Get the Stuff Moved Over!

While applications that run on a PC won’t install and run on a Mac, files themselves are portable and need no conversion.

Migrations of most file types, including Microsoft Office files (.doc, .xls), are completely transparent, assuming in this case you have Office on your Mac. If you don’t, you’ll need to re-purchase the Mac version of Office because the version for Windows will not run on Macs unless you run it inside Virtual PC.

The same logic holds true with Adobe products’ files, like Illustrator and Photoshop, and also with Macromedia, Quark, Quicken and most other bi-platform software titles. Most appications function the same on Macs as they do on PCs, with some having minor differences.

File Migration in Practice

I recommend emailing files to yourself, if they’re under 10MB. Zip into one bundle first to save time. If they’re larger than 10MB, your best bet is a USB jump drive/flash drive, or burning CDR or DVR discs. Neither PCs nor Macs have much difficulty reading and writing these common formats.

Networking PC to Mac I’d save for situations where all other avenues prove impractical. I’d try to ferry data via external USB hard drive before a direct or network connection, but if you’re willing to try the machine-to-machine connection here’s the How To from Apple’s site:

1. Connect your Mac to your PC using a standard Ethernet cable.
2. Make sure that both computers are turned on.
3. In the Finder on your Mac, choose Connect to Server from the Go menu to open the window.
4. Type your PC’s network address in the Server Address text box using one of these formats:
   • smb://DNSname/ShareName
   • smb://IPaddress/ShareName
5. Click Connect.
6. Follow the onscreen instructions to enter your PC’s workgroup name, user name, password, and the volume or folder you wish to access.
7. Your PC volume should appear on your Mac Desktop.
8. Open the volume and drag and drop files directly from it to anywhere on your Mac.
9. When finished, drag your PC volume to the Trash to unmount it.

And here’s the networking How To from Apple.com:

1. Make sure that both computers are turned on and connected to the Internet.
2. In the Finder on your Mac, choose Connect to Server from the Go menu to open the window.
3. Type your PC’s network address in the Server Address text box using this format: smb://ServerName/ShareName, or select the name of your PC in this window (if it appears).
4. Click Connect.
5. Enter your PC’s workgroup name, your user name, and your password when prompted, then select the volume or folder you wish to access.
6. Your PC volume should appear on your Mac Desktop.
7. Open the volume and drag and drop files directly from it to anywhere on your Mac.
8. When finished, drag your PC volume to the Trash to unmount it.

Migrating Mail

I don’t have the 10 years it would take to go over every email migration/setup scenario, so I’ll give you links to Apple’s site for How to import email into Mail 2.0, Setting up Mail 2.0 and Transferring your address book from a Windows computer.

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