Windows PC as external hard drive?

[dmelgar]

Hello,
I've recently switched to a Mac from a PC with 2-250gig hard drives. I'm not using the PC anymore but I'd still like to use the hard drive space.

Does anyone know of software to let the PC act as an external hard drive for the Mac?

I'm looking for a way to make a PC work in "target disk" mode, ie just let me access drives via firewire or a USB crossover cable. The PC would be running DOS or Linux, it doesnt have to be Windows.

I've also heard of a product named Macdrive which starts with the byline, "Have a Windows PC, Have Mac drives...". It lets a Windows PC access files from a Mac when the Mac starts up in target drive mode (I think). I'm looking for the reverse. I'm using a Mac, have hard drives in a PC, want the Mac to access them.

The other alternative is for me to buy a mess of external enclosures for hard drives. But thats messy, lots of wires floating around. I already have a big tower case that can hold a mess of drives. Why not have some software to let me access them.

Thanks

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Hello,
I've recently switched to a Mac from a PC with 2-250gig hard drives. I'm not using the PC anymore but I'd still like to use the hard drive space.

Does anyone know of software to let the PC act as an external hard drive for the Mac?

I'm looking for a way to make a PC work in "target disk" mode, ie just let me access drives via firewire or a USB crossover cable. The PC would be running DOS or Linux, it doesnt have to be Windows.

I've also heard of a product named Macdrive which starts with the byline, "Have a Windows PC, Have Mac drives...". It lets a Windows PC access files from a Mac when the Mac starts up in target drive mode (I think). I'm looking for the reverse. I'm using a Mac, have hard drives in a PC, want the Mac to access them.

The other alternative is for me to buy a mess of external enclosures for hard drives. But thats messy, lots of wires floating around. I already have a big tower case that can hold a mess of drives. Why not have some software to let me access them.

Thanks

The Mac can already read DOS/Windows drives just fine; MacDrive allows a Windows computer to read Mac-formatted disks. (Including a Mac in target disk mode, where the Mac appears as a perfectly standard FireWire hard drive.)

I don't know of a single piece of PC software that enables an equivalent of target disk mode. (I know of one Windows notebook that does it.)

The best way is to have the PC set up as a server. Either Windows' standard file sharing (connect from the Mac with Go -> Connect to Server -> cifs://10.0.0.0 where 10.0.0.0 is your PC's IP address.)

Or, if you don't have a copy of Windows on there right now, any Linux distro will share via Samba (the Windows sharing method.)