01-17-2005, 03:32 PM

I have just started a new job where everyone uses Macs and knows little to nothing about computers in general. We have a variety of Macs (G4, G5, PowerBooks) with each one running a different OS. (Mostly 10.X) Problem is that Im in charge of networking them eventually and most importantly, I have to figure out a way to get 5000+ files from one G4 to another. Tried FireWire but that didnt work (I think ports are fried) and then I tried transferring to a JumpDrive. Catch was that some file names had $,%,# and so on in them and it wouldnt get copied. I ended up having to rename a ridiculous amount of files. Then to top it all off, my colleague arranges and works with his files by date modified. Now when I renamed them and/or copied them to a JumpDrive, all the dates got changed and he wasnt happy. In addition, he claims that he has moved data over using an external hard drive and never had the date change problem. Please help me, I was hired to do some tech stuff but Macs are driving me bananas. Any resources/suggestions and so forth would be more than welcome! I really would like to love Mac but have had nothing but issues with stupid stuff!!!!
HELP!

01-17-2005, 03:50 PM

You can connect them via Ethernet and transfer them through it. When they are connected go to

System Preferences -> Sharing
Make sure Personal File Sharing is set on and look at the address it gives you on the bottom. Enter that address in the other computer and you can transfer the files that way

01-17-2005, 03:59 PM

Also, look into formatting your Jump drive using the Mac HFS+ format so you won't have filename issues.

To do this:
-Insert the drive on a Mac
-Open Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility)
-Select the Jump drive in the pane and click the Erase tab
-Choose Mac OS Extended as the format, and reformat it

01-17-2005, 07:35 PM

If you are worried about file permissions and date, here is what you can do. You will need to fire up a terminal window. You will need to issue a few unix commands. First you will need to move to the directory/folder where the data resides. Using the cd comand (change directory). An example of this is cd /Volumes/Mac HD/users/rman. Then you issue this command to copy all of the data to your firewire drive (/Volumes/firewire drive.

find . -depth -print | cpio -pmudv /Volumes/firewire_drive

The find command will locate all files starting where you are seating and including all subdirectories/subfolders. The cpio command will copy all of the files found by the find command, save the dates and file permissions. Also it will copy all the files/documents into the /Volumes/firewire_drive. Please note, if you create a directory/folder on the firewire drive add that to the copy path.

01-17-2005, 10:45 PM

Can I have your job? I would love to work on Macs instead of these decrepit PC's we have.

01-18-2005, 10:32 AM

I LOVE U GUYS! Thanks... will give all these things a try. I am sure something will work. Thank u ever so much. I feel like such an idiot, you guys are wonderful!!!

01-18-2005, 11:57 AM

Originally Posted by trpnmonkey41

You can connect them via Ethernet and transfer them through it. When they are connected go to

System Preferences -> Sharing
Make sure Personal File Sharing is set on and look at the address it gives you on the bottom. Enter that address in the other computer and you can transfer the files that way

Thanks for the advice. The file sharing method worked between 2 computers but the one that it needed to be on didnt work. For some insane reason I was unable to turn file sharing on. The lock was open, I clicked on the file sharing option but it would not allow me to start. Any ideas why this would happen? Also, that particular Mac recognized the newly formatted jump drive once but wouldnt do it the second time even after restarting!
Hope you can help!