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Copying data folders from Mac OSX share to Windows (XP Pro) share

Hiya, I'm replacing an office of 6 Macs (OS X) to Windows XP - mainly for cost purposes. I've got the Entourage sorted with the aid of Emailchemy which I'd recommend. I need to copy the Mac Shared Folder over to the PC Shared folder but the Mac file syntax means the copy process bombs out.

I need a solution that enables me to copy over all at once (without the need for writing scripts as I'm rubbish at that! and don't have the patience!).

I'm happy to pay for 3rd party software (preferably that I can load onto the PCs I know inside out) - can anyone recommend a solution? There's only 10GB of data but the Macs only have USB1.0 so will take sometime and I don't want to inconvenience these guys!

Thanks in advance for your help.

(p.s. The XP machines are NTFS but I have an external hard disk with 32GB of free space on it)

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Lieven Embrechts

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SOLUTION

strung

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ljkal

ASKER

Just before I start browsing the above sites you've kindly sent, are these Windows Apps? I've started copying the entire Mac 'Shared folders' onto the FAT32 partition on the external hard disk so will use that to play with rather than risk screwing up the master copy (of which there is no back up!!!).

strung

I believe that the top link is a PC program and the bottom link is a Mac program.

ljkal

ASKER

Thanks. The top one is a bit pricey for the client... £300+ might get them pulling faces!.. :(

Lieven Embrechts

you can always put all your master files in a 'master' folder
and then duplicate that folder toa copy to play with.

It's better to clean the filenames on the mac because some characters are allowed on the mac and not on the windows file system, so you will not be able to even create that file on windows. (eg by unzipping).

strung

I thought it was $169 USD which would be about 150 GB Pounds.

strung

I thought it was $169 USD which would be about 105 GB Pounds. (sorry about the typo in the earler message)

Lieven Embrechts

Windows file names are more strict than Mac file names, therefore it can be neccesary to change a number of characters in the Mac file names before transferring to a windows file system.

There's more detail: depending on the applications involved (not listed), it cna become more complex :
- hidden mac files and stripping them (.ds_store)
- data and resource forks on the mac (and combining them)
- windows file extensions versus hidden mac type/creator codes (and mapping between them by mapping tables or with mime)

another great resource about this topic is http://www.macwindows.com/filetran.html

please let us know how far you get and if yo require further assistance.

ljkal

ASKER

Strung, actually yr right - my maths!!! Lieven, you have a good point about the file names issue though...

ljkal

ASKER

Lieven, which would you go with of your recommendations? Use Mac2FAT first? Also, will this 'unite' file types with their Windows associated suffixs? Or will users just have to guess? (ha ha ha - fun in the office!)...

ljkal

ASKER

Thanks for the help - just used a FAT32 partitioned hard disk to tranfser data from the Macs then to the NTFS PC. Much quicker and easier really!