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How do I transfer files to a Mac formatted external hard drive through a direct wired Ethernet connection PC to Mac?

Hello. I recently ordered a 13 inch Macbook Pro as my graduation present (it will be here next week, and I'm very excited!)

With the Mac, I also ordered a 1TB Lacie Rugged external hard drive, in the hopes that I would be able to simply plug it into my my PC, move the files from my PC to the drive, and then use the drive as my Mac's primary storage for Logic files, movies, etc while using the internal hard drive for my iTunes library and any documents I would be working on in college.

However I have realized now due to formatting issues that this would not work...

I know that I can re-format the disk to FAT32 and use it between both machines, however the 4GB file cap on this type of formatting would not work for me. While researching online about how I might go about this, I found one comment mentioning that I could format the hard drive on the mac, network the two computers together, and access my PC files directly from my Mac: enabling me to simply move the files onto the mac formatted drive without worrying about reformatting the hard drive.

I was just wondering about this process and if anyone else has had success with it. And if it does indeed work as simply as it sounds, when I go to connect the computers would any USB to Ethernet connector work for the Macbook? Or should I be getting something very specific in order to do this?

Thank you!

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch,Early 2015)

Posted on May 23, 2015 8:27 AM

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2 replies

May 23, 2015 8:47 AM in response to mkjohnson123

Apple has made a tool just for such events called "Migration Assistant". The Apple page on it can be found here: About Windows Migration Assistant - Apple Support


You load the Apple software onto your PC, make sure both the new Mac and old PC are connected to the local lan (wired is probably faster, but wireless works as well) and fire up the software on both machines. Several hours later all data transferred, depending.


For sharin an external hard drive between Mac and PC, I have had great success formatting the external disk as exFAT. This Microsoft technology removes the 4GB file limited in FAT and both the Mac and PC can read/write exFAT.

How do I transfer files to a Mac formatted external hard drive through a direct wired Ethernet connection PC to Mac?

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