Want to transfer data to iMac

[Qal]

Will an external USB hard drive be suitable to transfer
data between a Windows xp and an apple iMac? I know that
USB drives are compatable with both formats, but I'm not
sure if the drive formatted with NTFS will be read by the
iMac. Can anyone through some light on this? Thanks

 

[E McCann]

There *may* be some third party software that will allow the iMac to read
NTFS - you don't say if it's a new iMac or old, or which OS it's running (OS
X or 8/9.x.) It's a good bet it won't read NTFS.

If it's not a *lot* of data, write it to CD instead - or just share it, if
the Mac's running OS X. Depending on the version, it's anywhere from easy to
semi-clunky to connect to a Windows share.

 

[Malke]

There *may* be some third party software that will allow the iMac to
read NTFS - you don't say if it's a new iMac or old, or which OS it's
running (OS X or 8/9.x.) It's a good bet it won't read NTFS.

If it's not a *lot* of data, write it to CD instead - or just share
it, if the Mac's running OS X. Depending on the version, it's anywhere
from easy to semi-clunky to connect to a Windows share.

OSX will have no problem reading data on a Windows drive. I had no
difficulties whatsoever connecting my iMac to the rest of my mixed
network (all sorts of Windows operating systems and several Linux
boxen) and transferring data from various computers to the iMac. Of
course, whether or not you can *open* a file created in a Windows
application on the iMac depends not on the file system but on whether
or not the iMac has a program that can open the file. For instance,
a .jpg living on my Linux box was easily transferred to the iMac and
opened because OSX understands .jpg's. If you have an MS Word file, you
must have an application capable of reading that proprietary format.
The file system is irrelevant. What kind of files do you want to
transfer?

Malke

 

[Qal]

Hi Malke
Thank you for your reply. I have'nt got the iMac yet and
the files are a mixed bag of word, pictures and MP3
files. If you had no problem with your network then that
is very encouraging.
Many thanks
Qal

 

[Qal]

Hi McCann
Many thanks for your thoughts and suggestions. Much
appreciated.
Regards
Qal

 

[Malke]

Hi Malke
Thank you for your reply. I have'nt got the iMac yet and
the files are a mixed bag of word, pictures and MP3
files. If you had no problem with your network then that
is very encouraging.
Many thanks
Qal

Hi, Qal. I thought about your post overnight. I really don't know what
the iMac will do with the external drive attached directly to it, if
that is what you're thinking about doing, although I doubt doing that
would hurt the iMac. Apples are pretty clever about "seeing" other
operating systems. It's Windows that is stubborn that way. If you have
a network of mixed operating systems, you won't have a problem because
of course the data is going over tcp/ip. For instance, my Samba shares
on the Linux boxen are seen in XP's Network Places and I can drag and
drop files easily. The iMac behaved in the same way. If you've added an
iMac to your Windows network, you'll want to run Samba on the iMac,
which is easily done. Then set up your shares.

If you need more help, when you post back be sure to describe your
network setup.

Cheers,

Malke