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Ask HN: How to keep desktop and laptop in sync?

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Re: Ask HN: How to keep desktop and laptop in sync?

#11

Post by stephenr »

authorfly wrote: post #10
stephenr wrote: post #6

I use a simple approach. I use an external TB3 m.2 SSD for everything work related. When going away when I may/will need to work, I unplug the drive from my desktop and put it in my bag with my laptop. The drive (and tb3) is fast enough to run multiple VMs from it without a problem. For smaller things I use regular sync tools (ie browser bookmarks in iCloud; IDE settings sync via JetBrains).

How did you format the drive to avoid things like symbolic link issues?

... It's formatted as APFS, but I believe I was using this approach back before APFS was released, and as such it would have been HFS+. The only non-standard thing I do with it, is that it's case-sensitive.

What symbolic link issues would you be expecting, exactly?

Re: Ask HN: How to keep desktop and laptop in sync?

#12

Post by solardev »

In practice, 100% sync is too complicated. I aim for like 80% application-level syncing instead. That means I let the web browser handle its own syncing (login to a profile), my IDE (Jetbrains) does the same, my passwords and passkeys and 2FA are in 1Password, then I just git push and pull to my private branches or forks to work across different machines. Most of the rest of it is cloud-native anyway (email, Slack, project management, time tracking, designs, etc.).

It doesn't sync everything (open tabs, terminal history, browser cookies, etc.) but gets the most critical things.

The main benefit to me of this approach is that it's pretty much login and forget. I don't have to worry about remembering to start a manual sync or waiting for it to finish. It's most of what I need for minimal effort.

Re: Ask HN: How to keep desktop and laptop in sync?

#14

Post by eszed »

I keep dotfiles and configuration scripts on GitHub. Use a password manager for any kind of authentication. An MDM takes care of application installation, apart from some of my own idiosyncratic needs, which I install for myself - they're all OS or direct-download, so no appstore involved. Dropbox handles files.

I got to stress-test this a few weeks ago, when I stupidly left my laptop at my dad's house, three-ish hours away. It took me far less time to get myself set up and fully-productive on another machine than it would have to even make the one-way drive.

My only real frustration so far: installing all of the SublimeText packages I've come to rely on. Once I get my my other laptop back they (or at least their configs) are going into git as well.

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