Guide to syncing desktop <-> laptop?

I'm wondering if there is a guide hidden in this forum somewhere that details the best practices to use when working on both a desktop and laptop. I tried searching but could not find anything. Specifically, looking for comments & pointers on:

• Internet Bookmarks - I use Delicious and its plugin for FF3. I imagine this would be one of the many ways to keep bookmarks useable and synchronized across two (or more) computers.
  
• Files/Folders - SyncToy 2.0 seems to be a good freeware program. Has anyone had experience with it? It can keep certain folders and files sync'd on both computers, so if I suddenly need to head out somewhere, I will know that my laptop has the most up-to-date files. In the past I have resorted to manually copying every so often as a 'backup method'.
  

Feel free to chime in with any other tips you may have.

 

Check out this article about synchronizing bookmarks, there are FF add-ons and websites for that:

http://paininthetech.com/2006/01/25/10-ways-to-manage-and-synchronize-bookmarks/

As for SyncToy, it's an excellent tool, very simple to use also. You can set up different rules for how the files to be synchronized between different folders/partitions/drives/computers. The options are very straightforward.

 

Here are some step-by-step guides with pictures for SyncToy:

SyncToy 1.4:

http://www.maximumpcguides.com/windows-xp-powertoy-synctoy/

SyncToy 2.0:

http://fird.kucing-kelabu.com/2008/04/23/synchronize-your-folders-with-synctoy-20/
http://fird.kucing-kelabu.com/2008/05/02/how-to-synchronize-your-folders-with-synctoy-20-part-2/

http://www.techtraction.com/2008/06/18/how-to-schedule-microsoft-synctoy-to-automatically-sync/

 

Awesome links. Thanks!

 

Is there a FTP client or some sort of FTP plugin that can save sites on a central server? So that I can access the same FTP sites from any computer.

 

I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to do, can you explain a little more? Also, mylinkvault.com and spurl.net is not what you're looking for? And the AbstractMouse extension doesn't need to run your own FTP server.

 

I use Fox Marks for FF to sync my bookmarks and Synplicity to auto sync my laptop and my desktop. It's free and works really well, plus it has the ability to upgrade to more storage.

 

Good suggestion, I think Fox Marks is what he's look for.

 

So many of these bookmark-type syncing utils, not sure which one to use!

For the FTP question: I want to have easy access to sites that I commonly use. For example, at the moment I need to have two copies of Filezilla, one on my desktop and one on my laptop. Every time I add a new site, I need to save the username, password, and server into the site manager.

Is there a tool that can help keep these synchronized somehow?

 

Ah... I see what you mean now.

FileZilla stores all the sites and passwords in three files: filezilla.xml, recentservers.xml, and sitemanager.xml.

filezilla.xml - Stores most recent server info including password.
recentservers.xml - Stores all recent server info including password.
sitemanager.xml - Stores all saved sites server info including password.

They're located in the following folder:

Windows XP/2K: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\FileZilla
Windows Vista: C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\FileZilla\

You can set up SyncToy to synchronize that folder between your laptop and desktop.

 

I remember to have heard about Live Mesh: https://www.mesh.com/Welcome/Welcome.aspx. That's a great way to sync files and all. Only con is that both computer have to be turned on. In that case, the best way is really a server but its expensive. If you go for an FTP site, both computers will have to access files remotly and FTP sites are generally sllooooww exept if you pay. IMO, give a try at Live Mesh. I didn't give it a try yet because I don't have my laptop.

 

I've been using this for a few weeks - IMO it is top class. I'd check out Paul Thurrott's article for a good overview...

 

This is a very smart solution! Never thought of this. Thanks!

 

So I was able to use SyncToy to sync those FileZilla files... worked great. I followed the instructions in one of the links to setup automated sync - have yet to test it but hope it will work. It would have been nice if I could schedule an automatic sync multiple times per day.

 

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/01/01/schedule-synctoy-to-run-and-automatically-and-repetitively/

 

My goodness, you are full of links

edit - looks like that article doesn't tell you how to do multiple, automatic syncs each day? time to google..

 

Each Scheduled Task has a specific Start time, just create multiple times of the same task with different Start time. For example, first one will start at 09:00 each day, the next one will start at 11:00, then another one will start at 14:00, etc.

 

ahh.. DUH! simple enough. thanks again

 

I like dropbox. It's simple, effective, and fast.

 

Are you referring to this? http://www.getdropbox.com/