PCs & Macs & file sharing
2003-06-05 by Matthew Born
Also, if you're running NT or 2000 (and perhaps other 'Doze systems?), I believe you can install/enable "services for Macintosh." This will allow the Mac to see designated folders on the PC via your network. It's more complicated to get a PC to deign to recognize a Mac, but you only need a one-way street to get the files from A to B. Here's something else I've wondered about from time to time: if you have an external FW or USB drive with two ports, would both the PC and the Mac mount it if you connected each to one of the drive's ports? I have never tried it. Probably plenty of reasons not to leave a setup like that up, assuming it even works, but it might be a way to move substantial files a lot faster than the Zip sneaker network. At worst, you could mount from one, copy your giant files, and then mount from the other platform to load them. Then use the drive as a backup. I think Robert mentioned PowerMax as a good vendor for used Macs. I second that. I have purchase (both for myself and for clients) used and new stuff from them several times and found both the prices and the service to be top notch. Cheers, Matthew Born