PC to Mac Migrations Using Ethernet
Tech Tails #581: Hybrid Hard Drives, Threading in Mail
by Ryan, ryan@smalldog.com
So you switched to Mac, but all of your old files are on your PC.
You don’t have an external hard drive (even though you really should for backups). Your old PC may also lack a CD burner, but transferring large amounts of data via CDs is time consuming and wasteful. How are you going to transfer all your documents? As long as your Windows PC has an ethernet port (and preferably Windows XP) you can quickly and easily drag and drop your files from the PC onto your Mac.
While there are many methods to accomplish this task, I’ll describe how to connect the computers directly with an ethernet cable.
On your Mac, click the Apple icon in the upper left-hand corner of your screen and then select “System Preferences.” From here, find the icon that says “Sharing” and click on it. In this Sharing Preference Pane, find the tab that that says “Internet” and click on it to enter the internet sharing menu. My method is to share the connection from Airport to ethernet. Do this even if you are not using wireless internet, as we are just establishing a network connection between the two machines and need an IP address. If you are not connected to a wireless network, then you must create one using your Mac: simply click on the Airport icon in the upper right-hand of your screen and choose Create a Network.
Now find the tab that that says “Services.” In here is a list of services. Check the box next to Windows File Sharing to enable this service, then click the accounts button to choose which Users’ home folders on your Mac will be accessible by the PC. At the bottom of the window you will be presented with an address for connecting to your Mac.
Now, click the start button on the PC and choose “Run” from the list. In the text box that pops up, type the address shown in the Sharing preference pane.
Type in your username and password for your Mac user account, and you will now be browsing your User’s home folder. From here, all you need to do is drag and drop your documents, music, e-mails, and other data to your Mac.
