Transferring photos from Windows laptop to Mac

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stevecush

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Am going to be away and taking very large numbers of photos. These will be stored on a windows laptop until I come back to UK. Can anyone advise me how to transfer them to my desktop Mac?
 
via a network would probably be quickest and simplest. I'm 99.9% sure you can just share out the folder on Windows and the Mac can access the share.

It would be quicker to plug them both into your router rather than copy over wireless
 
Dale_d3100 said:
via a network would probably be quickest and simplest. I'm 99.9% sure you can just share out the folder on Windows and the Mac can access the share.

It would be quicker to plug them both into your router rather than copy over wireless
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yup id do this.

share out a folder on the PC, then on the mac find the GO -> CONNECT TO option
 
A further thought. I will store the photos on laptop but will also back up to a portable external hard drive. If I connect the external hard drive to my Mac would I then be able to import them directly into Lightroom?
 
Can't you just save them to a DVD/CD disc first then run and download to the other computer from the disk? you also benefit from having them stored on disc as well.

Realspeed
 
Thanks Bazza.

Would be an option but potentially may have 300Gb so would need a lot of DVDs and hard drive option would seem better, as long as someone can confirm it would work. (Am sure it would but would prefer confirmation!)
 
If you format the drive as FAT32, then it can be read by a Mac, if its NTFS it can't

To share a folder in Windows, right click on the folder and click properties (you may even see sharing when you click right). Click sharing and then click share as (you may need to turn file sharing on) and give the folder a share name (it will be given one automatically).

You then should be able to type in the name of the machine on the Mac (or maybe the IP address) and it should show you the shared folders on that computer.
 
Dale_d3100 said:
If you format the drive as FAT32, then it can be read by a Mac, if its NTFS it can't

To share a folder in Windows, right click on the folder and click properties (you may even see sharing when you click right). Click sharing and then click share as (you may need to turn file sharing on) and give the folder a share name (it will be given one automatically).

You then should be able to type in the name of the machine on the Mac (or maybe the IP address) and it should show you the shared folders on that computer.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but this is wrong, if you format the drive as NTFS it will be readable by the mac but the mac will not be able to write to it without something like NTFS 3G

Also formatting as FAT32 would limit the maximum size of drive and/or files if I remember correctly?

My suggestion would be install NTFS-3G on the Mac and use an external drive to store them on whilst you are away. I use NTFS-3G as I frequently need to use NTFS and Mac OS Journaled drives, and don't even know it's there.
 
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Kasalic said:
Sorry, but this is wrong, if you format the drive as NTFS it will be readable by the mac but the mac will not be able to write to it without something like NTFS 3G

Also formatting as FAT32 would limit the maximum size of drive and/or files if I remember correctly?

My suggestion would be install NTFS-3G on the Mac and use an external drive to store them on whilst you are away. I use NTFS-3G as I frequently need to use NTFS and Mac OS Journaled drives, and don't even know it's there.
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what he said. Macs can read NTFS just not write to it (and even that is fixable with a couple of terminal commands, have a search ive linked the post a few times).

personally i wouldnt concider running FAT (a non-journalled file system) on any drive these days. and its just plain pointless if you ever want to store a file that is larger than 4GB.
 
stevecush said:
Thanks dale and Neil.

Excuse my ignorance but can you spell out for me what you mean by "share out a folder on your pc".
Click to expand...

if both are connected to the same network (wireless or cabled) then in windows you can right click a folder and depending what version you are on locate the "sharing/share with" option.

once that is done you can browse to that folder from your mac.
 
FAT32 would allow transfer between Mac and PC both ways.

NTFS is a one way transfer without utilities

NFS+ is a one way tranfser without utilities

Limitations of FAT 32....

4Gb file size (an individual file)
No file permissions

Unless you are doing large single backup files the 4Gb limit doesn't come in.

It does mean that the device will work perfectly well on Mac and PC without any extra tools. So you can use the drive on any PC or Mac
 
Oh cool.

I never use a Mac (dirty things ;) ), but have heard complaints from users about these.

But you may have to do that modification on each mac you go to (why don't they turn if on by default???)
 
I think it's going to be turned on in the next major version of the Mac OS release.
 
Dale_d3100 said:
FAT32 would allow transfer between Mac and PC both ways.


Limitations of FAT 32....

4Gb file size (an individual file)
No file permissions

Unless you are doing large single backup files the 4Gb limit doesn't come in.

It does mean that the device will work perfectly well on Mac and PC without any extra tools. So you can use the drive on any PC or Mac
Click to expand...

Thanks everyone for the replies (some of which I understand!)

Dale - if I am copying a8Gb card would this be a problem?
 
its not the size of the card or hard disc that is limited, its a single file that is limited to 4Gb

This only comes really in if you are ripping DVDs and the final size is over 4Gb or if you are using a backup utility that creates a single file (virtual disc files would also come under this category). These days I backup the folder structure as space is cheap and it makes it easier to retrieve single files.
 
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