Cloning/Syncing questions

[snoturtle]

Hello all 🙂

I am looking for software that will clone/sync a laptop to a desktop

I need something that in case the laptop had an accident the desktop would have a
complete set of all files/mail/software that the laptop had

Preferably something that would go both ways if one where to use the laptop it would sync the desktop and the other way around also

Not sure what there is for software that can do this and my searching hasn't brought up much 🙁

 

[corkyg]

You can't clone two different operating systems. Forget the desktop. Clone the laptop to an external HDD. Do the same with the desktop. You can then clone back to the one that needs it. I do this every week.

Here's how I clone my laptop:

 

[snoturtle]

Is there a way to sync all of the software and data between the 2 OS's?

Not much for software as it just gets used as the Ebay machine, but now that she is getting more and more auctions up she wants some type of fall back if anything happens to the laptop

Was hoping to find an automated way to do it instead of manually but if I must 🙂

 

[corkyg]

Is there a way to sync all of the software and data between the 2 OS's? Was hoping to find an automated way to do it instead of manually but if I must 🙂

You can synch the data - no problem, but not program installations. To do that you would have to set up a server with workstations.

By EULA, software is installed on one machine only. If you put it on two machines, that requires two licenses.

Synching data is easy - you can use NAS for that.

 

[KeithP]

A virtual machine might work for what you are trying to do.

If you did all your work in a VM, the VM could be synced between systems. Try VirtualBox from Sun its free. http://www.virtualbox.org/

-KeithP

 

[Modelworks]

Is there a way to sync all of the software and data between the 2 OS's?

Not much for software as it just gets used as the Ebay machine, but now that she is getting more and more auctions up she wants some type of fall back if anything happens to the laptop

Was hoping to find an automated way to do it instead of manually but if I must 🙂

Which OS is it and which browser and email programs ?
What I do is use portable apps. Portable apps are designed to run inside 1 directory where they store all the program files and all user files so that directory is all you ever have to worry about. I use thunderbird portable for email and have installed OS about 5 times since I started. I have never had to reinstall it or backup mail or data. I just keep the directory on a different drive than the OS. Then after I install the OS I can just go to that directory and run the program.
http://portableapps.com/apps

 

[snoturtle]

Right now the laptop has Vista Home Premium and the desktop has Vista Ultimate

Firefox and Thunderbird are really the only apps that get used

 

[snoturtle]

Just had another idea 🙂

Could I use something like acronis to backup and restore to different hardware?