Transfering Files Between Computers

striderider · #1 July 13th, 2006, 10:44 PM

Hey guys,
I just recently got a MacBook Pro, and now I'd like to move my photos and videos from my old desktop to my laptop. I've tried searching for ways to do it, and I've basically heard that I should either connect using a Firewire cable or an ethernet cable.

However, I don't know what to do from there. Could anyone explain how to do this or point me to a page with an easy to use guide for either of the two methods.

Thanks a lot,
Andy

bAdWaYz · #2 July 14th, 2006, 01:46 PM

There are two ways to transfer files between a Mac and a PC that would work best for you. One would be to use a crossover cat5 cable and the other would be to use a 1394 or "firewire" cable. To use a crossover cable you would need to first buy a crossover cable then connect one end to the pc's network adapter and the other end to the Mac's network adapter. The setup from there is like this...

Give each of your PCs and Macs an IP (Internet Protocol) address so that they can find each other on the network. To configure a PC running WinXP Home, right-click My Network Places, click Properties from the pop-up menu, right-click the Local Area Connection adapter, and again click Properties on the pop-up menu. Select Internet Protocol (TCP/ IP) in This Connection Uses The Following Items. Click Properties. Click the Use The Following IP Address button. Enter an IP address. In a peer to peer network where there is no server handing out IP addresses, it's best to enter an IP address such as 192.168.0.XXX, where XXX is a number ranging from five to 250). Each device on your network should have a unique IP address. For the Subnet mask number, use 255.255.255.0. Click OK. Subnet (short for subnetwork) refers to all machines on the same LAN. Your PC is now configured. Now to setup the Mac you would do this...

To assign an IP address to an OS X Mac, click the Apple Menu, System Preferences, and the Network icon. Select Built-in Ethernet from the Show drop-down menu and Manually from the Configure drop-down menu. Enter an IP address that matches the IP address above except for the XXX (where XXX is a number ranging from five to 250, but not the same number as the PC's IP address). Enter a Subnet Mask of 255.255.255.0. Click Apply Now and close the Network System Preferences dialog box.

At this point you should be able to see the Mac from the PC and the PC from the Mac. The next step would be to start transfering the files you want. This is known as peer to peer networking and with a crossover cable its pretty simple to get going. Another way of peer to peer networking I mentioned above was with a firewire cable. Since I have never personally used this method I will refer you to a step by step on the net HERE While I have never done this type of setup I know it works and many people like because its pretty easy to setup. I hope this info helps and if you have any further questions of comments feel free to post them here at CTH. Good luck and happy networking

striderider · #3 July 16th, 2006, 05:56 PM

What exactly is a crossover cable? Is it just the same as like a blue ethernet cable?

Archangel122184 · #4 July 17th, 2006, 02:12 PM

A crossover cable is quite different from your standard "blue" cable.

The EIA/TIA cabling pin out standards are used to define how certain cables are wired. A standard cat5 cable uses the 568b standard on both ends. A crossover cable uses the 568b on one end and the 568a on the other. This wireing reverses the send and receive pins at either end of the cable so that a computer's send it attached to the other's receive and vice-versa.