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forbade

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 31, 2006
33
0
US
Is there anyway I can transfere files between mac notebooks using a usb or fire wire cable ?
 

Eniregnat

macrumors 68000
Jan 22, 2003
1,841
1
In your head.
Apple Computer said:
from Technical Document 58583
To use FireWire target disk mode

Make sure that the target computer is turned off. If you are using a PowerBook or iBook as the target computer, you should also plug in its AC power adapter.
Use a FireWire cable (6-pin to 6-pin) to connect the target computer to a host computer. The host computer does not need to be turned off.
Start up the target computer and immediately press and hold down the T key until the FireWire icon appears. The hard disk of the target computer should become available to the host computer and will likely appear on desktop. (If the target computer is running Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, you can also open System Preferences, choose Startup Disk, and click Target Disk Mode. Then restart the computer and it will start up in Target Disk Mode.)
When you are finished copying files, drag the target computer's hard disk icon to the Trash or select Put Away from the File menu (Mac OS 9) or Eject from the File menu (Mac OS X).
Press the target computer's power button to turn it off.
Unplug the FireWire cable.

There are problems with TDM(Target Disk Mode) with the Intel based macs. See Technical Article 303118
Apple Computer said:
If you attempt to mount an Intel-based Mac in Target Disk Mode on a Macintosh running Mac OS X 10.3.9 or earlier, you'll see an alert message that says "You have inserted a disk containing no volumes that Mac OS X can read."

So there are limitations. TDM is very cool and useful.
Otherwise you can use a cross-over ethernet cable and follow the directions on this Apple support article. Such a cable is rather useful.

Using a USB A to A cable may cause shorting and damage your computer.

There may be a USB to USB bridge that will work with OSX. Others can add to this and correct me. There is also a USB device that creates a virtual drive that stands between the two computers. I can't find that product right now.

Lastly you could set up a network between 2 macs if they have Airport cards.
 
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