Reader Aiden Andrews is plan to venture out but would care some of his most important file cabinet useable to him . He write :
I ’m be after to be away from my nursing home spot for a couple of weeks but will take my MacBook Pro and iPad with me so I can work while traveling . What ’s the good direction for me to best arrange thing so I have access to my files and can share them between my computer and iPad ?
With the prevalence of cloud computer memory and mobile devices lots of hoi polloi are concerned in the most efficient way to share their work . There is no one veracious answer but I can sketch out some of your options .
The digital hub : If you ’ve used a Mac for for a while you may remember Apple ’s “ digital hub ” strategy . The idea is that the Mac operated in an octopudinal style , where you ’d tether your various devices to it and manage all your stuff with your figurer — no swarm necessary as everything you needed was on your computer .
There ’s no crime in proceed to manage your stuff this way . Just simulate all the file cabinet you could possibly necessitate to your Mac . Should you bid to put some of those file cabinet on your iPad , impound the iPad to your laptop with its syncing cable , launching iTunes , select the iPad in iTunes ’ reservoir leaning , get across the App tab in iTunes main windowpane , move down to the File Sharing area , select the app you desire to share files with ( Pages , for exercise ) , and drag in the compatible files you desire to synchronize into the communion area . They ’ll be simulate to the iPad and available from within the app you take .
One of the attractions of iOS devices in this regard is that — unlike with other kinds of medium — iTunes wo n’t throw a convulsion if you ’ve jacked in an iPad , iPhone , or iPod come to that a finical Mac is n’t synced with . Apple sagely allows “ unknown ” iOS twist to be plugged into any Mac for the purposes of file cabinet share-out .
The shortcoming of the digital hub is that you ’re stuck with whatever you ’ve brought along with you . If you ’ve forgotten a file or traipsed off on an outing with just your iPad in mitt without syncing an of import filing cabinet to that gimmick , you ’re largely out of luck .
iCloud : If you ’re endure Mac OS X Mountain Lion on your Mac and iOS 6 on your iPad , you probably have an iCloud score . With iCloud ’s document partake it ’s hard to not portion out sure kinds of files to Apple ’s cloud service as applications such as Pages , Numbers , Keynote , and TextEdit choose iCloud as their default location for save file . As long as you have an net connective , any filing cabinet you ’ve created in these applications and salve to iCLoud will be usable to your laptop and iPad provided that you have copies of the host applications on these devices .
The problem with iCloud store is that it ’s limited to a few Apple applications . If you have files of other type , iCloud is no help to you .
Online storage : For the greatest cloud tractability you ’ll bet to service such asDropbox , Google Drive , orSugarSync . With a Dropbox account you get 2 GB of liberal depot plus 500 MB of additional storage for everyone you name to the service . Google Drive and SugarSync each offer 5 GB of free storehouse . All three services allow you to buy additional storage . They also all offer iOS apps for access your stored files .
While you may use those apps to get to your files stored in the ether , I ’m a fan of the $ 5GoodReader app . GoodReader can download and open many file stored on these services . And when it ca n’t , its handy Open In command lets you open files in an app that can deal with them — for example , you’re able to open EPUB Indian file in iBooks or move many kinds of image files to the Photos app . GoodReader is a must - have on all my Io twist .
Apple offers its Back To My Mac service that have you view and operate a outside Mac . In such a scenario you could then total the data file you want to Dropbox , Google Drive , or SugarSync , or play it honest-to-god - school and simply e-mail the files you need to yourself . When Back To My Mac works it can be wonderful — particularly since it can habituate theWake on Demand featuresupported by latish - model AirPort Base Stations and Time Capsules running microcode 7.4.2 or afterwards . Without going into great detail about Wake on Demand , this mean that even if your Mac is asleep ( but , on a laptop , with the lid assailable ) you may wake it remotely and access your files . ( Read the linked text file to see how your Mac supports this feature of speech . )
One difficulty is that Back To My Mac go well with one of these Apple routers and if you do n’t have one ( or find that Back To My Mac only does n’t work even with Apple ’s hardware ) you could be in the soup . In addition , you ca n’t utilise Back To My Mac from an iOS gadget .
Fortunately there are other ways to access your Mac . Because I ’m a cheapskate and it works , I favor the innocent version ofLogMeIn . you may apply it to get at a outside Mac from an iOS twist as well as a electronic computer . It works this way :
Register an account with LogMeIn and download the Mac server node to your abode or office Mac . When you ’re planning to be away , send away up that host and give your Mac run . ( You wo n’t be capable to access it if the Mac is gone . )
When you want to get at your remote Mac from your laptop , direct your web internet browser at the LogMeIn WWW site , access , and , using the LogMeIn plug - in , log into your Mac .
If you ’re using an iOS equipment , download the freeLogMeIn app . Launch the app , enter the electronic mail name and address and password associated with your LogMeIn score , and in a short meter you should see your Mac ’s screenland . expend the recommended gestures to pilot around your Mac , situate your filing cabinet , and place them somewhere you may retrieve them .
As you’re able to see , there are many ways to attack this problem . I ’d suggest using a combination of these technique . Do so and you should never be without the files you demand .
