Making Mac Look like Windows

macjack wrote:
Have you read Switch 101?
If you want everything the same as Windows, why did you get a Mac?



-mj

He could install BootCamp and run Winders and be done with it.

DesertRatR wrote:
I am a recent convert to Mac with many years experience on Windows/DOS. I am used to seeing several root directories (C: with OS, D: with data, E: music, etc). Right now I have a Macintosh HD icon sitting on my desktop. I would like to bury that some place and replicate a Windows style file directory structure. What is the best way to do that? And does OS X use names for root folders, rather than letters?

Macintosh computers are Unix based, not DOS based. The file structure on a Mac is far older and more stable than on Windows.
Had you started with Unix rather than Windows you would be looking at things the other way around.
I do not understand why anyone would want to change the BSD file structure and I don't think it's possible.
Once you get used to the BSD file structure, you will realize how trivial the Windows system is.
In Windows, the letters C, D, etc are not directories but partitions or separate drives.
Yes, you can name a directory in Leopard "C" if you so choose but you cannot rename, for example, / to "C" because / is the root directory. It would be like renaming the "System" directory in Windows to X. Nothing would work anymore.

I have used Windows since it came out. I have also used Unix for many years. I have used Macs for many years. It's all pretty much the same to me. I move from one to the other very easily and I regularly use Windows, Linux and BSD/Leopard.

You can hide the desktop icons using the Finder preferences. I have nothing on my desktop - just the background. My desktop is indistinguishable from a Windows desktop. My Windows desktops also never have icons on them either. I like a neat clean workspace.

You can rename Macintosh HD to "C' if you like. That has nothing to do with the file structure. It's only a name in a directory called "Volumes."

You might be more interesting in learning a new type of file system that has been around longer than Windows rather than thinking about converting it to something else.

You might be more interested in using the terminal so you can see all the "dos" like files and manipulate things on a text level with the keyboard as in DOS, but it stops there.

If you are using TM, you should not play around with the file system at all, and if you do, when you attempt to install an update you will be posting back here how the update "ate your harddrive" so to speak 🙂
All Mac software expects to see a BSD file system. Otherwise how could a programmer ever write anything that works if every machine had a different FS? It would be rather chaotic, IMO.

In Finder preferences you can get rid of the hard drive on the desktop. If you really want to, you could name it "C". You can create single letter aliases to system directories if you want. The question should be: "Why does Windows use letters instead of meaningful names?" Why not get rid of file names, and just number the files?

Do not move any of the system files or application. It will interfere with updates. You can create your own folders, named (or lettered) as you want, with aliases to system applications, arranged in subfolders as you want.

Windows tries to hide the drive letters these days. The default setup is for named folders (My Music, My Pictures, My Videos, etc.) inside the named user's Documents folder. And that's with XP, not the current Vista. You hardly see the C: drive.

But if you want to create the structure you describe... You can use aliases.

Create a folder on your Desktop and call it +My Computer+. Open a Finder window to your user folder. Drag the Music folder to your +My Computer+ folder while holding down the Option and Command keys. You will see a curved arrow next to the icon being dragged, which means you are creating an alias (similar to a shortcut in Windows). Once you have it in your +My Computer+ folder, rename it E (or whatever letter means music to you). Do the same thing for all the "root directories" you want to create.

Just use those aliases, which you can place anywhere and rename as you please. Don't actually move or rename those folders that the OS created.

And does OS X use names for root folders

volume root = /

(C: with OS, D: with data, E: music, etc

OS is located at the root level of the startup drive

/Applications
/Libary
/System
/Users

D=Data, you have a Documents folder.
~/Documents

E:=music you have a Music folder

~/Music

Also if your familiar with Dos then it wont take you long to get to grips with Unix.

CD =cd
Dir=ls
copy=cp
move=mv

You could create an alias file so that your Dos command would still work.

eg.

alias dir='ls -la'


Get yourself a OSX unix book there are many available.

Have you read Switch 101?
If you want everything the same as Windows, why did you get a Mac?



-mj

Hi DesertRatR;

You'll be sorry if you try to do that.

Allan

You may want to consider:

http://www.ragesw.com/products/explorer.html