Target Disk Mode on PC

chris000001chris000001
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Will Target disk mode work with a pc? i hooked up my powerbook to my pc and booted in to TDM and the pc recongnized a device but didnt know what driver to install for it. so i did a google search to see if a pc could see a mac that was in TDM. i came across this one site that said while using mac drive 6 on the pc it would see a mac in TDM, so i went to mac drives website and read some of its features but it didnt say anything about supporting TDM. i was just wondering if any one has ever tried this because i dont want to go buy mac drive and have it not do what i want it to do.



thanks in advance.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    emcemc Posts: 27member
    With MacDrive 6 installed my HP Win XP box could see my PowerBook in Target Disk Mode.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    karl kuehnkarl kuehn Posts: 756member
    Just to be clearer: a Mac in Target Disk Mode looks to the outside world as if it was a FireWire Hard Disk. So anything that can use one of those can use the PowerBook.



    However, since the HD on a PowerBook will probably be formated HFS+, and PC's don't understand that format (without third party utilities), it is basically a mute point.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    chris000001chris000001 Posts: 21member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Karl Kuehn

    Just to be clearer: a Mac in Target Disk Mode looks to the outside world as if it was a FireWire Hard Disk. So anything that can use one of those can use the PowerBook.



    However, since the HD on a PowerBook will probably be formated HFS+, and PC's don't understand that format (without third party utilities), it is basically a mute point.



    First of all i know what target disk mode is



    secondly if you had read my post you would know i was using MacDrive 6 as my third party utility!



    to EmC I have jus bought MacDrive 6 and a 6 pin to 6 pin firewire cable and i booted my powerbook into taget disk mode, opened macdrive on the pc and was kinda unsure what to click on so i clicked view mac drives in my computer and it showed what it normally shows... no extra drives. what should i do?

    i have the latest updates for macdrive 6.
  • Reply 4 of 8
    emcemc Posts: 27member
    The first time i tried it, it just worked. I opened "My Computer" and my HDD from my PB was "F\" Later when I was trying to transfer files I plugged it back in and it did not show up. Here are is a list of things you should try, assuming you have XP.



    1. Verify that the 1394 connection in enabled in the Network Connections control panel. I know. I know. But it IS a very common mistake.



    2. If it is and you still do not have the drive mounted in your "My Computer" location, open the device manager and look for an "UNKNOWN VENDOR AND MODEL IEEE 1394 SPB2 DEVICE." If this is there the computer is at least seeing the Mac's HDD as an external drive. At this point follow the instructions at the bottom of the page; Here.



    3. If the drive is not listed anywhere in the device manager there may be a problem with the FireWire port on the computer. Disable the 1394 connection in "Network Connections", restart, thenm re-enable the connection. Go back to step two.









    The first fix (uninstalling and reinstalling 1394 host controller) worked for me, and I was able to transfer the files.



    A word of caution however, unless you have a OS install disk readily at hand I would not run the risk of removing anything from the device manager. If you do have to remove the entry from the registry, BACK IT UP FIRST.





    [EDIT and unrelated] is there a way to write \ on this board without invoking the smilies? What if I need to represent F\ and the "I'm gonna kick your ass smiley?"
  • Reply 5 of 8
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    I haven't tried this myself, but here's my two cents.



    When operating in FireWire Disk Mode the computer acts just like an external Hard Disk. And that is how other devices see it. The trick here is that your drive is formatted using HFS+ and Windows, by default, doesn't know how to recognize it.



    As mentioned above, if you installed MacDrive or some other HFS+ driver on your windows box, I bet it would know how to handle the drive and would let you browse files and such.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    emcemc Posts: 27member
    Quote:

    I bet it would know how to handle the drive and would let you browse files and such.



    Except that it doesn't sometimes. C'est la Windows.
  • Reply 7 of 8
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by EmC

    Except that it doesn't sometimes. C'est la Windows.



    Touché!
  • Reply 8 of 8
    chris000001chris000001 Posts: 21member
    I GOT IT TO WORK!!!



    i went into the device manager and 2 items showed up with "!" on them and i deleted both and rebooted and hooked up the PB and there it was!!!!



    IM SO HAPPY!



    THANKS EmC
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