Sync multiple computers?

Is there any way to sync multiple computers at the same time? Let's say my eMac is used as my main computer...but I also want all my music on my MacBook (which I have not bought yet but will soon)....is there a away to do this at the same time as i Sync the music to the iPod? Or would I have to connect the 2 macs together and do the addition manually? Or is there a way to do it over an airport network?

I do something similar to what you want to do. I used a wired LAN to connect three computers. iTunes on each computer points to the same location for the library, an external hard drive connected to my "main" computer. When I add an album or song I do it on the main computer and then I have to go to each computer and use Add To Library and point to the file(s) created by the main iTunes.
There is also Playlist Sharing, but you can only play songs, not organize them, on any computer but the sharing computer. Any computer can see and play all playists that are shared from any computer.
Tracy

Similar Messages

Duplicate Email Alarms When Syncing Multiple Computers

I have iCal set up on multiple computers, a desktop and a PowerBook. Both are syncing via .mac, which is ideal because I can add an event on either computer and it updates both.
This however causes a problem. Email alarms from both computers end up sending me the same reminder. Resulting in my inbox receiving the same alert several times.
How can I stop email alarms from but one computer?
What adjustments do I need to make?
Regards,
Ed

Good for you.

ICal will not sync multiple computers

Wow, this has taken a lot of my time today. Mighty unfortunate too. I was extremely busy at work, I have a busy job and my hands in a lot of places. As you can imagine, I live and die by iCal (although I'm liking Things a lot better lately). So I was pretty shocked when I realized that iCal syncing with my iPhone was behaving very strangely - and it took me a while to figure this out but I've since proved it on multiple machines running similar software - MERGE INFO IS ACTING LIKE REPLACE INFO. Since I had some calendar info on one computer, some on another I had to painstakingly go thru each day and match the data. NOT FUN. So I got iCal finally set manually on one computer.
Now before I continue, let me note that both computers are running iTunes 9.2 and 10.6.4, matching data. iPhone is running latest iOS4.0.1. This should work. I have been using this method successfully for two years. I don't really like the merge info option, I wish there was a general SYNC, but that's another story. So I was shocked when I upgraded to iPhone 3GS / iOS4.0.1 (both happened the same day) and my calendar is screwed up beyond belief and won't sync. I'd previously been running iPhone 3G / iOS3.1.1 quite successfully in this manner.
So I got everything manually set on my MBP, and synced my phone. Merged info. Worked.. all info synced over to iphone - Yay! So then I needed to get this info over to my work computer, an iMac, same specs pretty much as my MBP. So I tried the usual merge info... it REPLACED the info on my iMac.
read that? MERGE INFO IS REPLACING INFO ON MULTIPLE MACHINES.
At first I thought something was wrong with my iMac. I went thru forums and tried suggestions, removing preferences, cache, etc. Didn't work.
So I tried the same thing on another machine... Mac Pro at home. It did the same thing as the iMac... hitting Merge info Replaced all my calendar info. Thankfully, my laptop isn't pulling this maneuver.
Why is this happening, what can be done?

Why is this happening, what can be done?
Why: You have a damaged calendar database or corrupt data in SyncServices (the database that handles syncing) on one or more of your devices or on MobileMe. I assume you are syncing using MobileMe?
What: Replace all the calendar data on all devices with one good working copy.
A good read before proceeding is this article on advanced sync troubleshooting: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2481
How (Read all the way through before attempting. Make backups of all computers before attempting):
__Make one iCal on one computer 100% correct the way you want it to look. This will be your Master calendar.
__Make a backup of this good calendar by clicking on each calendar on the left and going to File > Export > Export, making an ICS file for each calendar. Reserve these incase things go wrong.
__Go to each computer and set syncing to Manually: Apple > System Preferences > MobileMe > Sync > Manually
__Go to each iPhone being synced and delete the MobileMe account being used from Settings > Mai / Contacts / Calendars > Accounts -- Remove the calendar data if prompted.
__On the computer with the Master calendar go to Apple > System Preferences > MobileMe > Sync > Advanced
__Click on each computer in the list at the top of the window and choose "Unregister". Continue this until the window is blank.
__Click done.
__When prompted, delete your unused sync data > Calendars
__Login to me.com and ensure that the Calendars are indeed blank. This can take up to 15 minutes to refresh.
__Once MobileMe shows blank for calendars, on the computer with the Master calendar go to Apple > System Preferences > MobileMe > Sync and turning syncing on for Calendars and set to Sync manually
__Follow this article to reset sync services on all computers affected: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1627
__On the computer with the Master calendar Go to Apple > System Preferences > MobileMe > Sync > Advanced and click on Reset Sync Data.
__Make the reset go from this computer to the MobileMe cloud.
__Replace the data on MobileMe with the Master data on the computer
__Login to me.com and check to make sure the Calendar now appears online and looks the way it should. This can take up to 15 minutes to appear.
__Once the calendar online shows the correct data, go to each computer being synced and go to go to Apple > System Preferences > MobileMe > Sync > Advanced and Reset Sync data from MobileMe down to the Mac. This will bring the Master calendar down to these computers.
__Re-add the MobileMe account to your iPhone so it too will bring down the Master Calendar.
Hope that helps.

Sync multiple computers with the same mailbox

Hello all,
I am using a Bold and syncing with MS Outlook 2007. I have it on both a desktop and my laptop (laptop being the first computer I used). I have tried to sync but am having issues with the calendar as I am getting multiple items, some items are being deleted randomly and others aren't syncing.
Any suggestions please? I have tried changing the default device and that made it worse!
Matt

what Niel said is correct.
however, there might be a (semi) workaround. check this thread for pointers: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=11524444#11524444.
JGG

(r)sync multiple computers, howto delete files?

Hi All,
I would like to use rsync to sync my home directory across multiple machines. When I invoke rsync like this, I get the new and modified files from the server
rsync 192.168.x.y:/home /home
Then with a second rsync command, I push my new and modified files to the server:
rsync /home 192.168.x.y:/home
This works perfectly when I'm only adding and modifying files, but when I remove a file from my PC, and then sync with the server, the file is restored. I don't know a way to delete a file without the other workstation restoring it.
I can also invoke rync with the --delete flag. But this does not work well when I sync from a second PC with the server, the 2 workstations will then delete the new files the other machine has made on the server.
So my question is: How can I remove a file from a set of sync'd machines? I have heard about clustered filesystems, but I think this is a bit overkill for the 4 PC's that I and my wife use :-)
Suggestions are much appreciated.
Regards,
Cedric

karol wrote:Why do you do it?
Maybe having /home on the server so you can mount and access it from any of the PCs would be easier?
Keeping stuff on the server is indeed more easy, but for me, it has a few drawbacks:
1) The data is further away, On my desktop I now have my data on a fast ssd, accessing it over the network will be a bit slower. The situation is worse on my laptop, it's wlan is only 1.5MB/s. But this is not a big problem, as the data will be cached in RAM on the clients.
2) The server has to be always powered. When my server is not powered, I cannot access my data. I do not like the idea to keep a server running when it's not used, eg. when all the clients are off. Ideally, the server would only run when one or more of the clients are online. I can imagine this can be done by letting the server ping the clients periodically, and then power-down when nobody replys, and let the clients send wake on lan packets when they want the server back. But then the user has to wait until the server is back online before he can access his data.
3) There always has to be an internet connection between the server and the clients. When I take my laptop to a place where I don't have internet, then it would still be nice to be able to show somebody pictures, or listen to some music.
Best regards,
Cedric

Sync Multiple computers to aTV

Ok...let me get this right (I hope I'm not right so PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong)...........
1) We can only sync one computer to the aTV but we can stream up to 5... My husband has a PB and I have an iMac and different movies on both. In order to get them sync'd to the aTV we have to move them to one computer first??
2) Even though your aTV may be sync'd with your computer, DON'T erase them from your HD and/or iTunes because they'll be erased from aTV as well.
That being said, here's my delemma: My SuperDrive has officially died in my "lampstand" airport-cardless iMac and I have 3 seasons of LOST and 6 movies. I only have 3GB left on my HD without any way of backing them up to DVD. ANY solutions would be wonderful

couldn't you just attach your iMac to your router via ethernet... then create a sharing folder (or add the iTunes folder as a sharing folder..) (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/17131.html) and then access the files on the iMac from the PowerBook? PowerBook can be attached via ethernet or wirelessly to the router.
Message was edited by: tmartine

Syncing itunes on multiple computers / devices

Not really a question, more like a suggestion for itunes developers.
I have iTunes on PC and iMac computers, and use an iPhone and iPad. I would like to have one itunes library that all the computers and devices see. This doesn't seem to be possible because the itunes lib is computer-specific == that is, the itunes on my PC is not aware of the itunes on my iMac (and don't get me started on AppleTV!!)
Now perhaps this is a DRM issue, and music publishers won't allow the sharing. Maybe. It's just frustrating that I can't modify a playlist or whatever and have it show up everywhere, regardless of where the change was made. Perhaps the answer is to lose the iMac and only do itunes on PCs? Would syncing multiple computers work if they were all PCs?
Apple has a reputation that everything just works. Sadly that doesn't seem to be as universal as it may once have been, but then it was just a reputation after all. If there's a way to make this just work that I haven't figured out yet, I'm eager to learn it. Bottom line is, I would like to have an iTunes library that can be displayed on any device I want, that can be modified from any device, and will appear the same on any device. Is such a thing possible?
Thanks for letting me vent.

Hello,
You can share your iTunes library between machines and devices when connected to your local network. Additionally, iTunes Match is a service which allows you to store your Music "in the cloud" and access it remotely.

Syncing to multiple computers

when syncing my ipod touch to my computer at work, it deletes everything stored from my home computer. what am i doing wrong?

If you want to connect and use an iPod on more than one computer you need to change the update preference in the iPod Summary tab to "Manually manage music and videos" and click Apply. In this mode you can directly access the content of the iPod and play it through iTunes and you can drag and drop whatever you want to the iPod from either library:
Using iPod with Multiple computers
Managing content manually on iPod
iPod 101: Fill 'er Up

How to sync with multiple computers?

I have my iTunes library on my MacBook and all of my Apple devices synced accordingly. My family also has an iMac, and I would like other family members to be able to sync from the iMac. I know I can use Home Sharing to allow the iMac to view/play the music when my Macbook is active on the network. I also know I can purchase iTunes Match so I can access the music when my MacBook is offline and edit the playlists. Yet, I would love to be able to set up the iMac so the iDevices could actually by synced with that computer as opposed to mine. How can I go about this?

Yes, you can sync your device with multiple computers. Only that one is set to AUTO SYNC whilst the rest is set to "MANUALLY MANAGE MUSIC".
Refer to this article:
Using iPhone, iPad, or iPod with multiple computers
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1202
However, issues may occur leading to data corruption or data loss if you regularly sync Contacts, Calendars, Notes, or bookmarks between multiple computers using iTunes and your iOS device. Syncing once to move your data to a new computer should not cause these issues.
Refer to this article:
iOS: Issues syncing content with multiple computers using iTunes
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1474

Syncing the same iTunes library among multiple computers

I have two computers, a Windows 7 laptop and a new iMac. iTunes on both computers are signed into the same Apple ID. I currently have my iTunes library on my laptop, but I would like to also have the exact same library on my iMac. For instance, if I download a new podcast to my laptop, it should be placed on my iMac as well. When I delete the podcast, it should be deleted on the iMac too. When song metadata is updated on my laptop (play count, lyrics, etc), I want it updated on the iMac automatically.
I have not had much experience with Home Sharing, but would that do all of this automatically? I know I could manually transfer songs from one computer to the other using Home Sharing, but what about updated metadata or deleting files?
iCloud has made this situation more interesting. I know iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Match will keep music files in sync among various devices (including metadata?), but what about podcasts or movies or files not purchased via iTunes? I know there are plenty of details that are yet to be released concerning iCloud, but do you think it will solve this problem entirely, or will manual labor be required to obtain the exact same library among multiple computers?
I have considered only using my iMac to maintain my library, since it is always on and I could use Home Sharing to listen to music on my laptop since they are on the same Wifi network. However, I feel it would be best to keep the same library on two computers for when I take my laptop on vacation away from my home network.
What would you suggest for this situation?
Thanks!

sorry about the slight irrelevence of this post on this thread....i saw this much older post you had in my explorations and it is almost to a "T" my issue currently and i was wondering if you ever came to a conclusion or had any tips or resolution paths i could explore. your original message:
     I have 2 computers I'd like to set up Home Sharing on. One is Windows XP and the other is Windows 7.
     I set it all up but then the libraries never show up. Nothing happens.
     The computers are on the same network and I can successfully share files and a printer. Both computers are      authorized using the same account. Both are signed into that account.
     I don't know why it's not working. Can you please help?
          Thanks!!
is EXACTLY my problem with the only variable being that both of my computers run 7. furthermore, you went on to say you were experiencing issues with the "remote" app. that was the initial objective for me in my system that got me here with a deeper problem with home share. i want to home share my itunes library and control it from my iPod touch 4g. is that such an unreasonable request?!?!? lol. i'm incredibly frustrated and was hoping that since you had such specifically similar circumstances....have you found a solution? PLEASE HELP!!! thank you so much for your time.

Newbie question about setting up iTunes to sync across multiple computers

Hi,
Right now I am using iTunes primarily for listening to streaming radio. However in about 2-3 weeks after I move, I am considering importing all my CDs into iTunes.
So my question is this. What can I do before I start that will make my life easier for syncing my iTunes across multiple computers.
I don't expect the computers to connect to each via internet but I do have a 4 GB flash disk and 230 GB firewire drive that could be used. And since one of the computers is MacBook Pro, I could use it in target mode I think.
Thanks.

Authorization only applies to computers. When you update a device any protected content on the device for which the library is not authorised will be removed. Otherwise no attempt is made to remove content that was added by a now deauthorised library.
There is a separate scheme permitting up to 10 devices (computers, iPhones, iPad or iPod touches) to be registered for automatic downloads of your purchases with a different mechanism for deregistering devices.
Once you have a file on your computer you can physically copy it to any other computer in the same way that you would copy any other file like a Word document, put it on a disk, email it if not too large, burn it to DVD, stick it on an external hard drive or move it over a network. You can use Get Info. To tell you where it is now and you can drop it into the library at the other end.
The user tip shows how to backup the whole library and then update that backup efficiently. Such a backup to a portable drive also provides a possible tool for transporting any content to another computer.
tt2

How can I sync Bridge between multiple computers at work with keywords/collections/search?

We've been trying to find a digital asset management platform at work for a while now and I recently came across Bridge (we have the Creative Cloud). It's perfect! Except we're all on a bunch of different computers and would need to be able to search the same keywords/collections all from the same server (the photos are in many different folders though). Is there a way to be able to sync all keywords etc on multiple computers? Or if someone opens Bridge and can search right away without having to make all the keywords persistent by finding each photo and clicking on it? We're all on the same Creative Cloud team.

I actually did already create a book with all the files in it, but I couldn't figure out how that was helpful. The hyperlink panel doesn't seem to have any "book" options (unless I'm looking in the wrong place?) and just linking to the different files (after creating the book) didn't have any different results than linking to the files before I created the book.
I thought maybe linking to the different files in the book would work if I could export the whole book to pdf at once (which would be super-helpful in and of itself), but that doesn't seem to be an option either.
I guess what I'm asking is for you to elaborate on what to do after creating the book.
Thanks!

Now that iCloud has done away with galleries, how can we share as I did with MobileMe? How can we sync non-Apple email accounts across multiple computers?

Now that iCloud has done away with galleries, how can we share as I did with MobileMe? How can we sync non-Apple email accounts across multiple computers?

You will need to find a third party solution for online storage in order to share things like photos with others. Some popular solutions to this are dropbox and sugarsync.
You cannot sync non-iCloud email accounts across your iOS devices and computers unless they are IMAP accounts like iCloud. If they are IMAP accounts, you will do it in the same way as you have always done.

Syncing devices to multiple iTunes accounts on multiple computers.

I have 3 computers in my house, 2 belong to my sister, 1 is mine. Mine is very old and failing so I am probably going to get a new one. Before I do that I would like to preform a complete system restore, I hear that sometimes helps fix the bugs computers accumulate as they age. The problem is I've never done this before and I worry that I might loose valuable information. I keep everything I own on a 500GB external harddrive, so the only things that are really at risk are my Google Chrome bookmarks and my iTunes Library. Everything else I can just recover from the E-HD, but those two... I am still not sure how I can back them up. For this thread I will focus specifically on my iTunes Library though, and leave the Chrome dilema for another day (and another discussion forum).
I figured that if my old comp does go belly up I could always sync my stuff to one of my sister's computers. She mainly uses her laptop and she has told me I could use her tower to sync my iPod Touch and my iPad if I need to. I would be able to use her tower at least until I get myself a new one.
I've found several guides on how to backup the iTunes Library and metadata, and I have tried to do so. I transfer my songs and the backed up library onto a flash drive and then plug them into the new computer (my sister's comp). I drag and drop it onto the desktop, and then plug in the Touch. Oh yea, I feel I should mention something here, I'm going to try and preform a transfer of the iTouche's data first, then continue with my iPad depending on how that goes. My iPad has become my agenda, I use it for everything. And accidentally loosing all my contact/agenda info because of a botched attempt at backing up it's library is NOT an option.
So yea... I try first with the touch.
All the files are there, but when I logged into iTunes he still asked me "You need to reset this device to it's factory parameters before you can sync into this computer." Basically he needs to nuke everything on it so I can't be synced on two computers at once...
I declined the sync and tried to load up the Library I had brought over from my old comp. Problem is... he doesn't offer any option of importing a Library, in the usual spot there's only an option for exporting. Which is idiotic because this iTunes has nothing in it, it's a blank slate.
Then I tried something else, not sure what prompted it, I went on the iTunes store and downloaded a free App. And he was able to put it on the Touch... he asked me for my iTunes account info and password, and then he seemed to indicate my Touch was synced on both computers (and that I had a total of 5 computers I could sync to). The Library still hadn't transfered, since the iTunes on this comp still had no songs, but my Touch still had all 250 songs. So it didn't get wiped...
Basically my question is this. Can my devices (a 2G iPod Touch and a WiFi only 64GB iPad) be synced up to multiple computers, with my main library placed on each of these computers.
And if so, can these Libraries be continually updated with regards to one another through the internet (or at least through my home network). By this I mean, if I make a purchase on one of them, will the other Libraries be updated and get this purchase.

PTNLemay wrote:
I keep everything I own on a 500GB external harddrive, so the only things that are really at risk are my Google Chrome bookmarks and my iTunes Library.
What if that 500Gb drive fails? You need at least two copies on different drives of anything that matters, one just isn't enough.
I use SyncToy 2.1 (free) to keep my backup copies of my iTunes library and other important folders up-to-date. If there's room for the library on the internal then a single external backup is fine, but if your external holds the only copy then you should look to getting a second external drive as backup.
tt2

Is it possible for me to sync to multiple computers using an external HDD?

I just bought a 1TB external HDD and have all my music on it, as well as the installed and latest version of iTunes, as well I think I have the iTunes media file on there as well.
So using all of those things is it possible to sync my iPhone 5 to multiple computers? Like can I start syncing on my Laptop and unplug and cancel the sync and continue it on my Desktop
If there is I would imagine that it has to be either really easy or really complex. Either or I would like to know if it is possible!
If you need any more info just ask and I could provide anything that isn't personal.

Yes, if you have the entire library organized properly on the external drive then you can connect it to any computer running the same build of iTunes. See make a split library portable for details. You should also keep a backup on another drive.
See also this post.
tt2

Sync multiple computers?

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