Beardy McNoShave
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Cannot read microsoft office files off target disk

I have a PowerBook in taget disk mode connected via firewire800 to a Mac Pro tower. I can read all the files on it just fine and I can open most of the files on it just like its any other external drive. The exception seems to be Microsoft Office files - Word, Excel, PowerPoint. They seem to be the only exception. If I copy the file to my Mac Pro, I can open it no problem.

 

The error message is different depending on which program, but the main point is they say how the file cannot be found.

 

Anyone know what's going on and if I can correct it? It would be REALLY helpful to have this functionality be flawless.

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on May 31, 2012 6:56 AM

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Beardy McNoShave

Q: Cannot read microsoft office files off target disk

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  • by imacmike78,

    imacmike78 imacmike78 Apr 9, 2013 11:41 PM in response to Beardy McNoShave
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 9, 2013 11:41 PM in response to Beardy McNoShave

    I had a similar problem.

     

    I had two LaCie external hard drives, one for Time Machine, and one for storing data. The labels were identical, I never considered this as an issue, OS X is very flexible from this point of view.

     

    I started transferring excel files to the LaCie hard drive where I wanted to store data. When I tried to open them using Finder, I got an error message saying that the file with the path was not existing.

     

    It took me a while to understand that the Excel for Mac, when I clicked on the file in the LaCie hard drive for data, was then trying to find it in the LaCie hard drive for Time Machine (the first to be connected). I had just to change the label of the LaCie hard drive to something else (i.e. "LaCieHD"), and suddenly the excel files were all accessible by Excel.

     

    Apparently Excel for Mac doesn't have the same flexibility as the OS X (like windows cannot rename or move open files like the OS X!).

     

    I hope this can help.

     

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  • by rnmanji,

    rnmanji rnmanji Apr 21, 2014 3:57 AM in response to Beardy McNoShave
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 21, 2014 3:57 AM in response to Beardy McNoShave

    Changed the name of the Target Disk (from Macintosh HD to another name) and it worked.