How do I connect to a PC?

[BengalDuck]

I have an external HD. Unfortunately, I can't simply plug that in to my friend's PC because it's formatted for my Mac and I don't want to delete it.

I've shared with a Mac before by simply plugging in a firewire cable and enabling Sharing in the Systems Preferences > Sharing tab. Yet my PC friend does not have a firewire port, so we're going to try with just an ethernet cord.

1. Is this possible? (To share through an ethernet cord)
2. Do I need other programs to do this? (Like an FTP program? Because I really don't want to buy/download one)
3. If possible, can someone explain in great detail (because I am only partially Mac-literate and completely PC-illiterate) exactly how to do this? I would really appreciate it.

I found a story on Apple's support page but it seems a bit outdated. My friend is on XP (I'll assume Home Edition) and I'm on the latest version of OS X.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=19652

 

[Frisco]

Yes you can use an Ethernet Cable.

1) You also need to enable Sharing on the WinXp machine:

A) Go into My Network Places>Click on Set up a Home or Small Office Network.
Go through the Wizard to enable File Sharing

2) In My Network Places click on View Network Connections and write down you IP Address.

3) Go to the folder or hard disk you want to share. Right click on it and choose Sharing & Security. Check Share this folder on the Network. You can also Check "Allow Network users to change my files" if you so desire.

4) On your Mac from the Finder menu > Go > Connect to Server > Enter the PCs IP Address

Then also from the Go menu select Connect to Server

Then your find your local share in MSHome or something like that.

Your shared drive/folders should mount on your desktop.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

A Guide exists for this very topic. I found it extremely helpful.

 

[reubs]

Before I begin restructuring my home wireless network, I've got a question about this guide...

If I connect my external HD to our PC tower, will I be able to use it to save files from my Macbook?

Ex: If I'm working on a file on my laptop that I need to save to the external, can I do that over the network? Does this make sense?

Thanks in advance.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Before I begin restructuring my home wireless network, I've got a question about this guide...

If I connect my external HD to our PC tower, will I be able to use it to save files from my Macbook?

Ex: If I'm working on a file on my laptop that I need to save to the external, can I do that over the network? Does this make sense?

Thanks in advance.

Yes, you can, if you make a folder on the external HD a shared folder first.

 

[Eraserhead]

There is another way that is more reliable in my experience.

1) On your Mac go to System Preferences==>Sharing==>Remote Access
2) Find the IP address on the Mac in System Preferences==>Network
3) On the PC download and run WinSCP

This connects to the Mac via SSH and works every time, it's a bit more geeky but it works better than Windows File Sharing (which always seems to go wrong.)

EDIT: I haven't ever followed the guide step by step so it might work better than my method.

 

[direzz]

Yes, you can, if you make a folder on the external HD a shared folder first.

what about using an old ipod mini. can it be hooked up to a computer constantly, and then used to share files?

 

[wrldwzrd89]

what about using an old ipod mini. can it be hooked up to a computer constantly, and then used to share files?

That would work, if you enabled disk use on the iPod mini first (if it isn't already enabled). Keep in mind that iPods aren't meant to have their hard drives constantly spinning, though.