PC to Mac File Migration

[benos]

I'm moving my girlfriend, from an old, probably and 9 year old PC, to a new iMac.

I haven't checked it out yet, but probably the best connection I'm going to get on her machine is USB, if I'm lucky. We only need to move her music and picture files - the rest she can leave behind. So all I need to do is get her files on the Mac - I can take it from there. But I'm not sure how I'm going to do that.

I've got a little bus-powered USB/Firewire drive, but Mac's Disk Utility will only format it Mac (or Unix).

The last thing I want to do is burn all her music and pic files to CDs, but I can't think of any other way. Other than download/install the PC software for my portable DVD burner. Which doesn't sound much fun either.

I think she knows where her pics live, so I should be able to get to those.

She uses iTunes for her music. So where do the actual music/mpg files live in her file system? That I'm clueless on for a PC.

It's a vintage '99 or so HP Pavilion, model 6630. And it's Windows 98.

So then I'm thinking PC to Mac file sharing. A little research... and it looks like that's possible with Windows 98. So I called her and asked her to describe the plug that connects her her Cox Cable Modem to her PC, and she described it as a USB plug.

So does anyone know if I can get file sharing to work with this dinosaur?

Thanks!

be

[EatMeerkats]

Well, USB isn't really designed for connecting 2 computers together (and it can't be done, AFAIK), so I'd say your best bet would be to format the drive you've got as FAT/FAT32 on Windows and copy everything onto it. The Mac should be able to read it just fine. As for the iTunes music, I believe it lives in "My Documents"?

Hope that helps!

[Franklin D Wolverton]

It might be easier just to get rid of the girlfriend jk

Agree that the USB ports are not usable for this.

You could connect them directly with an Ethernet cable (however... you may need a crossover cable), and if the PC is formated NTFS, you will have a problem. If it is FAT or FAT32, you should be good to go.

Have you tried hooking up both computers to a router and doing it that way? All you need to do is move all the files you want to move into a shared folder on the PC, and then have the mac go find it. Go to http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?pa....5/en/8203.html

Frank

[Chris]

Easy Way:

if you have another portable enclosure and will not be using the PC anymore, remove the hard drive from the PC and install it into the new USB portable enclosure. Connect to the iMac, drive shows up in Finder and your done.

Harder Way:

plug the USB drive into the PC first and then format it as FAT32 (the iMac can read that).

Use Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer) and use the find utility to search for all the files you need to move (*.mpg *.mp3 *.jpg *.doc etc..)

The USB on the PC will be the old USB 1.0 and will be SLOW at copying to the portable drive, but it will work. Copy all the files, disconnect from the PC, connect to the iMac and copy to the iMac.

Really Hard Way:

The only other way would be to connect both computers to a ethernet hub/switch and enable file sharing in Windows 98. You'll probably have to mess with user ID's and permissions and its probably more hassle than you want to deal with so just go with the Easy Way.

[Thomas Moore]

or buy an external hard drive, transfer files to said HD then connect to Mac. After file transfer to Mac use external HD for Time Machine.

btw, I just converted to Mac after 13 years and this is what I did.

have fun.

[maineshootah]

Easy Way:

if you have another portable enclosure and will not be using the PC anymore, remove the hard drive from the PC and install it into the new USB portable enclosure. Connect to the iMac, drive shows up in Finder and your done.

+1

Then, after you move the files to the mac, wipe the drive, and use it as a backup / project drive for the new Mac, REALIZING that the drive is "old" you still might get a few years out of it.

Every self respecting Mac / business owner has at least one USB or Firewire portable enclosure.

Ask me how I know this..

As far as where iTunes buries files on the Win 98 side.. no idea.

[BritinUSA]

Or take it to the local Apple store. I think they do this stuff for free providing you bought the iMac at their store, there's also some other ways to do it at the link below, but the store is the best bet:

details

Edited September 25, 2008 by BritinUSA

[carinab]

You could connect them directly with an Ethernet cable (however... you may need a crossover cable), and if the PC is formated NTFS, you will have a problem. If it is FAT or FAT32, you should be good to go.

Have you tried hooking up both computers to a router and doing it that way? All you need to do is move all the files you want to move into a shared folder on the PC, and then have the mac go find it. Go to http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?pa....5/en/8203.html

This option is least expensive as a cross over cable or using your router won't be as much as external hard drive...and pictures can be big... Granted the newer external drives are probably the same size as the entire original hard drive in her old PC!

Actually you probably don't need to move things on the PC to a "shared" folder....just mark the folder as shared. Open "My Computer" and drill down to what ever directory where the stuff is stored. Right click on the folder, click either "sharing" or "properties" and then click "share this folder." Give it a name, click permissions and be sure "Everyone" has full control. Click apply to save the changes. The mac ought to be able to see it.

As for finding the iTunes stuff, you can either hunt manually by clicking on her programs folder (again drilling down from My Computer to C:\ to Programs - the default location to install all programs on a PC) or use search to find a list of where all the .mp3, .m4p, or .aac files live....provided you know what extension all her music files have. For the pictures, again you'll need to know what extension they were saved under (.jpg, .tiff, etc) and then search for them. When she uploaded pictures off her camera, does she know what folder they went into? Does the software she used show you?

Hmm...there's a thought, she could always use photo bucket or some other similar service to upload all her pictures online. Then bring them down to the iMac....

Edited September 25, 2008 by carinab

[-JQ-]

Brian-

I'm with Brit on this one! The Mac commercials say their "genius" will transfer all your pc files for you.

Whether capable or not. They would be your best option and where I would head first.

For "private" files just move/cut/paste/delete them yourself.

Put the "Genius" to work...that even makes me want to buy a Mac. But I bet they can't transfer all my licenses over though...and among the many CS2 would hurt the most to lose for me.

Give the Apple store a try and let us know...

Good luck!

Edited September 25, 2008 by hk_mtbr

[benos]

It might be easier just to get rid of the girlfriend jk

Easy Way:

if you have another portable enclosure and will not be using the PC anymore, remove the hard drive from the PC and install it into the new USB portable enclosure. Connect to the iMac, drive shows up in Finder and your done.

I thought of that but didn't post it. I do have a couple enclosures as well as several FW/USB portable drives...

I wasn't sure her drive would show up on the Mac if I pluged it in via an enclosure.

Thanks all!

be

[benos]

So I guess, before I go to the trouble of removing her drive and putting it in an enclosure and plugging it into her Mac, I was hoping someone would tell me that the windows drive will mount on the Mac's desktop.

If that true, I'll just have her bring her computer over and we'll knock it out this weekend.

be

[Mapzter]

So I guess, before I go to the trouble of removing her drive and putting it in an enclosure and plugging it into her Mac, I was hoping someone would tell me that the windows drive will mount on the Mac's desktop.

Since her computer uses Windows 98, the drive will be in FAT format, which the Mac can read, no problem. If it was Windows NT, 2000 or XP it might be a different story.

[benos]

Awesome - thanks!

be

[outerlimits]

Awesome - thanks!

be

brian-since u said it's a "new imac", if you bought it at an apple store, drag it and the pc to the genius bar...they have a pc data transfer service and do it for nothing. while yer waiting, you could blow more money on other apple stuff...

[davidwiz]

If you bring the PC into an Apple store, they will migrate the data to the Mac for you (usually done at no cost if you bought the Mac from the store).

[OpnBlstr]

You didn't specify but if the PC has a firewire connection you can connect the two computers via firewire and start the iMac in Firewire Target Disk mode. Just hold down the T key while the iMac is booting and the screen will change to a gray background with big floating firewire icon. Now the entire iMac hard drive will appear as an external drive on the PC. Create a temp folder and copy the files over. If you are using FileVault on her account, just create a folder in the root of the Macintosh HD for holding the temp files then copy them into her home folder once she's logged in.

Outside of that, the next easiest solution is to put the PC hard drive in an external enclosure and plug it into the iMac. It will read FAT, FAT32, and NTFS. It just can't write NTFS without third party software which is twenty bucks or so.

Remember to deauthorize her iTunes account on the PC before reformatting the drive or junking the computer so it stops counting against her five devices.

[Mapzter]

You didn't specify but if the PC has a firewire connection you can connect the two computers via firewire and start the iMac in Firewire Target Disk mode. Just hold down the T key while the iMac is booting and the screen will change to a gray background with big floating firewire icon. Now the entire iMac hard drive will appear as an external drive on the PC. Create a temp folder and copy the files over. If you are using FileVault on her account, just create a folder in the root of the Macintosh HD for holding the temp files then copy them into her home folder once she's logged in.

I seriously doubt Windows98 will be able to make any sense of a disk in Mac OS Extended format, which is the iMacs internal disk will be.

[Franklin D Wolverton]

You didn't specify but if the PC has a firewire connection you can connect the two computers via firewire

He said 9 year old computer. The didn't start putting firewire connections on computers until around 2003 (and even then... not that many) I highly doubt that she upgraded the dinosaur to accept it I'm not even sure Windows 98 would support it anyway.

God... why do I know this... really guys... I'm a shooter, not a geek

Frank

[benos]

Yep - no FW on the PC. So I'll either go the enclosure route (I always have one on hand for testing) or the crossover cable routine. But the crossover cable routine would require a drive to Fry's, so I'll probably try the enclosure.

Thanks everyone.

be

[outerlimits]

Yep - no FW on the PC. So I'll either go the enclosure route (I always have one on hand for testing) or the crossover cable routine. But the crossover cable routine would require a drive to Fry's, so I'll probably try the enclosure.

Thanks everyone.

be

brain-u can make a crossover cable in 5 mins...i did years ago to t/f mac-2-mac. get a 3' ethernet cable, cut it in half and reverse the wires.

Edited September 30, 2008 by outerlimits

[benos]

Yep - no FW on the PC. So I'll either go the enclosure route (I always have one on hand for testing) or the crossover cable routine. But the crossover cable routine would require a drive to Fry's, so I'll probably try the enclosure.

Thanks everyone.

be

brain-u can make a crossover cable in 5 mins...i did years ago to t/f mac-2-mac. get a 3' ethernet cable, cut it in half and reverse the wires.

I like that, thanks!

I'm thinking I'll probably go the enclosure route, as that way I shouldn't (or don't think I'll have to) mess with any of Windows file sharing settings. The less I'll have to do in Windows, the better.

Typing that made me wonder, will I have to enable file sharing on the window machine before pulling the drive out of it and putting it into an enclosure?

Thank you,

Brian

[maineshootah]

Typing that made me wonder, will I have to enable file sharing on the window machine before pulling the drive out of it and putting it into an enclosure?

Thank you,

Brian

You shouldn't have to, the drive will show up as an external firewire / usb drive and you will be able to browse folders, copy files.. etc.

[benos]

Thanks. That's what I was hoping for.

be

[benos]

Well I'm sad to report - I put her drive in the enclosure and plugged it into my Mac via Firewire, but is not mounting on the desktop. I launched Disc Utility, but it doesn't recognize anything but my own Mac drives.

(And the PC is for sure Windows 98.)

Any help?

Thanks!

be

And - her machine does not have an Ethernet plug. Her computer is at my house... I asked her where the cable form her cable modem was plugged in to, and she pointed at a USB plug. Which is the plug/shape she described to me on the phone before she brought the tower over. I have no idea how an internet connection could work through USB. Too weird.

[38supPat]

Well there's your problem...you shouldn't be mounting your desktop....waaaiiiit, is this computer speak?