Transferring files from PC to Mac is actually pretty easy. But it is one thing that sometimes holds people back from making the switch.
When I switched to my Apple Mac laptop almost four years ago – my Windows PC was littered with files on the desktop and throughout all of those “my” folders. My documents, my pictures, etc. There was no way that I was going to bring this level of disorganization to my shiny new MacBook.
So, I really took the time to get organized (a bit more on that later). I weeded through all of the files on the old machine – keeping only the ones that I really wanted. I created a file called “Old Computer” and placed everything that I wanted to move into that folder. I knew that once I moved this file – I might not have time to deal with it right away. By making this distinction I knew that I would be able to find things that were created on the old machine.
Once everything was organized on the old computer – it was time to actually undergo the process of transferring files from PC to Mac. Depending on the size of the data that needs to be moved – some people have just a few gigs of data and others have terabytes! – the easiest method is to use some type of USB or firewire (assuming that the Macintosh computer has a firewire port). This can take the form of an external hard drive or a memory stick.
Keeping the process simple is the best method here because the format of the external drive can become an issue. The format has to be compatible with both Windows and Apple and that is a bit tricky. The important thing here is to keep the task at hand in the forefront – the only thing that is being done at this time is transferring files from PC to Mac. So, to move data in this direction – a hard drive formatted in NTFS or FAT32 should be fine (however FAT32 cannot handle files that are bigger than 4 gigs – which can be an issue if there are a lot of photos or movie files). Understanding disk formats can be complex and there is a good explanation at MyFirstMac.com.
The next step is to plug the drive into the Windows machine – copy the file onto it. Eject. Then plug the drive into the iMac, copy the file onto the the Apple machine. And, voila, the deed is done.
Another option is to use the “cloud”. With an Apple MobileMe
The landscape is very different today than it was just four years ago. Apple’s popularity has exploded, and data storage devices have come way down in price. While there are still concerns about moving data from one system to another – people are bolder and not as wary. They know it can be done, it’s just a matter of figuring out how.
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