Moving large files between PC and Mac

[ElCapichan]

I'm planning on getting a Mac Book Pro soon when the new Apple OS comes out to do some video editing with Final Cut Pro. I want to be able to go back and forth between FCP and Premiere Pro when ever I want so I want to be able to move the video source files from the Mac Book Pro and my PC desktop. Problem is, that some of the HD files can be over 4 GB so that rules out using an external HDD that is FAT32. What is the best method for moving a file that is larger than 4 GB on either system to the other?

[torgo]

Apple has done a lot of work to make SMB (the Windows file sharing protocol) work in OSX. I've never actually done this myself, but it should work very well. Making sure Macs can live in a Windows world is one of Apple's biggest priorities.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106471

You can set up a share on your Windows machine, then access it from the Mac. This will allow both machines to read/write to the share.

Alternatively, you could format an external hard drive with HFS+ (Mac filesystem) and install this on your PC:

http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/

I'd go with the first route and only do the second one as a last resort.

[K3V]

Yeah, setting up SMB shares is pretty easy. I have a PC and mac and you can share certain directories or full drives if you want.

[Error]

I've got a similar problem, only I'd be using a portable hard drive on a mac with no windows machine nearby. I need it to be able to connect to windows machines which aren't my own also (namely other computers at school). I am dealing with video files, and the hard drive I currently have seems to be too big for a fat 32 format. I know I could partition it and make a bunch of smaller ones but that seems excessive. However if I can make a Mac Partition and a Windows Partition I could be persuaded to do that.

[ElCapichan]

I've got a similar problem, only I'd be using a portable hard drive on a mac with no windows machine nearby. I need it to be able to connect to windows machines which aren't my own also (namely other computers at school). I am dealing with video files, and the hard drive I currently have seems to be too big for a fat 32 format. I know I could partition it and make a bunch of smaller ones but that seems excessive. However if I can make a Mac Partition and a Windows Partition I could be persuaded to do that.

You can format any size HDD to be FAT32 on Mac OS. I just did this today with a 250GB external and its only 1 partition. Just have the HDD connected to your mac and format it to MS-DOS, which is FAT32. Unfortunately, you cannot even format 32 GB in windows Vista, but if you do it on a Mac, Wondows will recogzine the entire drive.

[Error]

Ah ok...I'd be using XP but not the point. Cool.

Ok, how does one format on Mac then? It's the schools Mac too, so I don't know if I will need to be an admin to do it. But saying I don't have to, what needs to be done.

[ElCapichan]

Ah ok...I'd be using XP but not the point. Cool.

Ok, how does one format on Mac then? It's the schools Mac too, so I don't know if I will need to be an admin to do it. But saying I don't have to, what needs to be done.

Its a pretty easy process. This is the site that helped me format my WD 250GB HDD. http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage...ing_tiger.html

Just so you know MS-DOS file system is FAT32, and you can format any size HDD with it, like I said, i formatted my 250GB HDD to FAT32 just yesterday doing this process. You wont need to follow everything in that guide. Just erase the drive, select partition, select how many partitions you want and the File Type, and then partition and you are done.

I'm not sure if I am going to keep mine in FAT32 though. If you have files larger than 4GB, you wont be able to transfer them to the drive in FAT32. In most cases it won't be an issue, but every now and then, you may have a large file you want to move. In my case, I'm just going to have to get used to capturing video to just several scenes at a time, rather than a whole MiniDV that is in HD at once.