File transfer between PCs and Macs
Hi,
What's the fastest and most economical way to transfer files between Macs and PCs on a regular basis?
At work, there's a couple of old PCs (PIIs and PIIIs running Win98, not too sure what ports they have) which are shared by a group of us. I am considering getting an eMac for personal use at home, and envision using it for work-related stuff as well.
So what I need is a convenient and cheap way to transfer files (mainly Word/Excel files and occasionally fairly large image files) from the PC at work to the Mac at home, at the end of each workday, and to transfer the updated files from home to the PC at work at the start of each day.
Suggestions/advice?
Thanks in advance.
What's the fastest and most economical way to transfer files between Macs and PCs on a regular basis?
At work, there's a couple of old PCs (PIIs and PIIIs running Win98, not too sure what ports they have) which are shared by a group of us. I am considering getting an eMac for personal use at home, and envision using it for work-related stuff as well.
So what I need is a convenient and cheap way to transfer files (mainly Word/Excel files and occasionally fairly large image files) from the PC at work to the Mac at home, at the end of each workday, and to transfer the updated files from home to the PC at work at the start of each day.
Suggestions/advice?
Thanks in advance.
Comments
Or, If you have network access to and from home, and your work firewall permits, you could upload files from work to your mac (or to a web-based storage like .mac), then retrieve them from home ... just reverse the process to send files from home to work.
If you have broadband at home, you could just leave your mac ON all the time and let it be a web server ,,, you could upload files from work right onto your mac at home. and when at work, you could retrieve files from your mac any time.
i dont know if its the fastest & easiest, but its what i use. i'm a geek tho, so there may be easier ways to do it. its definitely a fast connection though, cuz ftp has little overhead. from the mac-side its cheap (ftp server and clients are free on the mac). on the peecee-side, CuteFTP is a shareware program, so there is some cost there; but there are probably free (possibly tho, less easy) programs for peecee.
I've got a couple more questions now. Apologies if they're kinda stupid, but even though I've been using PCs and Macs casually for many years, I haven't been keeping up with technological trends and is by no means a geek or techie.
With regards to CD burning, it's my understanding that one can only write files on it a handful of times? Is this still true? In other words, can I treat the CD like a "350Mb floppy" and repeatedly modify and save the same files onto the CD on a daily basis?
With regards to directly up/downloading the files, would I need special software for this? My link to the internet at home would most probably be via ISP dial-up (at least initially, with some possibility of upgrading to broadband in the future). I won't have a static IP, would I (or at least, that's how I understand it)?
Any source of information (books.websites) you can provide (intended for novices) with regards to networking two computers in my situation would be extremely helpful too.
Thanks to everyone once again.
look to see if others have been there, done that, wrote a tool to help
<a href="http://www.apple.com/switch/howto/"; target="_blank">apple's "how to switch" page with cdburning tips</a>
be careful you aren't confusing multi-session burn on a CD (still write-once only), and CD-RW (re-writable at least 50 times, depending on spec) when you think in scaled-up-floppy terms
CD-RW discs require another RW drive to be readable... plain vanilla CD-ROM readers won't recognize an RW disc. your eMac, especially if Superdrive-equipped, will read and write everything (via Toast Titanium 5.2)... more likely to barf on the peecee side, big surprise.
physically connected machines have another option
<a href="http://www.apple.com/switch/howto/move2mac/"; target="_blank">"Move 2 Mac" transfer software (with cable)</a>
jaguar also allows you to mount an SMB (windows) server volume and remotely access the drive as if it were an external disk
<a href="http://www.apple.com/macosx/jaguar/compatibility.html"; target="_blank">see here how jaguar can mount windows servers directly</a>
[ 02-26-2003: Message edited by: curiousuburb ]</p>
if you dont have broadband, or some kind of always on connection, then the ftp (or any kind of personally run) server idea is no-go. you could setup an acct somewhere (like .mac or geocities) and connect to it for files. but narrowband is really slow for inet traffic.
Go to the system preferences on the mac, select "Sharing", and then the "Internet" tab. Click "Share this connection with other computers over Ethernet", and make sure the filesharing services are turned on in the Services tab of the same window.
Then, plug an ethernet cable from the mac to the pc, and set the pc's internet connection to DHCP, and then browse the network and you should see the mac.
Internet Sharing is when you want other machines on the network to be able to use your Internet connection.
I recommend going with either Zip Drives or CD-Rs. The Zip would probably be cheaper in the long run, but both computers would need to have a drive. That's not a problem with CD-Rs if you're only moving files in one direction.
One thing you might want to consider is a solid state USB keyring. It's a bunch of non-volatile memory packed into a little USB connector that you can carry around with you very easily. It's faster than floppies and cheaper than both Zip or CD-R, though the initial cost per MB is higher.
[ 02-27-2003: Message edited by: Ringo ]</p>
I can post details if you want.
the USB keyring is your best shot get a really really cheap one and you cant go wrong... 16MB should be enough...
d'oh!
<strong>you people are dense... he asks for a simple way to get files to and from work and home and you people are suggesting servers...
the USB keyring is your best shot get a really really cheap one and you cant go wrong... 16MB should be enough...
No need to get personal, Paul. The original poster didn't specify how he would like to do it, just that he wanted some suggestions. We gave some. Is that cold Boston air freezing your <a href="http://www.neuroskills.com/index.html?main=tbi/bfrontal.shtml"; target="_blank">frontal lobes</a> or what???
It looks like a zip drive or a USB key (once I confirm that the old PCs do indeed have USB ports)may be the way to go for the moment.
Thanks once again.