Method #2 – Sharing from the Mac, Transferring from the PC: (10.4 Tiger)
1. Go to the System Preferences and choose Sharing. (Under the Internet & Network heading)

2. If the padlock in the lower left corner is closed, click on it and enter the password to open it.

3. Check the checkbox next to Windows Sharing.

Method 02 - OS X Tiger Sharing

4. Click on “Enable Accounts…”.

5. Check the checkbox next to your account.

Method 02 - OS X Tiger Sharing

6. Enter a password.

Method 02 - OS X Tiger Sharing

7. Click OK and then in the Accounts screen click “Done”.

8. Look where it says “Windows users can access your computer at”.

Method 02 - OS X Tiger Sharing

9. Write this down.

10. Go to the Windows machine and click on the Start Menu.

11. Choose “Run..”

12. Enter the address for your Mac.
- In this example it would be //192.168.1.110
- You may omit the username at the end to see all shared folders.

13. Enter your username and the password you created when you turned on sharing.

14. Your Mac’s shared folders will open up.

15. Transfer the files you need.

16. Close the folders on the Windows machine.

17. To turn off file sharing on the Mac, go back to the System Preferences and choose sharing.

18. Uncheck the checkbox next to Windows Sharing to turn it off.

OS X 10.3 and earlier:
The process for sharing your user account in 10.3 and earlier is nearly exact to the 10.4 instructions. The major difference is that you do not have to enter a password or enable an account to share your user folder. Just check the checkbox for Windows Sharing and on the PC, enter your username and password.

The Other Methods:
This also can be done through CDs, DVDs, USB Flash Drives and USB/FireWire Hard Drives. You could also pay $50 for special software to do this for you. However, why spend all day burning CDs and DVDs and then transferring them? Portable Flash Drives are great if you have a tiny amount of files but for 50GB of music, pictures and movies, they aren’t efficient. Paying $50 for software you will probably only use once isn’t worthwhile.

The only alternative method that I would recommend is using a Portable USB or FireWire drive. They are fast and simple but what if you don’t have one? What if the PC doesn’t recognize it because it is formatted for OS X? Everyone with a broadband connection has an ethernet cable, it comes with the DSL/Cable modem. Just connect the two machines with that cable and follow the above instructions. If you have a wireless set up or a wired router, its even easier.

My Observations:
In my experience, Method #1 has always been the easiest for Mac/PC Transfers. Just enable the “Allow network users to change my files” checkbox and you can send files to the PC from the Mac. With this checked, you can also remotely erase files. There’s no trash can – files are immediately deleted, so be careful. Also, Method #2 can be followed to transfer files between two Macs if you need to do this.

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