Moving large files from PC to Mac using USB/FireWire?

[svejar]

OK,

first of all: I'm a pc user... Sorry. I'll be buying an iBook in a couple of weeks time.

Anyway, this is not about me. A friend of mine has just bought an G4 iBook, but she doesn't have an internet connection at home. So I would like to help her out a bit by downloading updates, software trials etc. and moving them from my work PC to her Mac. This would be easy if my work PC had a CD burner, but it doesn't.

What I need your help with, is to answer this question: How can I move files from a PC to a Mac, using USB or FireWire? Is this at all possible? I'm looking for a "no new software required" approach, since I can't install any new programs on my work PC without involving the IT dept.

In other words: I would prefer a "cable solution".

Any help appreciated.

 

[iShater]

Have you considered an ethernet cable? I can't think of a way to use FW or USB without buying a 3rd device.

Maybe your friend could invest in one of those USB flash drives? 64MB or so are around $30 I believe.

 

[puddles]

startup the ibook in firewire mode

have the mac user read their "help" if they don't know how.

it's easy.

firewire disk mode.

c'mon people ;}

 

[virividox]

puddles, firewire disk mode doesnt work if the other machine is a wintel.

cross over cable sould do the trick

 

[kewpid]

Connect the two firewire ports on the computer with a 6pin-to-6pin firewire cable.

Press "T" while the mac is starting up and it will go into Target Disk Mode, and basically act like a firewire hard drive.

Copy Files. Voila!


edit: oops this doesn't work apparently.

 

[puddles]

i respectfully disagree

it does work with wintels

i have done it to transfer large sound and video files to a wintel box within the past month

works like a charm

startup the ibook in firewire disk mode and it pops up on the wintel machine

drag and drop

but don't lissen to me.... do it the hard way

 

[puddles]

granted

any number of windoze idosyncracies can mess it up, but it is doable

we had to turn off the firewall and all the virus protection to get it to work

 

[virividox]

okay my bad, last time i tried it didn't work. but if you say it does then great.

live and you learn

 

[puddles]

welll.....

like i said, it doesn't always work

my same friend with the same wintel box tried to do it again to share with another mac user and had no luck

but he's a bit technically challenged

can anyone else try an experiment?

thankfully i have no windoze boxes sullying up my apartment to try it again on

i'm curious why it would work sometimes but not others

 

[svejar]

I just talked to her, and it seems like her parents are willing to pay for an external FireWire hard drive. That might be the best solution.

But will the files show up in both operating systems: Windows XP and OSX? Sorry for my noobish questions, but being a Windows victim I'm not used to things working as intended...

Thanks for all your replies!

svejar

 

[virividox]

what type of files

if they are jpg bmp gif, move avi, mpg, divx, doc xls ppt, pdf no problem. its only certain app files that dont work in osx, i mean u just nead the proper software. but otherwise if it works in windows it should work in osx, unless its a .exe or something

 

[iShater]

Re: granted

Originally posted by puddles
any number of windoze idosyncracies can mess it up, but it is doable

we had to turn off the firewall and all the virus protection to get it to work

Windows cannot read HFS+, so how can it read the file system? are you sure they didn't use any extra software that allowed them to read the data?

 

[svejar]

Originally posted by virividox
what type of files

if they are jpg bmp gif, move avi, mpg, divx, doc xls ppt, pdf no problem. its only certain app files that dont work in osx, i mean u just nead the proper software. but otherwise if it works in windows it should work in osx, unless its a .exe or something

What I ment was: if for instance I download a trial of a program that's a .dmg or something, and move it from my (work) windows PC and to the external FireWire disk, will the file show up when my friend connects the FireWire disk to her iBook. Will the Mac be able to understand the file system on the disk?

svejar

 

[svejar]

Well, I'm answering my own question here. But in case someone finds this thread useful, here is a solution.

OSX cannot read NTFS (the file system commonly used with Windows XP). But it can read FAT32, the old file system used by Windows 98. Problem no. 1 - You cannot format to FAT32 in Windows XP.

Solution: use HFS+ on the external disk drive, and install Macdrive on the PC. That way Windows can use the OSX file system.

svejar

 

[GigaWire]

Here' a simpler solution.

Format the drive in OS X using Disk Utility as MS-DOS File System. Then the drive is read by both computers with no problem or additional software.