Sharing files between PC and Mac

[petter]

I tried to make-it work using DAVE on Mac OS 9.2.2 with no luck.
Windows XP on the PC.

Any ideas? Other (better) way to do it?

Yhanks. P.

[Rail Jon Rogut]

DAVE should work.. however, I use MacDrive5 from MediaFour and use Mac formatted FireWire drives. You can also use FAT32 formatted drives.

Rail

[petter]

Thanks,
I'll try MacDrive. I just red about it and it looks god!Thanks

[petter]

I use MacDrive5 from MediaFour and use Mac formatted FireWire drives. You can also use FAT32 formatted drives.

By the way, Rail, how do you mount (unmount!!!) a FireWire drive on PC?
I remember I had a bad time when I did-it wrong on my Mac. You know, turn-it off before tra******!
It's about the same on PC?
I try to figure out the easiest (fastest) way to change the drive between the 2 computers.
I have them aside, just to plug - unplug the FireWire cable. If this could be possible....
Thanks. P.

[Rail Jon Rogut]

In the task bar at the bottom right of the XP window, where the clock is.. you'll see a little icon with a green arrow.. hover over it and it'll say "safely remove hardware" -- click on it to unmount a device safely.

Be careful with FireWire.. it's not exactly a robust technology.. and it's easy to short out the FireWire when swapping while hot (some devices and computers are more prone than others).

Rail

[petter]

Thanks Rail,
So I guess this would be a god scenario (Let's say, I am on PC, now):
1) I'll first save and then close any session on any program that may use files(documents) from the FireWire disc.
2) I'll than use the "Safely remove hardware" function. (This may be the same like trashing on Mac, right?)
3) Than I can without any troubles turn off the FW drive.
4) I swhitch the FW cable from PC to Mac.
5) I turn on the FW drive.

Both the PC and Mac are ON all this time.
I could be happy with it. (I guess I could skip turning off - on the FW disc, but then I could take some risks, as you warned me, right?)
Of course, to be even more safe I could turn down the computers as well, but this will not be OK, because I would like to share files while I am working, so I don't want to close all my programs, etc. etc. ....
Are you doing something like that?

Thanks again! P.

PS: Sorry if I sound like an amateur, but I did have big problems on my Mac when I first buy my FW drive, and thought that "plug and play" really means "plug and play"....But it doesn't and my computer went totaly crazy. Well, I'm not telling the whole story now.

[Rail Jon Rogut]

Yup, I do that all the time... I use Mac formatted drives and I can record directly on the drive with my Macs.. but I have to copy the session to a local native (NTFS or FAT32) drive in XP -- when I'm done on the PC I copy the session back to the Mac drive and switch the cable over -- works perfectly.

Your sequence is correct.. if the drive is being used.. it won't let you remove it safely... you'll have to quit Pro Tools because it has a nasty habit of holding the drive even if it's not using it.

Rail

[petter]

Thanks again!
Now, I am thinking....:It will be impossible to connect the Mac itself directly to the PC through the FW cable?
I mean, to share my internal Mac drives with the PC, as my initial intention...Hmm...

[Rail Jon Rogut]

YOu can try powering both the systems down.. hook up a FireWire cable between them.. Boot up your XP machine, and hold the T key down while starting your Mac - this will start it up in Target Mode where it emulates a FireWire drive.

Rail

[steve at Your Heaven]

If your goal is to transfer without relying on the physical drive as a connection, and you have 2 machines, one XP and one Mac, then just make a network connection between them and transfer that way.