[iBook] The great Windows - Mac migration

[Mike Beede]

On Jan 12, 2005, at 8:58 PM, Sean Weijand wrote:

> if its mac to mac just use firewire target disc mode. I have used this 
> many times and it works well.

Agreed--I transfered a bunch of stuff last weekend from two
macs, including one with a dead screen.  The OP wanted a Windoze
to Mac solution, so I'll address that.  Here's my quick summary of
various schemes you might use to transfer your files.  Some (in fact,
most) have already been addressed.

Wireless or wired network -- this is pretty much simple and painless.  
Turn
on Windows file sharing on the Mac, connect from the Windows box, and 
drag-n-drop
till you . . . uh . . . drop.  It might take a while, but 
realistically, who
cares?  Do it overnight if necessary.

CDs -- burn everything onto a collection of CDs on the Windows machine. 
  This
has the advantage that you get a snapshot you can use later when a 
meteor
hits the Mac.  This might be the excuse you need to buy that 
Firewire/USB
DVD burner.  You can fit 4.7 GB on a DVD.  (We got one the other day and
it is really nice--I would never consider burning ten CDs, but a couple
DVDs . . . piff poof!).

USB memory thingie -- this will take nearly a while and doesn't have the
advantage of giving you a backup (unless it all fits on a single drive).
But it's a generally-useful dingus.  The iPod Shuffle 1GB is only $150 
or
so.  Good excuse to get one.

External drive -- this may be slow (if it's USB 1) but again--who 
cares?  This
is a one-time thing.  If you can do Firewire on the Windows box and 
have an iPod
you can transfer it that way, or you can start the Mac in Firewire 
target
mode (as Sean mentioned above).  Hold down "T" while booting.

Email -- one of the slowest ways, depending on your connection speed.  
But it
is very easy to do from widely separated machines, and if you really 
have a
small number of files to transfer, it's fine.  This is also an easy way 
to
transfer a small number of email messages--just forward them to yourself
(making sure that you don't pick up new messages...).

Sftp -- there are plenty of clients for Windows, and if you enable 
remote
logins on the Mac you can transfer files securely (if that's a 
concern--and
it probably isn't in this case).  You can use pretty much any archiver 
to
package up everything you want to move, or move a directory at a time.

You might, depending on your hardware, be able to transfer something by
IR or Bluetooth, too.  But probably not (IR is pretty much dead and 
Bluetooth
is pretty new).

At any rate, good luck.  Don't forget some stuff needs to be converted 
(e.g.,
browser bookmarks, mail files).

Regards,

	Mike Beede