Macbook as PC backup?

EMA747

EMA747

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Andy
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I have a bit of a strange quandary at the moment. I have a 2011 iMac and a 2010 13'' Macbook Pro which is mainly used for photo and video storage on the road/abroad.
I love the MBP for it's build quality,size and general user experience. The iMac is great but I am just not a smitten as I thought I would be and I find it a lot less versatile than a PC (I game quite a bit). I could build myself a better spec PC for about half the price and have one that would take advantage of Premiere Pro's CUDA rendering which the iMac can't as it runs ATI graphics cards. Plus have some cash in the pocket.

If I went back to a PC desktop the MBP becomes useless as it can't then transfer large files from mac to pc. Is there a way around this? I usually get very large video files when on the road that need transferring before editing.
I feel I am just keeping the iMac because I can't use the MBP with a pc.

Any help,comments,suggestions appreciated. :thumbs:
 
The maximum size that can be transferred is 4GB or thereabouts because of the formatting.
 
neil_g said:
i take it youre using an external hard drive or USB stick?

if the drive is formatted as FAT32 then the maximum file size is 4Gb.

format as NTFS then do this:

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=3127131&postcount=6
Click to expand...
Yeah I am using an external drive. Workflow is shoot>import to mbp>export to HDD, then when I get home>import to iMac>edit......

I will have a look at the steps in the link you posted. Sounds interesting and not something I was aware of at all.

All in all the best of both worlds would be to have the MBP and a pc desktop and be able to transfer files the same as it if was mac to mac or pc to pc.
Is there a way of connecting an MBP directly to a pc to transfer files thus doing away with the need for a HDD?
 
I have a MBP, a Windows desktop and a Windows Server, and I connect all my devices to the same 1Gb network I have set up.

All it takes is a gigabit router and some ethernet cables.
 
If the PC has a FireWire port you could use the MacBook in target disk mode (a bit like an expensive eternal HDD).
 
Craikeybaby said:
If the PC has a FireWire port you could use the MacBook in target disk mode (a bit like an expensive eternal HDD).
Click to expand...
How do you do that? That sounds pretty much like what I want to do.

When I am away I import the video to a folder and when I am home I transfer the folder to my desktop via an external HDD. I only use the external drive because I don't know how to plug the mbp in to my desktop. If it can be used like an external HDD that would be sweet as. :thumbs:
 
Hold down "T" when you boot the MacBook.
 
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