Sharing or syncing home folders between Macs
Depending on what files you are wanting to syncronize in your home folder you could get away using Dropbox and symlinks.
The new LAN sync feature on newer versions (the 0.7.x line) will make syncing faster as well since it doesn't need to sync to Dropbox's servers and then back down to your other computer before the files are available.
If Dropbox or other online synchronization methods aren't good enough (or you have privacy fears) there is the option of using Mac OS X Server on the Mac mini and setting up the MacBook to use a portable home directory and then your home folder will be exactly the same on both. It's definitely a much more pricey option ($500USD for server) and has a bit more overhead but if you have multiple computers and a decent network (namely not 802.11g or 10base ethernet) it's pretty solid (I've got a client who does this between his two iMacs and his iBook for himself, his wife and two kids).
It is possible however to set up a remote home directory without Mac OS X Server: SuperUser Question: 16129, How to configure a remote home directory on Mac OS X?
You can use Unison File Synchronizer. Details from Wikipedia:
- It runs on many operating systems, and can synchronize files across platforms, so that for instance a Windows laptop may be synchronized with a Unix server.
- It detects 'conflicts' where a file has been modified on both sources, and displays these to the user
- It communicates over the TCP/IP protocol so that any two machines with an internet connection can be synchronized. This also means that the data transferred can be secured by tunneling over an encrypted ssh connection.
- It uses the rsync algorithm developed by Andrew Tridgell. This algorithm transfers only the parts of a file that have changed, and so is faster than copying the whole file.
- It is designed to be robust in the event of a program or system crash or a communication failure.
- It is open-source.