PC-Mac Firewire connection?

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powerdog

Veteran
Is there a way to transfer files through FW from a PC laptop to a G5? I don't know what each computer would "see", if anything, with a FW cable between them, or if it's safe to try.
 
Not sure which Mac you're using, but it should work the same as the Powerbook. From Apple's site...

"Using just a FireWire cable, you can quickly transfer data from another computer to your PowerBook. First turn the other computer off. Then, connect the two via FireWire. Turn the other computer on, holding down the “T” key until the FireWire icon appears. Open the hard drive of the other computer — it should be on your desktop — and copy away. When you’re done, select the hard drive and choose Eject from the File menu. Power the other computer down and disconnect the FireWire cables. Yes, Target Disk Mode works great with PowerBook."
 
Just get a firewire hard drive and copy from the PC onto it and then from it onto the Mac.
Or, if the files are small enough, get a USB flash drive and do the same thing.
 
A Mac in firewire target mode is still formatted as HSF+, which PC's can't read (though there is some software that will let them). But, then again, I don't think desktops do this anyway... just PowerBooks.

There are some standards for IP over firewire that might work, but again I don't know about PC implementations.

If your laptop has Gigabit ethernet, or even 100Mbps, that might be the fastest and most convenient way to transfer.
 
Couldn't you also just use an ethernet crossover cable? Or just a standard ethernet cable if you had a router, switch or hub?
 
skinnyboy said:
Just get a firewire hard drive and copy from the PC onto it and then from it onto the Mac.
Or, if the files are small enough, get a USB flash drive and do the same thing.
Click to expand...

I got a 1GB ($19 after mail in rebate) memory stick a while back and it's great for transfering between computers.
 
They have 4GB USB flash drives now. I just checked pricewatch.com and they are around $100.
For about the same price you can get a firewire hard drive that's 80+ GB.
If this is a once in a while transfer, anything will do, but if you will be doing it a lot, the speed of the transfer may be an issue.
Flash drives are fast if both computers have USB 2, but excruciatingly slow if it's at USB 1. You could watch a sitcom in the amount of time it would take USB 1 to copy 2 GB.
Firewire hard drives are fast (so is USB 2). 2GB would take a couple minutes tops.

Using ethernet (which would involve all kinds of fun to get the Mac and PC to actually talk) would be faster than USB 1, but still slow. I would not recommend the ethernet option.

Best bet would be a flash drive - the G5 has USB 2 built-in. The PC may - if not you can get a PCMCIA card that will add it.
 
For better or worse, I chose a 60GB Lacie USB 2 portable drive. My reasoning was:

1. Serious Magic swears that DV Rack has no problems recording to USB 2, and that there's no real advantage to FW for this use.
2. Both my PC laptop and my Mac have free USB 2 ports, but the one FW port is used by the DVX100a.
3. I just don't see how to have a truly portable solution with FW, since I assume any FW connection to the laptop would be 4 pin, non powered.
4. DVR prefers a separate FW bus, meaning additional cost for a PCMCIA card and, still, either drive or card needs power.

This way, if all goes well, I record from laptop to drive, then reconnect and move QT files from drive to Mac.
 
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