Quick Hello and Question :) (file transfer with USB pen drive)

[wattso]

Hi

I have been looking into getting a Mac for some time now and have recently ordered the imac 20" c2d which I SHOULD receive tomorrow! Big step for me as I have been a windows user all my life and have never really used a Mac. After looking around various internet Mac forums I have decided to settle down here in Mac rumours and would like to thank its users who have indirectly helped me and are probably the reason I took the plunge on a mac. I plan to be a regular contributor to the forums and help out where I can with technical questions and whatnot. So big hello to everyone.
I just have one question (will probably think of some more later ) I will have to transfer documents regularly from my Mac to my school which uses windows, I used to use a USB pen drive but am I right in saying that this method is not possible with a Mac? If so would I have to e-mail my work? Or am I just completely wrong and I can continue using my pen drive?

Thanks in advance
wattso

 

[MacBoobsPro]

Just plug your USB drive in and it will work. You wont have to mess with drivers or anything. You wont have a problem at all.

Welcome to the Mac and Mac Rumors! You wont regret it!

 

[ChickenSwartz]

I am pretty sure this shouldn't be a huge problem. If I understand what you mean by pen drive.

I have a USB drive, formated for Windows and it works but there are issues, I think formatting it for OSX will fix this.

Specific issue: When I delete something off it in OSX it gets put in a hidden folder called .Trashes. I do not know how to find it on the Mac and it still takes up space. When you open it in windows and show hidden files, it appears and you can delete it. Maybe someone can help me too.

 

[wattso]

Thanks for the replies, so that’s great are you saying if I format the USB pen drive with the Mac I will be able to transfer files back and forth between the pc’s at school and my mac Its just that I read somewhere that if an external hardrive had files on it from windows that due to the folder architecture you wont be able to view them properly on a Mac and assumed it was the same principle.
OH and I’ve thought of another question, I’m considering buying iwork because I’m wary of buying office before the universal binary version is released, I know you can view pages and keynote documents in Microsoft office but do they appear perfectly just as they were in iwork or are there some problems there?

Thanks again
wattso

 

[fivetoadsloth]

i do it all the time. just plug it it into a usb port and i t will act just like it does on windows. Make you put files on it that are compatible with both comps though. welcome to the mac side of things, it is definatly a better brightwer side of the forest.

 

[fivetoadsloth]

about the iwork question, you can export pages files to microsoft word and keynote presentations as powerpoints. Works wonderfully, gets the teacher to say i didnt know powerpoint did that.

 

[wattso]

Thank you very much for the help mate. I'm all excited now can't wait for tomorrow like a kid on Christmas eve I'll update with my thoughts on the mac when I've had some time to play with it tomorrow, people seem to like hearing how much switchers love the mac os Just have to find me a printer now as my canon mp360 Isn’t mac compatible

 

[fivetoadsloth]

that sucks. good luck finidng a new printer

 

[ChickenSwartz]

about the iwork question, you can export pages files to microsoft word and keynote presentations as powerpoints. Works wonderfully, gets the teacher to say i didnt know powerpoint did that.

Wish there was a comprable spreadsheat app.

 

[Cameront9]

Just a note on the pen drive issue:

If the Flash drive is formatted as FAT32, it will work fine. No re-format needed.

If it is formatted as NTFS, you can still READ it in OS X, I believe, but you can't write to it.

Chances are your flash drive is formatted as FAT32.

 

[Doctor Q]

Wish there was a comprable spreadsheat app.

As a matter of fact...

 

[apfhex]

so that’s great are you saying if I format the USB pen drive with the Mac I will be able to transfer files back and forth between the pc’s at school and my mac Its just that I read somewhere that if an external hardrive had files on it from windows that due to the folder architecture you wont be able to view them properly on a Mac and assumed it was the same principle.

No, it's the other way around actually. Windows can't read Mac (HFS+) formatted drives without 3rd party software. MacOS X can read anything you would use under Windows (but it can't write to NTFS formatted drives).

Your USB flash drive probably comes formatted as FAT16 or FAT32. Either of those will work cross-platform. If it doesn't come like that, you can format it as such from Disk Utility.

 

[frankblundt]

Specific issue: When I delete something off it in OSX it gets put in a hidden folder called .Trashes. I do not know how to find it on the Mac and it still takes up space. When you open it in windows and show hidden files, it appears and you can delete it. Maybe someone can help me too.

Just empty the trash when you have the drive connected and it should delete the files out of the .Trashes folder