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transferring files from mac to windows?

I

ImShane

macrumors member
Original poster
Hi guys,

How do i go about moving files between my macbook pro to a windows based laptop, im forced to do this because i cant transfer files bigger than 4.5gb on an external.

Can i do this?
 
I believe the root cause is his external HD is using FAT32 file format. FAT32 has a single file size limit of 4 GB. If his Windows machine is formatted as FAT32, instead of NTFS, he'll still run into the same issue using a network cable. HFS and NTFS do not have a 4 GB (2^32) single file size limit.

Frosties said:
A regular Ethernet network cable between them would suffice.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1408
Click to expand...
 
ctyhntr said:
If his Windows machine is also using FAT32, instead of NTFS, he'll still run into the same issue using a network cable.
Click to expand...

The fact that the OP mentions the file size limitation indicates the Windows system is NTFS. If it was FAT32, they wouldn't have any files larger than 4GB to transfer, in the first place. Using the cable to transfer between HFS and NTFS has no such file size restrictions.
 
Try formatting your drive to NTFS. There is no file limit, then on your mac you would have to install 3rd party software or use terminal to enable writing to NTSF. Macfuse and Tuxera NTFS are 3rd party programs that allow you to write from OSX to NTFS
 
To summarize the formats:

FAT32
  • Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
  • No individual file larger than 4GB.
NTFS
HFS
  • Read/Write HFS from native Mac OS X
  • To Read/Write HFS from Windows, Install MacDrive
  • To Read HFS (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer
 
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