windows to mac

<p>I made the change from windows to mac and boy am I struggling.....<br>

I have scoured the net and just cannot find an answer.<br>

Can anyone tell me in "dummies language" how I can transfer my photographs from an external pc hard drive to my mac or mac time capsule?<br>

</p>

<p>if the external drive is USB, then you can simply plug it into the Mac. It will recognize it and it should put it's icon on the Desktop (it may not though because of Finder Preferences). At that point, you can just click-n-drag.</p>

<p>What exact issue/problem are you facing?</p>

<p>The important thing with the entire process in using the Mac is to not think.<br />Let the Mac do the thinking for you, you should just do as it says. <br />Not much more to it. Rather straight forward, no brainer way of computing. Enjoy!<br>

Once you "let go", its a smoother process.</p>

<p>Thanks for your quick responses.. Now this may sound a bit of a silly question but... just where should i "click n drag" to??<br>

I have only had the imac a couple of days and the apple time capsule is sitting on my computer desk not set up yet. I was hoping to learn a little about basic operations first. My plan is to eventually use the time capsule for photo storage only. I have been able to open my files from the windows external drive and even play about in photoshop cc on the mac. But I am sure you are aware that I cannot save any work carried out on cc. </p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>just where should i "click n drag" to??</p>

</blockquote>

<p>You can click from drive location and drag to other drive location and let go. </p>

<p>you do not want to use the Time Capsule (Time Machine) as your 'photo storage'. It is not designed for longterm permanent storage but rather 'oh cr@p, I just deleted xyz and I need to get it back' kind of backup.</p>

<p>I'm not clear as to why you believe you cannot save anything using PS CC.</p>

<p>Lets say you plugged in the external drive via USB or Firewire, or Esata..</p>

<p>you should have a new drive icon letter show up in the folders/Finder window. From here you should be able to copy and move.</p>

<p>Worry about the "time machine" later, that's as Howard suggests, a separate issue relating to backing up your files.</p>

<p>Once you've got your Windows external hard drive hooked up to your mac by USB or other connection, you can simply select the files you want to copy and drag them over to your Macintosh hard drive or to a folder on it.<br /> You may want to make the 'base level' Mac HD icon show up/visible on the desktop using the sidebar to your base-level window. The Mac HD will be under "devices" in the side bar along with your external drive, but you can drag the icons for them to "desktop" if you wish and if they aren't already showing up there.</p>

<p>By the way, a drive formatted for Windows should work well enough on your Mac as an external drive. There are arguments for reformatting to a 'native' system, but you can worry about that tomorrow (as Miss Scarlett would say). Macs have to live in a Windows world, but Windows doesn't give a 'carp' about the other way around.</p>

<p>The hardest thing for Window users coming over to the Mac is learning 'not to [over]think' the process as Phil says. You have to think about the files as objects on a desktop or in a folder. The same hierarchies are there underneath as on Windows, but on Windows they are much closer to the 'surface' of the OS.</p>

<p>Once you adjust to the subtle, but very real, differences between Windows and Mac you'll find it second nature. For many of us it is a very liberating feeling.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>If you bought it new, just call Apple and they will walk you through it. That is what I had to do. It was difficult, since I am not a computer guru:)<br /><br />Sidenote- I also suggest getting the 3 year Apple Care warranty if your able to. It comes in very handy for tech support after making the switch. Plus, it is nice to have your Mac under warranty. My first iMac had problems with the LCD Panel (Looked like a water stain running from the top to the bottom of the screen) and other issues. <br /><br />When I brought it in to get fixed, I was surprised when the tech told me that I also had a virus! I still had problems with the panel and other issues after it was fixed. Apple support was super and ended up giving me a new, larger size iMac at no extra cost. It is about a year and a half old and I am seeing the water stain on the new iMac's LCD Panel. A little disappointed that this is happening again, but as I have mentioned in the past on other threads, I seem to have bad luck when buying camera gear and computers. Fortunately, I am still under warranty. The first Panel was a little over $700 for the panel, not including labor.</p>

<p>You can drag you photos from your PC onto a USB thumb drive then just drag them from there to wherever you want to put them on your mac. It shouldn't be hard. Just depends on how many you have and how large your USB drive is. I wouldn't put them on your time capsule, its is for a different purpose than long term data storage. An external drive is better for data like photos.</p>

<p>Howard: I cannot save because I believe the external drive is formatted for pc and not mac.<br>

Thanks to the rest of you people for your responses. At present i am working away and making progress. <br>

But it is almost sure that I will have some more questions. The great thing about PN is that many of us do respond to "dummies" like me.<br>

thanks a lot </p>

 

<p>If you are using an Apple mouse or trackpad you may find 'right clicking' a challenge. I do still and have used a mac for years. I use a trackpad and trackball together, the latter having a right button. Makes creating a new folder up on the desktop much easier! If you have an old USB mouse you can plug it into your mac. Then right click and see how useful it is for you. You do not need a Mac for Dummies book. Hang on in there and you will be fine. If you were able to work with the original Windows 8 you will soon learn OS X.</p>

<p>First off, why do you feel you <em>need</em> to transfer the photos off of the external drive? The Mac will work just fine with the external drive storing the photos, even if it is formatted for a PC. Depending on exactly which Mac you have, you may have one or more of the following ports available (dates are approximate):</p>

 

<ul>

<li>USB1 (If your Mac was built before about 2002)</li>

<li>USB2 (2003-2011)</li>

<li>USB3 (2012-)</li>

<li>FireWire (AKA IEEE 1394) 400 and/or FireWire 800 (-2010)</li>

<li>Thunderbolt (2011-)</li>

</ul>

<p>Your PC drive is most likely one of the USB flavors.</p>

<p>These days, it is most often better to store your work on external drives, and preferably more than one (for redundancy in case of a drive failure).</p>

<p>If you still feel you need to pull the photos off the PC drive (perhaps the drive is needed back with the PC system), and you have a 2012 or newer Mac, I would suggest buying an external drive with either USB3 or Thunderbolt, transferring your work to that drive, and going forward with that.</p>

<p>I use Apple's Aperture for my photos, and they are stored on 4 separate drives connected via either Thunderbolt or USB3. No photos are stored in the Mac.</p>

 

<p>If your external drive is NTFS, then you can read your files, but probably not right to the drive immediately. You have to enable this either through a Terminal function or a 3rd party program, like Tuxera or Paragon. Google, "can mac mavericks read ntfs" and you'll get a slew of resources. But, it might be easier, if you have the space, to copy everything to your iMac, reformat the external drive to HFS+ using the Disk Utility and put everything back.</p>

<p>thanks again for your responses. be assured everything is being read and digested.<br>

Things are progressing for me and i really appreciate all the advice </p>

<p> </p>

<p>Brian, I understand what you are going through. I went that road a few months ago. It took me a few days to figure out how Apple machine "thinks". Since then, I would not backtrack.<br>

Hold tight, light is coming... :)) </p>

<p>Brian - what you are most likely struggling with is the concept of the Finder. On the PC you go to Start and you launch Windows Explorer (pick any number of ways in which to do that). This then shows you folders under C:\ .<br>

In the Finder in the Mac you won't see a C:\ drive with a list of folders. What you will see is groupings such as Favorites, Devices, Shared, Places. One of these should be the name of your computer with an icon that looks like a little house. On the Devices list you would see your external drive. If you click on your external drive you will see folders as you would in a PC. If you click the icon with your computers name you will see folders.<br>

To complicate matters, it is not intuitive to open 2 Finder windows. If you click the Finder icon it just goes to the Finder display already open. Click Command - N to open two Finder displays. With 2 Finders open you can drag from the External to your Mac. The folders can go anywhere, but by putting them in the Pictures folder iPhoto has an easier time finding (I know lots of finding going on) them.</p>

<p>There is software that will let you write to the PC-formatted drive.<br>

Apple has a lot of tutorials online, that I found very helpful when I started. Look under Support at apple.com. Also, AppleCare is great, call them. And your local Apple Store will have free classes. Also, if you did not purchase One on One, it's worth it! Good luck.</p>

<p>just where should i "click n drag" to??<br>

I burst to laughs. Not because you, because of me, when 20 years ago I swished from PC to MAC.<br>

First, I get to use to the complicated file managing system and other many tricks on the PC, and very often, calling my compute technician friend to help me, having problem with the computer.<br>

The I got my first MAC. Vistek. They come out to my place to set up the computer with the printer and the film scanner, flatbed scanner, then, have a nice day. First days, keep calling them, how to do this, haw to do that, and always, it vas so simple, I didn't believe it. Lots of embarrassment, because I was looking a real dummy. Thinking about with the PC mind, it was hard to believe things is so simple and strait forward.<br>

I had my first Mac 15-17 years ago. The second, 5-8 years ago. I never needed the computer technician anymore, the guy is starving, and both computer still working without any hiccups. And I never learned anything of computer, and now I am totally dummy for computers. But, happily using all the program what ever I using ever after. Installing hardware, ( external internal HD ) downloading (witch was a nightmare for me on the PC) upgrade, or what ever, managing workflow, files etc it is so easy, even the most uneducated of computer can do it, on the MAC. </p>

<p>Phil has it right. With Mac the answer is simple and always on the screen.</p>

<p>Ja ja… things are turning out not be be as complicated as I first reported … A little bit of patience, reading all the comments here, a little net surfing and I feel I have "turned the corner". <br>

I do find it strange though that the apple store did not tell me that I could have 1 hour in their store classroom and unlimited free telephone calls to their helpdesk for 90 days after the purchase of the machine. </p>