Mac and PC - enormous file transfer

[Ignatius]

I have negligible experience with a Mac. A friend runs a business which involves editing large video files. She uses a Windows workstation but needed to transfer two large files (13GB and 15GB) to someone else who uses a Mac. I realised that an external HD formatted with FAT32 wouldn't work with such large files and, in my naivety, I assumed that we could use an NTFS formatted external HD. Unfortunately, that didn't work.

 

I've done some reading and it seems that Macs don't play nicely with NTFS. I've thought about configuring shared folders on the Mac and Windows PC then connecting them directly so that files can be transferred directly between the devices, but that would require her to ensure that the correct IP addresses have been configured, she's using the correct cable and the file/folder permissions are all OK (I hasten to add that she's not particularly "into" IT so I want to make it as painless as possible for her!).

 

Does anyone have any other suggestions? Ideally, we'd like to have an external HD in an enclosure that can be used to transfer files between the Mac and PC.

[SYNACK]

Put this software MacDrive « Mediafour on her Windows PC and then format the external drive on one of the Macs. They should then both be able to access it easily, I did think that OSX had NTFS support built in, is it an eairly version of OSX?

 

Or put one of these solutions on the Macs and stick with NTFS:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/ntfs3g.html

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20090913140023382

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/how-to-read-and-write-ntfs-windows-partition-on-mac-os-x.html

Edited October 27, 2010 by SYNACK

[Arthur]

I would use NTFS on the external HDD if I was doing this, because you won't have to buy a copy of MacDrive then. Both Leopard (10.5) and Snow Leopard (10.6) are able to read NTFS formatted volumes. To add write support to Mac OS X all you need to do is install NTFS-3G and MacFuse.

[Ignatius]

Thank you for the suggestions. I'm sure that I'll be able to get one of them to work in a way that's least painful for her. It'll be a few days before I see her again when I can check the version.

[mac_shinobi]

I would use NTFS on the external HDD if I was doing this, because you won't have to buy a copy of MacDrive then. Both Leopard (10.5) and Snow Leopard (10.6) are able to read NTFS formatted volumes. To add write support to Mac OS X all you need to do is install NTFS-3G and MacFuse.

 

On 10.6 you can add write support for NTFS ( as read support is already included on 10.4 upwards , not sure about OS X before 10.4 so could be earlier ref read support for NTFS )

 

Guide: Enable native NTFS Read/Write in Snow Leopard - Mac Forums

 

For anything before 10.6 you will need to use NTFS 3G or MacFuse as above like Arthur mentioned

 

If they are both networked could you not enable SMB in sharing on the mac and transfer them over the network - as long as the network is not too congested - maybe do it when the network is not being heavily used ??

 

Just curious is there a filing system that both OS X and windows can use that is a linux or other filing system that supports more then 4Gb, is not NTFS, HFS+ and does not require extra software to work ie ext3 or similar ?

[Ignatius]

If they are both networked could you not enable SMB in sharing on the mac and transfer them over the network - as long as the network is not too congested - maybe do it when the network is not being heavily used ??

They're not networked, but I could arrange to connect them directly via an ethernet cable. I understand that some Macs autosense so I wouldn't necessarily have to use a crossover cable.

 

Just curious is there a filing system that both OS X and windows can use that is a linux or other filing system that supports more then 4Gb, is not NTFS, HFS+ and does not require extra software to work ie ext3 or similar ?

Yes, I was hoping for this too but my preliminary research led me to believe that such a common filing system doesn't exist. I think I'll have to resort to installing something on the Mac or Windows PC to allow them both to be able to read and write the large files to the same external HD.

[mac_shinobi]

They're not networked, but I could arrange to connect them directly via an ethernet cable. I understand that some Macs autosense so I wouldn't necessarily have to use a crossover cable.

 

 

Yes, I was hoping for this too but my preliminary research led me to believe that such a common filing system doesn't exist. I think I'll have to resort to installing something on the Mac or Windows PC to allow them both to be able to read and write the large files to the same external HD.

 

I would enable NTFS write either via the tutorial I posted or as arthur suggested ntfs 3g or mac fuse and do it via ext hdd if u can

 

If that does not work then yes a network cable - not sure ref auto sense on macs as never tried it but if it does not work easy enough to get a cross over cable and configure static ip on each one on same subnet and enable relevant services and transfer data that way.

 

I mean if you are copying the data from the windows PC to an NTFS formatted hdd and then disconnect the ext hdd from the PC and attach it to the mac, and copy it from ext hdd to the mac then you are only reading the NTFS partition because you are not trying to write any data to the ext hdd ( NTFS Formatted ) so you would only require the ability to read the ext hdd

 

so I don't really see what the issue is

[Arthur]

I understand that some Macs autosense so I wouldn't necessarily have to use a crossover cable.

All Intel-based Apple Mac's and almost all Mac's made within the last 7-8 years are able to detect the type of network cable being used so I reckon you will be fine. This feature is called Auto MDIX and 99% of PCs which have gigabit ethernet ports are able do this.

 

Yes, I was hoping for this too but my preliminary research led me to believe that such a common filing system doesn't exist.

The best file-system to use is no file-system at all (copying files over the network is file-system agnostic). The source and destination computers could use literally anything and it wouldn't matter. This is why it would be a good idea to try this first.

 

Until Mac OS X and Linux support ExFAT (which they will have to eventually, to be able to read and write to SDXC memory cards found in the latest digital cameras), the next best thing is NTFS.

Edited October 27, 2010 by Arthur

[mac_shinobi]

Good to know about the Auto MDIX - think you can get a cheap gigabit switch 5 port and some reasonable Cat 5e network cables and transfer everything over gigabit which will be a lot quicker / easier to do then over 100mbps full duplex.

[Arthur]

Good news! As of 10.6.5, Mac OS X now supports the ExFAT file-system natively. This means if you have a PC running Windows XP (with KB955704), Vista or 7 and a Mac with Snow Leopard (or Lion) you can easily transfer 4GB+ files between them on ExFAT formatted external HDDs or USB flash drives.

 

http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2010/11/mac-os-x-1065-update.html

[mac_shinobi]

Good news! As of 10.6.5, Mac OS X now supports the ExFAT file-system natively. This means if you have a PC running Windows XP (with KB955704), Vista or 7 and a Mac with Snow Leopard (or Lion) you can easily transfer 4GB+ files between them on ExFAT formatted external HDDs or USB flash drives.

 

tonymacx86 Blog: Mac OS X 10.6.5 Update

 

I noticed exFAT on my XP machine at work on my USB drive when I formatted the drive - had to change the profile on the drive in device manager ( Expanded drives , selected / high lighted my USB Drive and went to properties --> disk performance and optimize for performance

 

http://www.computeronlinetips.com/windows-tips/external-hard-drives-performance.html

 

[Arthur]

optimize for performance

The only potential issue with this is if you disconnect the USB drive without using the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon or the "Eject" option in Windows Explorer there's a very good chance you will lose data or corrupt the file-system on the drive because Windows may not have written the data to the drive yet (it could still be stored in RAM).

 

Unless I have a USB drive which is permanently attached to my computer, I almost always leave it at the default (optimize for quick removal) - just in case I forget to remove it properly or there is a power cut (which happens quite often where I live ).

[mac_shinobi]

The only potential issue with this is if you disconnect the USB drive without using the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon or the "Eject" option in Windows Explorer there's a very good chance you will lose data or corrupt the file-system on the drive because Windows may not have written the data to the drive yet (it could still be stored in RAM).

 

Unless I have a USB drive which is permanently attached to my computer, I almost always leave it at the default (optimize for quick removal) - just in case I forget to remove it properly or there is a power cut (which happens quite often where I live ).

 

Not sure if exFAT was still there when leaving it as default - I know NTFS vanished from the options when on the default setting.

 

As long as the data is still on the computer, you can always re format and transfer the data back across again.

 

I always use the lil icon to eject it, aside from once when I made it bootable and it started booting the computer and yanked it out, data was still on there but it made itself unbootable so had to backup the data and go through the process of making it bootable again using the nt60.exe

 

Much prefer it on the mac, insert usb memory stick or storage device, mounts it on the desktop, do what you need, drag and drop to the trash can to eject and done

 

Obviously with optical media it is slightly different unless you are using burn folders or the likes

 

just in case I forget to remove it properly or there is a power cut (which happens quite often where I live ).

 

I've got the power

 

Edited November 14, 2010 by mac_shinobi