How do I share files with Windows users?
To share files between Mac and Windows computers, these days it is often easiest to email the file (if it's under 10MB.) You can also use an online service like Apple's Mobile Me ($99/year), Dropbox (2GB free), Box.net (5GB free), MediaFire (200MB free), Google Docs (for most document types), or one of the hundreds of other online file storage alternatives.
If you want to use a disc or USB flash drive, you’ll have almost no trouble. Mac OS X inherently recognizes most PC discs and flash drives. It has even adopted PC-style filename extensions (which we thought we had escaped from). Be sure the file uses the appropriate extension (such as .doc) or else you’ll have difficulty on the Windows end.
A CD or DVD burned in Mac OS X is, by default, cross platform. Also, Macs can read CDs burned on Windows PCs, as well as Windows floppy disks (but who uses floppies anymore?) Both Macs and PCs can read and write to most USB flash drives up to 32GB, which come formatted as FAT32 (Apple calls it MS-DOS). However, a few file names may be shortened or modified when copied to FAT32/MS-DOS disks and you’ll see a bunch of small duplicate ghost files on the PC side.
Published March 24, 2009 12:00 PM
Last modified on December 29, 2010 8:15 PM
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