Suggestion for photo transfer from Dell to iMAC (Page 2): The problem with purchasing external drives from an Apple store is they are preprogrammed with the OSX journaled format. You...

jethro779 Loc: Tucson, AZ

Franku wrote:

I purchased a 2 terabyte external drive at the Apple Store and it does not allow me to download from the Dell.

The problem with purchasing external drives from an Apple store is they are preprogrammed with the OSX journaled format. You need a drive formatted in exfat 32 to be able to go from PC to OSX the Apple operating system. Also to reformat using Apple's OS, open Disk Utility and erase and reformat your drive.

blackest Loc: Ireland

Franku wrote:

I purchased a 2 terabyte external drive at the Apple Store and it does not allow me to download from the Dell.

If the dell isn't running windows 10 then this page should be of interest.

http://www.paragon-software.com/free/index.html

or more specifically

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/hfs-windows-free/

If your pc runs windows 10 you will need the latest version which is $20
or you can get the ntfs driver for OSX el Capitan bundled with it for $30.

Your 2 TB drive is likely formatted hfs+ and that driver will allow windows to read and write to it.

I use Paragon's products all the time, they are very useful.
The first link has a lot of useful free products. Well worth looking into.

blackest Loc: Ireland

vicksart wrote:

I was getting ready to post this very same question, so I look forward to reading the suggestions. I would only add that I'm wondering whether it can be done directly with a USB cable or do you need to download on some other memory source and make the transfer from that?

If you were to use a usb to usb cable it needs to be a special bridged cable , this has a small electronic circuit inside.

Directly wiring two computers together with a cable with just 2 USB A connectors will likely fry one or both computers usb ports at best. You would probably find one somewhere, there are chinese companies which make totally useless cables.

There are several ways to share or send data between computers of every type. Over a network is one option but sharing a hard drive is maybe the simplest option. provided it's in a format both systems can read.

Terrymac Loc: LONDON U.K.

Trix, thank you very much for the info.

blackest Loc: Ireland

TriX wrote:

Format the drive as Fat32 - that file system can be read by either machine.

It would work provided you don't ever write a file larger than 4 GB or want to format a drive greater than 2TB. or create a file path deeper than 255 characters long.

Fat32 is not that great a file system, even microsoft favours ntfs over fat32.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

blackest wrote:

It would work provided you don't ever write a file larger than 4 GB or want to format a drive greater than 2TB. or create a file path deeper than 255 characters long.

Fat32 is not that great a file system, even microsoft favours ntfs over fat32.

Absolutely agree on limitations (although realistically, the max HD size is the only likely one - I suppose you could partition a larger drive into 2 TB partitions), but only common FS I know will work for both, but open to better ideas...

blackest Loc: Ireland

TriX wrote:

Absolutely agree on limitations (although realistically, the max HD size is the only likely one - I suppose you could partition a larger drive into 2 TB partitions), but only common FS I know will work for both, but open to better ideas...

Well I posted the links to Paragons site, honestly very good programmers. I have never had a problem with their file system drivers. They all have worked transparently once installed.

They are more than fair making the yosemite (and earlier) ntfs driver and the windows 8.1 (and earlier) hfs+ driver free. Even the pricing for the windows 10 and el capitan versions is $30 for both or $20 each. For the sake of 5 minutes to download and install it is worth it I think there are trial versions for windows 10 and el capitan if you need them.

I can't recommend them any higher, they even do a vmdk driver.

if you run virtual machines at all its a bit of a pain if you need a file on a virtual drive normally you would have to boot up the virtual machine and remember to set up a shared folder between the guest os and the host os with the vmdk driver you just mount the disk image and proceed as normal just as if it was a DMG or iso file.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Franku wrote:

I purchased a 2 terabyte external drive at the Apple Store and it does not allow me to download from the Dell.

It must be something other than USB. God forbid Apple follows readily established standards. Find yourself a Western Digital Passport with enough storage space to handle all your files. See:

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201553

If you have Adobe Lightroom, export everything to a new catalog and then import into your iOS device's Lightroom. If you are doing just a straight file copy, drag and drop from wherever the files are on the Windows PC, then repeat the process with whatever file manipulation utility iOS has. File size will not be affected by the transfer.

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

Franku wrote:

What is the best way to transfer and retain picture quality and size from my Dell to my iMAC?
I have years of photos on the Dell and would like to keep them in tact.

I get an external drive and copy the entire photo folder structure to it then (if you are using Lightroom) let Lightroom import the structure into the new computer, using secondary (external or D: drive or a network drive) as the target. This would be a good opportunity to create and use a network drive as your primary storage drive for photos, whether you are using Lightroom or some other photo processing software. Then you will be able to easily expand your storage and setup your backup / safety routine using external drives to get copies of your images offsite.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Franku wrote:

I purchased a 2 terabyte external drive at the Apple Store and it does not allow me to download from the Dell.

Isn't that annoying? I have a few external drives, large and small, and it took several attempts to get one to work with both Dell and Mac. I used the same procedures with each drive, and from what I recall, one would work only on the Mac, one on the Dell, and one on both. Luckily, one was all I needed.

http://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=use%20an%20external%20drive%20on%20windows%20and%20mac

sumo Loc: Houston suburb

When I went from an HP to a MAC I had the Apple Store move it all for me

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Franku wrote:

What is the best way to transfer and retain picture quality and size from my Dell to my iMAC?
I have years of photos on the Dell and would like to keep them in tact.

Once you decide where you want to store them, the easiest way is Remote Desktop Connection.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn473012.aspx

--Bob

zigipha Loc: north nj

if its a one-time thing, get a drop box account
1. copy files from dell to dropbox
2. copy files from dropbox to mac

or gdrive, or onedrive or idrive, etc...all have free versions.

BatManPete Loc: Way Up North!

this works with ALL OF YOUR DEVICES! Android, iPhone, iPad, Kindle Fire and even your Mac or Windows 8 or 10 computer!
[B]== LINK \/ \/ \/
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#label/World+Start+Tips/1540ff8505952bd1[\B]
===
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Youll never have to dump, toss, or throw away any of your memories. Youll NEVER have to pay for extra storage!
==

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Franku wrote:

What is the best way to transfer and retain picture quality and size from my Dell to my iMAC?
I have years of photos on the Dell and would like to keep them in tact.

Apple's definitive answer for migrating ALL your stuff from a PC:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204087

Use an Ethernet cable. And NO, it does not have to be a crossover cable. You are connecting to an auto-sensing port on the Mac, which figures out what to do with the standard cable.