keep EVERYTHING in the cloud. Apps, data, sync. Also free.

[Edited on May 1, 2009 at 8:16 PM. Reason : links]

5/1/2009 8:15:51 PM

if it works as well as you said, thanks, that's great.

5/1/2009 8:17:49 PM

I live and die by Sync. I have my laptop and desktop here at the office, and without it, I would be up shit's creek in a week.

5/1/2009 8:19:56 PM

^very cool stuff. looking at using those now

[Edited on May 2, 2009 at 11:48 AM. Reason : asdf]

5/2/2009 11:48:17 AM

Noen, which do you prefer? Sync or the Mesh? I just played with both, and it seems like they're two different services even though they sorta do the same thing.

I also would like to figure out a way to use my TimeMachine software to backup wirelessly to a remote drive at my home, without having to buy one of those TimeCapsule devices.

5/2/2009 1:17:38 PM

joe#s, do you mean over the internet or just over your wifi connection?

you can totally do that over wifi (over the internet as well if you REALLY wanted to). you basically need to mount your network drive (using CIFS/NFS/iSCSI/etc), enable unsupported TM drive formats in the apple plists, and create a sparseimage on that drive.

http://rajeev.name/blog/2007/11/03/time-machine-with-smb-and-nfs-shares/

5/3/2009 2:56:50 PM

thanks evan. i was hoping to do it over the wireless network, i dont really care about doing it over the internet.

ive been thinking about forking over and just getting one of those time capsules. now that im single again i have a lot of extra cash that i can spend on goodies

5/3/2009 11:01:40 PM

hahaha yep

i wouldn't get a time capsule though - get an airport extreme and a USB hard drive.

5/3/2009 11:45:05 PM