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Getting Music files from my PC to new MBP

E

Empyre

macrumors member
Original poster
Hello all,

I just got my new MBP in today, and was wondering if there is a quick and easy way to get all of my music files from my PC onto my MBP? I would rather not burn a bunch of DVDs but if thats the only way its going to happen then i guess I'll have to settle....But if there is an alternate solution I would like to hear about it!

Note: My 16GB iphone is full of files already so I can't use it to transfer the files, nor do I have an external HDD =(
 
I'd buy a firewire or USB cord and connect the computer directly. You should be able to drag the files directly over to your Mac. I know you can do this Mac to Mac. I'm sure PC to Mac would be just as easy.
 
That would be really cool, but how would my mac be recognized on my PC? Just as a drive volume or something?
 
If you hold down "i" as your mac boots up it will start up in slave mode. This basically turns your laptop into a hard drive that you can drag and drop onto from your pc. Additionally, when starting up in slave mode and your connected to another mac, you can drag and drop all programs to your machine and get them all for free 🙂 Me and my friend did it at uni after a PHD student told us about it...got all the software we needed for the course absolutely free.

Apple - making piracy an absolute doddle 🙂
 
So would it have to be Firewire to Firewire or USB to USB? Or could i do it through Ethernet? Because i am lacking the two former options....dont have those cables! And just spent $2500 on this beast of a computer, and dont really want to spend extra on a cable i will use maybe once in a while heh
 
I thought you held the <T> button while booting?. At least that's what it was on my Powerbook G4.

As far as purchasing a cord, I just got a new iMac and needed a firewire cord. I bought one from Circuit City for $35(which is ridiculous), used it and returned it when I was done. Ha. 😀
 
yeah thats a reasonable alternative, might just have to do that!! And I'll check out that holding down T while booting option
 
So far we've talked about Piracy, and corporate fraud. What's next, human trafficking?

At any rate, OP, if my logic serves me correctly, you can start your machine in target disk mode however you won't be able to actually look at your disk because it will be formatted as an HFS+ and not NTFS/Fat

Solution: MacDrive 7 on your windows machine.

They even offer a 5 day free trial for you one time users 😀
 
hmm maybe it is "t", it was a year ago i did it so i can't remember. just try everything from a - z, you'll get it eventually 😀
 
I read that using 'Firewire or Target Disk Mode' can cause damage if tried with a USB to USB cable.

Ethernet network is probably better bet.
 
Eddyisgreat said:
Solution: MacDrive 7 on your windows machine.

They even offer a 5 day free trial for you one time users 😀
Click to expand...

This would still require me to have my PC and my mac connected somehow though....Which is what I'm trying to figure out right now without having to buy a firewire adapter, and then a firewire to firewire cord, or USB-USB cord...I'm not even sure the USB to USB would work since when I held down <T> at boot, it displayed the firewire logo, no USB
 
Gosh said:
I read that you 'Firewire or Target Disk Mode' is can cause damage if tried with a USB to USB cable.

Ethernet network is probably better bet.
Click to expand...

Really?

My plan is to stick everything on an external hard drive, then drag it onto my mac. Yes it will take some time, but I can just do it when I'm asleep.
 
I was able to track down an external from a friend, so my music is being transfered right now....So im all set, although I would like to learn how to transfer files via Ethernet eventually so I dont run into this problem again, and I dont have an external to use
 
Empyre said:
I was able to track down an external from a friend, so my music is being transfered right now....So im all set, although I would like to learn how to transfer files via Ethernet eventually so I dont run into this problem again, and I dont have an external to use
Click to expand...

I would, too! Can anyone here expand on how to do this???
 
So to transfer files from one mac to another by using "slave mode" to access the hard drive on the MBP (Command T), you would need a firewire cord, right?
 
Mike-intosh said:
I would, too! Can anyone here expand on how to do this???
Click to expand...

If you take a crossover Ethernet cable and plug one end into each of your computers, you've essentially made a network out of the two without even needing a router or switch. (If your computers are smart [read: new] enough, you might even be able to use any normal Ethernet cable in place of a crossover cable!)

Then you can just open a shared folder over the network and copy your files across. I don't know for sure, but I'd bet the OS X Migration Assistant would work at this point too.

Another note: if you have Gigabit Ethernet on your old computer (the new MBs and MBPs have it built in) you will be able to transfer data significantly faster than with USB or FireWire:

Ethernet: 100Mbps
FireWire 400: 400Mbps
USB: 480Mbps
FireWire 800: 800Mbps
Gigabit Ethernet: 1000Mbps / 1Gbps

If you don't have Gigabit Ethernet on your old computer, you'd be better off using USB or FireWire instead, since both are at least 4 times faster than non-Gigabit Ethernet. Also, between USB and FireWire 400, choose FireWire. Even though it's rated at 80Mbps less, it actually performs better because USB has significantly more overhead.

Ryuukumori said:
So to transfer files from one mac to another by using "slave mode" to access the hard drive on the MBP (Command T), you would need a firewire cord, right?
Click to expand...

It's actually called FireWire target disk mode rather than "slave mode" so yes, you would need a FireWire cable to use it.
 
I tried connecting my computers via regular ethernet cord and came up with nothing, they are both gigabit capable but I think you need a CAT-5 Crossover to do it, that or I just don't know how to manipulate the network options for Macs enough quite yet....But I would go with a CAT-5 Crossover to get the job done.
 
Empyre said:
I tried connecting my computers via regular ethernet cord and came up with nothing, they are both gigabit capable but I think you need a CAT-5 Crossover to do it, that or I just don't know how to manipulate the network options for Macs enough quite yet....But I would go with a CAT-5 Crossover to get the job done.
Click to expand...

Yeah... I know some routers and switches do tricky auto-crossover stuff, and some NICs do too, but I don't really know how common this is. Worth a shot, anyway.

Ideally, you'd want to go with a Cat6 crossover for Gigabit, as Cat5e can (CAN, but this is not always the case, and it may be insignificant) limit your transfer speed.
 
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