OT: Mac to Pc? Can it be done?

tbush wrote on 3/12/2006, 11:28 AM

Hi,
I have a dilema, and as smart as you people are here, I thought someone might know the answer...if there is one.

I have an old iBook G3 still in good running order. My editing computer is a PC. If I were to take my iBook to a location and record live video thru my iBook directly to an external hard drive as a Quicktime file...would I be able to access the hard drive from my PC to get the files?

In the past, it seems my PC wouldn't be able to access a hard drive if it hasn't been formatted from my PC, so if I format an external hard drive for a PC..can I access the drive from my Mac?

I hope I am explaining this so as to not confuse everyone.

Thank you for any help you might be able to offer, Tara

Comments

Logan5 wrote on 3/12/2006, 11:58 AM

yes
If your ext hard drive is formatted for PC in most cases your Macs will read it.

I do transfers 3 or 4 times a month from Mac to PC – even LAN transfers’ work.
Your right if you have it Mac formatted hard drive or disks you will have issues.

Such as the case when I have to get something off one of my 100+ Mac formatted CD-ROMs – I have to fire up one of my Macs to get to it.

jrazz wrote on 3/12/2006, 12:00 PM

I "think" there are some third party apps that allow you to "see" the drive across the platform, but I cannot recommend one as I have never had the need for one.

I would recommend, if it is an option, recording to avi uncompressed on the ibook and then burning those files to dvd's (using nero or toast or something similar that will allow you to burn hybrid discs) so you can access them on the pc.

There are probably easier solutions now and someone else here may have better advice. I would do a quick search on google... scratch that, I just did- here you go- hope this helps- mac to pc/pc to mac file transfers.

j razz

tbush wrote on 3/12/2006, 12:16 PM

I thank you guys so much for the info. I am trying to use what I have without spending too much more money. Tara

Coursedesign wrote on 3/12/2006, 1:19 PM

Tara,

If you don't want to spend any money, just search this forum.

I recommended some programs last year that can be used to read Mac disks on a PC free for 30 days, and others had more recommendations, all actually used and tested.

Bjorn

rmack350 wrote on 3/12/2006, 2:15 PM

Tara, If you can network the systems you can probably get the files from the mac over ethernet. I think I'd recomend keeping that external disc formatted for mac. I think you'll get better performance and you may need it for your capture.

Vegas isn't too efficient reading Quicktime DV files but I think you can transcode to AVI later in Vegas. (correct me if that's a bad idea, folks. I'm assuming the DV data remains the same.)

Following Coursedesign's recommendations should make the transfer faster than it would be over ethernet, so definitely follow up on that.

Rob Mack

tbush wrote on 3/12/2006, 3:20 PM

Thank you very much. I will check out all suggestions. I appreciate the input. Tara

johnmeyer wrote on 3/12/2006, 5:16 PM

I am not a Mac expert. Someone sent me a huge project from his Mac on an external hard drive and I was able to read the files just fine. You just ignore the various "resource fork" files. However, if you are on the PC and want to exchange files with a Mac user, I am not sure whether the Mac reads NTFS disks. Anyone know? I am certain they can read disks formatted with the older FAT32 file system.

tbush wrote on 3/12/2006, 9:30 PM

Hi again..well it is just after midnight...my family's mad at me..I am exhausted...my pets think I am ignoring them..do you think maybe my priorities are messed up? Anyway, I was able to figure this Mac to PC thing out. After following suggestions and searching the forum, I found a post authored by "Nat"...I think back in March. I was able to kind of follow his directions and hook my Mac to my PC.

I had a Lacie external hard disk connected to my Mac via firewire and my Mac connected to my PC via an ethernet cable. After several hours of trial and error, I clicked the drop down box of my Networks folder on my PC and there she was "Apple"...Halleluah!!! (not sure of that spelling). Then after creating a new user with access priviliges to the files on my Mac, I was able to access shared documents on my PC. I had a test video file from yesterday that I recorded live with some free app I found called "My VCR." I drug the Quicktime file from the Lacie onto the shared documents disk and within a couple of minutes...there it was on my PC(it was a small file).

What's so great though is that I can use what I have to record live to hard disk (although it's not as portable as CapDiv or Firestore...can't afford that now anyway), and I don't have to buy more equipment.

Thanks for everyone's help here. Tara

tbush wrote on 3/13/2006, 8:03 AM

"However, if you are on the PC and want to exchange files with a Mac user, I am not sure whether the Mac reads NTFS disks. Anyone know?"

I tried hooking my external Seagate hard disk up to my iBook (it's file system is NTFS) but the iBook wouldn't recognize it.