Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Is there a way to connect my macbook air via USB to a windows pc to transfer files?
- Thread starter darkus
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Thread resurrection! Any answer to this? I have the same exact situation. I want to be able to easily transfer files between my MacBook air 2011 and a work windows Pc running xp. Hoping that a USB cable would solve the issue?
No, you cannot create a direct connection between two computers using just a USB cable. It does not matter what computers they are and what operating system they are running. You can do this connecting the two computers using a cross over Ethernet cable, which will allow you to create a "network" between the two computers. The simplest way is to get a USB drive. If you don't have one, then buy one asap so that you can create backups.
There is a cable that works for XP to MAC.
http://www.usbgear.com/computer_cab...ats=160&catid=508,106,141,508,106,141,112,160
For a free version try this. Enable file sharing on the XP computer. OS X will see it and you can click on it in Finder. If you have a password required to access the files, Finder will prompt you to log in.
Note, you said "work" PC. So your work IT may have local file sharing disabled. If so, an alternative is to copy the files to a work server file share. Like your Home Folder, if your IT staff provides one. Then copy from the same server share to the MBA. Make sure there is ample free space before uploading the files to the server. If space is an issue, copy your files over in smaller batches.
http://www.usbgear.com/computer_cab...ats=160&catid=508,106,141,508,106,141,112,160
For a free version try this. Enable file sharing on the XP computer. OS X will see it and you can click on it in Finder. If you have a password required to access the files, Finder will prompt you to log in.
Note, you said "work" PC. So your work IT may have local file sharing disabled. If so, an alternative is to copy the files to a work server file share. Like your Home Folder, if your IT staff provides one. Then copy from the same server share to the MBA. Make sure there is ample free space before uploading the files to the server. If space is an issue, copy your files over in smaller batches.
If you can connect to the same network, you should be able to transfer them across the network.
If you want to direct wire the network ports of both machines, I don't think you require a special "crossover" cable. I believe the Mac will sense you are doing that with a standard ethernet cable and adjust the port properly.
With a work computer and IT watching you, it might be easiest to simply use a USB flash drive or hard drive to get the files from the PC, and then import them to the Mac. Just be sure to format the transfer drive for FAT or ExFat for read/write compatibility both ways (they usually come that way).
-howard
If you want to direct wire the network ports of both machines, I don't think you require a special "crossover" cable. I believe the Mac will sense you are doing that with a standard ethernet cable and adjust the port properly.
With a work computer and IT watching you, it might be easiest to simply use a USB flash drive or hard drive to get the files from the PC, and then import them to the Mac. Just be sure to format the transfer drive for FAT or ExFat for read/write compatibility both ways (they usually come that way).
-howard