Windows 10 How Do I Get My Files From Mac To Windows?

highmarcs · Sep 11, 2016

I am very frustrated. I have a TON of work on my Macbook Pro, but it's old and I can't afford a new one. So, I purchased a pc laptop and now I am regretting it big tiime.

I NEED to be able to transfer all of the work on my Mac to my new PC, but NONE of the TEN external hard drives that I have tried will READ AND WRITE on BOTH machines.

I need to be able to plug an external in my Mac, copy files to it and then plug that same external into my PC and put move those files to my PC.

I have even tried moving all of my files with a flash drive, since both machines will at least recognize it. Even THAT doesn't work. The files that I put on the flashdrive with my Mac ONLY show up when the drive is plugged into the Mac and the files that I put on the flashdrive with my PC, ONLY show up when the drive is plugged into the PC.

How is it possible to transfer ones Mac files to a PC, when you buy an external that works ONLY on one platform or the other?

Am I trapped into only buying new Macs for the rest of my life?

BIGBEARJEDI · Sep 12, 2016

The real problem is that when you move Mac-formatted files that run on a Mac-only application, and there is no equivalent app in W10 (for example, Mac Word 2016 and Windows Office Word 2016). Those apps can read a Word file written on a Mac from within a Windows app, Word 2016. But, not all Mac apps have direct equivalents in the Windows world without going through some kind of conversion program. And that's where it gets sticky. This has been going on since 1985 with the advent of Windows 1.0. Macs of course pre-date Windows by 4-5 years or so. As soon as Windows hit the market we've had this problem all along.

So, if you are using a Mac only app; such as iMovie native; those video files cannot be read by a native W10...

BurrWalnut · Sep 11, 2016

That seems odd to me. I have no trouble transferring files between Windows 10 and OSX (currently El Capitan but was Leopard in 2009 when I purchased it).

There are three methods I use:
1. USB stick formatted originally in MacBook.
2. Network transfer via file sharing.
3. NAS using a large memory stick plugged into my router.

Have you tried 3 above which doesn’t need passwords and is simple to do?

Neemobeer · Sep 11, 2016

An external drive formatted as fat32 should be recognizable by OS X and Windows. I think Apple refers to fat32 as dos

BIGBEARJEDI · Sep 12, 2016

The real problem is that when you move Mac-formatted files that run on a Mac-only application, and there is no equivalent app in W10 (for example, Mac Word 2016 and Windows Office Word 2016). Those apps can read a Word file written on a Mac from within a Windows app, Word 2016. But, not all Mac apps have direct equivalents in the Windows world without going through some kind of conversion program. And that's where it gets sticky. This has been going on since 1985 with the advent of Windows 1.0. Macs of course pre-date Windows by 4-5 years or so. As soon as Windows hit the market we've had this problem all along.

So, if you are using a Mac only app; such as iMovie native; those video files cannot be read by a native W10 app such as WMM (Windows Movie Maker). This is why Pixar has no Windows computers in their company-anywhere!! It's all Macs. So, if you're into making production video movies or TV, the answer to your help request is there is no equivalent for you in the Windows world and you will be stuck buying new Macs the rest of your life. For other apps such as Desktop Publishing, some Gaming platforms, such as Steam, MS Office apps as mentioned already, and some 3rd party photo apps such as Adobe Photoshop or Elements which are written in dual-platform modality, you can move most of your stuff over to W10. Most probably your files will not come over 100%. I've been doing it for over 30 years, and I've never seen that move done where 100% of the Mac files are readable by ALL apps on the Windows side. I don't care how many converters you use, free or paid, that's not going to happen.

Hope that provides some insight. You can also buy Macs much cheaper on ebay or refurbished through the big chains such as Micro Center.

<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>

Windows 10 How Do I Get My Files From Mac To Windows?

highmarcs

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BIGBEARJEDI

BurrWalnut

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Neemobeer

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BIGBEARJEDI

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