[MarkSealey]

Hi Scott,

Well so far, so good.

First I changed the (default) locations of the database (from within OF, Preferences) and the lock to within the ~/Documents folder.

I don't know why, but I suppose I just didn't want to have a ChronoSync file (and _Archived Items etc) in the ~/Library/Application Support.

I have to say, OF handled this superbly - it created a backup and simply moved it. No probs!

I have so far brought the two files:

OmniFocus.ofocus, and
OmniFocus.ofocus.lock

from my Tiger machine at work to their place on the Leopard machine at home.

On launching OF on Leopard, everything worked smoothly and just as expected.

Tomorrow I'll do the reverse. But I really can see no reason why that shouldn't go as expected too.

Pls let us know how you get on - good luck :-)

[BwanaZulia]

I finally got my .Mac iDisk syncing properly (cleared out a lot of garbage) and started syncing my OmniFocus database back and forth between iMac and MacBook Pro.

Hints/Tips/Thoughts

- You need to quit OmniFocus before the final sync
- It does not sync perspectives
- It gets confused about the .lock file (anyway, this could go somewhere, else, like in my Library).
- Make sure to rebuild your database to keep it tight
- .Mac won't let two machines sync at the same time (FYI)
- Make sure you have backups turned on and the location is on your hard drive
- Done with Automatic sync setting of iDisk

One step closer to the perfect solution. Now just get me on the iPhone and I will be VERY happy.

BZ

[MarkSealey]

I have just done the synch from (Leopard Mac Pro, 10.5.2 >) flash drive > Tiger G5, 10.4.11 without problems using ChronoSync.

Yes, the lock file does seem to want usually to go 'the other way'.

I suppose it's safe just to let it?

Meanwhile, this seems a perfectly possible and successful way to synch between two systems - bearing in mind the relevant caveats (quitting etc) outlined above. Good cluck!

[benish]

Mark,

Thanks for the report of your ChronoSync experiences - I'll give it a try when I get a spare moment.

Best,

Scott

[abh19]

Hi everyone. I didn't read the entire thread so forgive me if this repeats anything, but I just wanted to share my experiences with putting the OmniFocus database shared on an AirDisk (USB disk connected to Airport Extreme).

First, my setup. I work alternately on a desktop (iMac) and laptop (MacBook) in home. The laptop is mainly for my writing, and the desktop for everything else. First, I tried using two OF databases, one on each computer, but felt there were too many projects that seemed to belong in both databases, that I was creating unnecessary fragmentation of my life. Not wanting to have to manually plug and unplug my USB flash drive when going back and forth (not to mention having it perpetually sticking out of the side of my laptop), I decided to put the omnifocus database on my AirDisk.

In principle, this worked well, once I got it set up right. At first it would throw out "file xyz can't be opened" errors on startup and refuse to open the DB. But after connecting the disk directly to the computer, it seemed to work consistently after returning the disk to the network. I have the backups written to each respective computer's hard drive, but each copy of OmniFocus looks to the network drive for the database.

But even with gigabit ethernet on the iMac and 802.11n on the MacBook, OmniFocus would be pretty sluggish. Now, I'm using a pretty fast HFS+ (journaled) seagate drive inside a MiniStack V3. I read that you can make your AirDisk much faster by turning off journaling. For those who don't know, journaling helps to keep your file system intact during events like improper shutdown, so it improves the reliability of your disk. (BTW, the super-secret code to disable journaling is to hold down the option key while clicking on the File menu in Disk Utility). This did make it faster, but I don't want to run the disk unjournaled because the Airport Extreme firmware seems to have issues when the drive sleeps (which my enclosure V3 does after 15min if neither computer has the disk mounted). I have other, more critical data on that AirDisk too. Anyway, performance was too slow to be a viable option. Nearly every click resulted in a 1 or 2 second pause.

And then it hit me... my MiniStack (the shared AirDisk) has a built-in USB hub. What if I put the OF database on my speedy USB flash drive (a Corsair Flash Voyager) and stick that into the side of the MiniStack? What do you know, it worked! Both disks can be mounted independently on either computer. OmniFocus operation was faster with the (networked) flash drive, but still a mite slow with journaling enabled, but after disabling journaling on the flash drive, it's quite speedy. No noticeable lag time at all. I'm finally in business!

I don't mind that the flash drive is unjournaled, because the OF database is about the only thing on there, and it's getting backed up on both computers twice a day. I don't have it set to backup on quit, because I have to quit the program too frequently--every time I move to the other computer. If I encounter problems, I'll turn that back on.

So, I'm happy to say that OmniFocus now works perfectly over my airport network for my two home computers.

[MarkSealey]

abh19,

Thanks for that!

(I also use a Corsair Voyager - great, aren't they!)

Would a member of the Omni team kindly comment on which is the preferred method... accessing from/on a flash drive (or for that matter a remote Volume on a network), or directly on the local machine(s)?

[abh19]

Originally Posted by MarkSealey

Would a member of the Omni team kindly comment on which is the preferred method... accessing from/on a flash drive (or for that matter a remote Volume on a network), or directly on the local machine(s)?

The only down side I can think of to using flash memory is that flash has limited write cycles. Another is that some USB sticks are cheap quality & unreliable, but that can be avoided. As to the write cycle limit, I don't know what each .xml file actually contains, but it doesn't seem to overwrite the same file over and over.

[Brian]

The flash drive will likely offer better performance than the network option, but there's no real preference one way or the other.

Make sure to have your copies of OmniFocus store their backups on the local disk of each machine, though, in case the USB drive gets lost or the network volume isn't accessible for some reason.

[MarkSealey]

Thanks, Brian!

What I was trying to get at is whether or not you advise access to and from the files still on the flash drive itself; or to and from data transferred to the local machines 'for the day'.

[Brian]

Aaah, I see; I'd just access the files on the Flash drive.