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Thinking about buying an imac PC user

M

mjarema414

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 31, 2008
16
0
Hey everyone, I'm on the fence about buying an imac converting from PC. I have an older Mac G5 that I primarily use for itunes and recording music through protools. It's a great machine and have had very limited problems. Otherwise, currently a PC user for photo, video, office etc. I was thinking that if I bought an imac I could use it for everything as an all in one and dump the G5. I just had a couple of questions regarding the switch.

I have an external HD formatted for PC as a backup. It contains documents in MS office format, pictures in .jpg format and HD videos in AVCHD (Sony HD camcorder).

First, if I plug in my PC formatted external HD via usb, will it be recognized on the imac? This is the most important question as I'd like to transfer my PC files to the imac without a problem.

I'm assuming MS office docs are compatible with MS office for Mac.
I'm assuming .jpg are compatible with iphoto.
Lastly, does imovie support the AVCHD format or convert it without too many issues?
Thanks very much for any help you can provide.
 
I recently just made the switch myself, and I'm glad I did it. The Mac is a real pleasure to use. I had about 500GB of documents, photos, videos, and music that I transferred from my PC with no problem.

You should have no problem with your USB drive being recognized by the Mac. You will be able to read and copy your files, you just won't be able to edit or delete anything on that drive. You can copy everything to your new Mac, and then reformat the external drive for Mac use. If you can fit all of your data on the internal drive, then your external drive would be good to use with Time Machine, assuming it is large enough.

Your assumptions about the Office documents and JPG files are correct, you will be able to open them with the appropriate Mac applications.

I don't know much about video, so I can't answer your last question, sorry.
 
Thanks for the information Eric. Really helpful. I guess the only question I have now is if imove supports the AVCHD video format or converts the file. I have a sony HDR model camcorder that records HD video in this format. It's one of those smaller camcorders that fits in one hand. It came with software for PC which was absolutley horrible but I had no choice to use it. Does anyone know if this format is supported by imovie? Thanks.
 
EricT43 said:
You should have no problem with your USB drive being recognized by the Mac. You will be able to read and copy your files, you just won't be able to edit or delete anything on that drive. You can copy everything to your new Mac, and then reformat the external drive for Mac use.
Click to expand...
The OP doesn't even need to reformat it, if they choose not to. They can read and write to NTFS drives from Mac OS X. This would be helpful if they want to continue sharing the drive between Macs and PCs.

NTFS (Windows NT File System)
  • Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
  • Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
    [*]To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:
    • For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon (approx $20) (Best Choice for Lion)
    • For 32-bit Mac OS X, install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free) (does not work in 64-bit mode)
    • For 64-bit Snow Leopard, read this: MacFUSE for 64-bit Snow Leopard
    • Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx $36).
    • Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and Lion, but is not advisable, due to instability.
  • AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
  • Maximum file size: 16 TB
  • Maximum volume size: 256TB
 
GGJstudios said:
The OP doesn't even need to reformat it, if they choose not to. They can read and write to NTFS drives from Mac OS X. This would be helpful if they want to continue sharing the drive between Macs and PCs.

NTFS (Windows NT File System)
  • Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
  • Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
    [*]To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:
    • For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon (approx $20) (Best Choice for Lion)
    • For 32-bit Mac OS X, install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free) (does not work in 64-bit mode)
    • For 64-bit Snow Leopard, read this: MacFUSE for 64-bit Snow Leopard
    • Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx $36).
    • Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and Lion, but is not advisable, due to instability.
  • AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
  • Maximum file size: 16 TB
  • Maximum volume size: 256TB
Click to expand...

What I have experienced is that my PC drives are read-only when I hook them up to my Mac. Perhaps it is possible to change the permissions from within OS X, but I have not tried it.
 
EricT43 said:
What I have experienced is that my PC drives are read-only when I hook them up to my Mac. Perhaps it is possible to change the permissions from within OS X, but I have not tried it.
Click to expand...

Did you actually read what was posted? You need some software to write to ntfs not permissions. Take the time to read GGj's post and all will work.
 
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