I purchased a new MacBook Pro, and a 2TB AirPort router. I have a 2007 24" iMac that I have been syncing my phone on for years. Is there a way to network these 3 devices so I can sync my phone on my MacBook and access the iMac data?

Question

I am not familiar with networking in the least. I feel like, being as it is 2015, this is not an unreasonable request. Basically, I do not make much use of my desktop iMac anymore, other than as a backup computer and to sync my phones. My primary computer is my MacBook Pro. I'd like to make my MacBook my primary computer for downloading music, saving and editing photos and images, and syncing my phones, but i'd like to do so without clogging the hard drive on the MacBook.
Basically, what I am hoping to do is network my iMac, and MacBook Pro through the 2TB AirPort, and sync my phone through the MacBook without losing all data (ideally, I'd like to be able to sync through either computer at will).
Additionally, something like 100GB of images are stored on the iMac, and I specifically purchased the MacBook with the upgrades to do image editing on, but again, I don't know how to transfer the data to the AirPort, and I don't want to slow down the MacBook by storing all of the data on the laptop.
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you very much.
-Bryan

Answer 1

Sure-glad to help you. You will not lose any data by changing synching to MacBook Pro from imac. You have set up Time Machine, right? that's how you'd do your backup, so I was told, and how I do my backup on my mac.  You should be able to set a password for it. Save it.  Your stuff should be saved there. So if you want to make your MacBook Pro your primary computer,  I suppose,  back up your stuff with Time machine, turn off Time machine on the iMac, turn it on on the new MacBook Pro, select the hard drive in your Time Capsule, enter your password, and do a backup from there. It might work, and it might take a while, but it should go. As for clogging the hard drive, I can't say. Depends how much stuff you have, and the hard drive's capacity.  As for moving syncing from your iMac to your macbook pro, should be the same. Your phone uses iTunes to sync and so that data should be in the cloud. You can move your iTunes Library to your new Macbook pro
you should be able to sync your phone on your new MacBook Pro. Don't know if you can move the older backups yet-maybe try someone else, anyways,
This handy article from Apple explains how
How to move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Support''
don't forget to de-authorize your iMac if you don't want to play purchased stuff there
and re-authorize your new macBook Pro
time machine is an application, and should be found in the Applications folder. it is built in to OS X, so there is nothing else to buy. double click on it, get it going, choose the Hard drive in your Time capsule/Airport as your backup Time Machine  and go for it.  You should see a circle with an arrow on the top right hand of your screen (the Desktop), next to the bluetooth icon, and just after the wifi and eject key (looks sorta like a clock face). This will do automatic backups  of your stuff.