* Dr. Internet columnist Steve Blass discusses how to transfer Mac OS X external USB drive to Windows machine * Help Desk columnist Ron Nutter discusses how to set up a wireless network without an Internet connection
* How to transfer Mac OS X external USB drive to Windows machine
By Steve Blass
Q: I have an external USB drive formatted for Mac OS X with 200GB of data that I need to transfer to a Windows machine. Windows can’t read the Mac-formatted drive. We thought about reformatting the drive using the Windows FAT file system but many of the files to be shared are too large. NTFS won’t work because the Mac can’t write to it. Is there a way to read the Mac OS X journaled file system disk from the Windows machine?
A: The program MacDrive is a Windows program that enables your Windows PC to read and write to Mac OS X disk drive formats. MacDisk is a similar Windows utility for reading and writing to and from Mac-formatted disks.
To read Steve’s response in its entirety, please click here.
* Setting up a wireless network without an Internet connection
By Ron Nutter
Q: I’m helping out a friend who owns a small business. He has Microsoft 2003 Server and all of the networking has been set up. He has about 6 PCs connected to the server and several NetGear routers with a Linksys port switch. He wants to go wireless. How or where would the wireless router plug into since there’s no modem? Most wireless routers require you to plug the Internet into the wireless router, then the wireless router into the server. Does that still apply here?
A: You can go wireless without having a modem in place. The WAN connection, which is where you would normally connect to a cable or DSL modem, can plug into the existing network that is in place. Depending on the firewall functionality that is in the wireless router, you may run into a problem talking to the Microsoft server. If that is the case, ylook for an option that changes the wireless router into an access point – or see what ports need to be opened up in the router to allow the Microsoft traffic through. Another option is to use a wireless access point which will have no firewall functionality that you will have to deal with.
To read Ron’s response in its entirety, please click here.
