[zacharie]

Hello;
Please forgive me in advance, I presume there have been numerours threads about file sharing.

I am a long mac user and don't know a single thing about windows pcs; someone I know bought a 12" Albook. He would like to transfer files from the vaio to his Albook.
I advised him to link a firewire cable between the two. Is it a way to get his vaio HD appear on the Powerbook desktop?
Thank you if you have time to reply.
zacharie

[mc786030]

I don't think firewire would work because both of them are inputs. Connecting them via their ethernet ports would be your best bet, or you could try sending files thru IM or something.

[rjenkinson]

Originally posted by mc786030:
I don't think firewire would work because both of them are inputs.

i don't think that matters. after all, you can put a machine into firewire target disk mode and use it as a hard drive.

-r.

[Eug]

It will work with IP over Firewire. However, there's not much point since current implementations on the Mac laptops have it not much faster than Ethernet. Plus, there are some reports out there of fried PowerBook ports using the IP over Firewire Mac software... Thus, Ethernet would be advised. I'm not sure if you can use a straight cable or if you need a crossover cable. I think the PowerBook has an autosensing ethernet port that can use a straight cable, but I'm not sure.

You cannot get the Vaio HD on the PowerBook desktop. However, if you install MacDrive on the Vaio, you can get the PowerBook HD connected to the Vaio using the PowerBook's Firewire target mode.

[velocipede]

It sounds like ethernet's probably the easiest way to go in your friend's situation. If they've got a router/hub, they can just plug both computers into the hub. Make sure the Mac has "Windows File Sharing" enabled under the Sharing preferences. Then, Share whatever files/folders you want to copy on the Vai (right-click the folder, choose "Sharing", and type whatever you want to name the share".)
Then, on the Mac, choose "Connect to Server" from the Finder. You can probably see your friend's computer from there, if not, then type in the Vaio's ip address and share name like this--> smb://192.168.123.123/ShareName and you should be good to go.
Of course, if you have an external Firewire drive that's FAT32 (Windows) formatted, you can always copy the Vaio data to that, and then copy from the external HD to the Mac (Macs can read Windows formatted HDs, but not vice-versa). Is available, this might be a better solution if you're talking gigs and gigs of data (like a large MP3 collections, etc).
Anyway, hope that helps...

[zacharie]

Hi,
Thank you for so many precisions. I'll tell my friend how to link his vaio to his powerbook via ethernet. That might be the easiest solution.
Thanks.