How to transfer files from dell to Mac?

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Level 1

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How to transfer files from dell to Mac?

Hi everybody my parents for xmas have bought me a new applemacbook. woowowo however i have had my dell inspiron 1525 for 6 years so have quite alot of pictures files and downloaded music. I have itunes and know how to transfer all that side of it but how do i transfer everything else like my documents pictures and odd bits i find? Also how do i transfer my converted music to the mac without having to redownload/sync and all that?

I am 15 and am not tech savvy like abriviations and that different softwares and i cannot afford cables and that to trnasfer it as i have seen some people use.

sorry not much to go on 🙂

MacBook

Posted on Nov 17, 2013 7:47 AM

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Answer 1

hands4

Level 4

2,246 points

Nov 17, 2013 12:59 PM in response to JHB1234

Exfat is one of the Windows filesystem formats for hard drives (HDs). It is a format to choose when you are initiallizing the external hard disk you will copy files to (from your PC) and then from the hard drive to your Mac. When you initialize that hard disk it will erase everthing on it.

Transferring via a Windows formatted hard drive is a good method. You might also take a look at the Windows Migration Assistant.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4796

"Migration Assistant automatically transfers your contacts, calendars, and email accounts and more, and puts them in the appropriate applications."

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Answer 2

Nov 17, 2013 9:35 AM in response to JHB1234

memory stick or an external HD

go into mac disk utility (this erases everything on HD so beware if you have anything on it)

in disk utility choose to erase it by formatting it in ExFat

check out wikipedia if you need more info on formatting definition

Peace

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Answer 3

dwb

Level 7

33,244 points

Nov 17, 2013 2:30 PM in response to JHB1234

Hands4 has posted a link to an article about Apple's PC migration assistant. Take a good look at the article. It is a novice friendly way to transfer your stuff - documents, pictures, music, contacts, and email from the PC to your Mac. I strongly recommend that if you choose this method that you use it the very first time you start up your Mac.

If you aren't concerned about keeping your mail and contacts it is also easy just to use an external drive or a flash drive to copy stuff from one computer to the other. Plotinus refers to formating the drive in a way that both Windows and Mac OS can read/write to it but no matter how the drive is formatted the Mac will be able to copy the files from it.

When my sister finally dumped Windows she was using Google Mail so all her contacts and email info was on Google. That made it easy for her to move into her new Mac with just a 32GB flash drive. Also, since she was using iTunes with her iPhone already most of her music could be redownloaded to the Mac which also made things a bit easier for her.

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Answer 4

Nov 17, 2013 8:26 AM in response to JHB1234

format a spare HD in Exfat

that way both PC and Mac can read and write to it for file transfers

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Answer 5

JHB1234 Author

Level 1

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Nov 17, 2013 8:55 AM in response to PlotinusVeritas

what does format a spare hd in exfat mean? but thanks for the reply

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Answer 6

JHB1234 Author

Level 1

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Nov 17, 2013 11:41 PM in response to dwb

thank you very much yeah i will probably use this and mac is still in the packaging i have five weeks until i can open it so have plenty of time to sort things out just soo excited..

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