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Use Ethernet Between Macs to Transfer?

powerbook911

powerbook911

macrumors 601
Original poster
Mar 15, 2005
4,008
393
Hi,

My Macs are on my wireless network, but if I want to transfer larger files I thought it would be nice to take advantage of full ethernet speeds.

Is it possible to transfer data between Macs, by connecting an ethernet cable directly between two Macs? I tried, but I didn't know what type of settings, or if it was even possible.

Yes, I know about Firewire Target Disk mode, but I don't want to shutdown one of the Macs.

Thanks for the help.
 
powerbook911 said:
Hi,
Yes, I know about Firewire Target Disk mode, but I don't want to shutdown one of the Macs.
Click to expand...


1. No crossover ethernet cable is necessary in Tiger (maybe also earlier, but I don't recall).

2. You can also setup networking between the macs using the firewire without doing the target mode. In Tiger if you go to the network settings under System Prefs, you can setup an ethernet-like connection using firewire. Depending on your computers, speeds should be better this way.
 
iBS23 said:
2. You can also setup networking between the macs using the firewire without doing the target mode. In Tiger if you go to the network settings under System Prefs, you can setup an ethernet-like connection using firewire. Depending on your computers, speeds should be better this way.
Click to expand...

I was just playing with this, and OS X seems very adaptive in how it does this. It seems that if you plug in the FW cable, it automatically switches to using that transfer mechanism. At least, the transfer rates seemed high for 802.11....
 
I thought the crossover cable thing was a hardware related thing i thought it had nothing to do with the software. At least in the PC world I know it's hardware so i expect it would be the same on the mac.
 
trainguy77 said:
I thought the crossover cable thing was a hardware related thing i thought it had nothing to do with the software. At least in the PC world I know it's hardware so i expect it would be the same on the mac.
Click to expand...

No, a number of people have said that the ehternet cards on macs know how to switch automatically, and so crossover cables are never necessary.
 
iBS23 said:
1. No crossover ethernet cable is necessary in Tiger (maybe also earlier, but I don't recall).
Click to expand...

Nope, no cross-over cable was ever required - Macs have the smarts hardwired in to flip the pinouts if necessary on a cable - it essentially does auto-detection and makes the cable work regardless. Yet another reason why Macs are so cool. :cool:
 
While Macs do have autosensing ethernet ports, it doesn't eliminate the annoyance of actually configuring two OS X Macs to talk to each other directly over ethernet. The last time I attempted it, I was suggested to mess with AppleTalk, and I couldn't be bothered. Use FireWire. Faster transfer rate, and zero configuration.
 
Make it easy for yourself. Connect via ethernet on both computers... go to system pref on both Macs... go to sharing... enable Personal File Sharing... and then open a window in Finder... click on network... find the other computer.... log on... and transfer files.

It's like a hop, skip, without having to jump. :D
 
Yeah it works.

My problem earlier was I needed to turn off file sharing and turn it back on again.

It also is picky about jumping back to my airport network as default, for the file sharing. Sometimes I seem to have to turn file sharing off and on again, for it to take the ethernet as default over my airport network.

Thanks for the help. At least I can do it, and it is a lot faster than the airport express.

:)

It sucks having two Macs now, for I'm constantly having to keep things up to date on each machine.

Even mail. What's up with the "Mail Accounts" setting in .mac sync? It doesn't seem to sync the mail. What does it do? I'm having to just sync mail by transferring things myself.
 
TLRedhawke said:
While Macs do have autosensing ethernet ports, it doesn't eliminate the annoyance of actually configuring two OS X Macs to talk to each other directly over ethernet.
Click to expand...

Annoyance? :confused:

System Preferences>Sharing>Enable Personal File Sharing

Finder>Network

Log onto other machine, do what you need to do. Done.

Piece of cake. :cool:

You must have been doing things the hard way. :p ;)
 
~Shard~ said:
System Preferences>Sharing>Enable Personal File Sharing
Click to expand...

Yes, I have yet to have the slightest idea how to use AppleTalk. :eek: ;) :D

Heh, I guess, if nothing else, if you suspect that a slower transfer method might be used, you should turn off all other transfer methods -- e.g. hook it up via FW or Ethernet and then turn off the airport card.

I dunno exactly what happened. When I transferred about 20-25 gigs of stuff from my iBook to my iMac, the sustained transfer rate wasn't quite what I expected for FW. It took longer than I would have expected based, for instance, on how long it took my iPod to fill. But it was also faster than Airport should have been. Hmmm....
 
mkrishnan said:
I dunno exactly what happened. When I transferred about 20-25 gigs of stuff from my iBook to my iMac, the sustained transfer rate wasn't quite what I expected for FW. It took longer than I would have expected based, for instance, on how long it took my iPod to fill. But it was also faster than Airport should have been. Hmmm....
Click to expand...

Ah, the fun of networking! ;) Who knows what really happens when those bits hit that "mysterious network cloud"... :D
 
Hi guys,

I also have this problem, i did the procedure, but when it comes to double clicking on the desired computer i want to browse, i am asked to enter a password.

I've never given it a password. I can't do anything without this password that i have never entered.

Why is this ?

Any help will be greatly appreciated...

Rich.
 
do you have OSX? Even if the machine is set to default login it will still have a password associated with the default account.

On the target machine (the one you're trying to access)
Check Sys Prefs > Accounts and enter a new password if necessary
 
OS X 10.3.9 on PowerBook and 10.3 on PowerMac.

Apparently both machines have a password, so i should set up an account on both with the same password?

My machine is set to auto login, and my admin password is not the correct password it is asking for... I'm really confused.

Rich.

frankblundt said:
do you have OSX? Even if the machine is set to default login it will still have a password associated with the default account.

On the target machine (the one you're trying to access)
Check Sys Prefs > Accounts and enter a new password if necessary
Click to expand...
 
you can have different passwords on each, but you'll need to enter the password for each when you're accessing it from the other (if that makes any sense).

you should be able to change the password directly in Accounts (unless your Prefs are locked in which case you need the Admin password to unlock them...

which, if you can't remember it, you may need to reset by booting from the System disc, and under one of the top menus, choose "reset passwords", pick the Admin account, and change it
 
network switch should be faster than network hubs, if you have many things plugged into a hub.
 
iBS23 said:
2. You can also setup networking between the macs using the firewire without doing the target mode. In Tiger if you go to the network settings under System Prefs, you can setup an ethernet-like connection using firewire. Depending on your computers, speeds should be better this way.
Click to expand...

Any further info on this? That's exactly what I'm looking to do.
 
I know my admin password, but it is not the correct password for access to the PowerMac and vice versa.

When on my PowerBook, i am prompted with a password to access the PowerMac over ethernet. There is a fresh install of 10.3 on the PowerMac and i've never set a password. The same for the PowerBook. I don't know if i'm making much sense, but it seems i need to reset some stuff right ?

I'm not home right now, but i will try tomorrow morning and probably be back here for help.

Rich.

frankblundt said:
you can have different passwords on each, but you'll need to enter the password for each when you're accessing it from the other (if that makes any sense).

you should be able to change the password directly in Accounts (unless your Prefs are locked in which case you need the Admin password to unlock them...

which, if you can't remember it, you may need to reset by booting from the System disc, and under one of the top menus, choose "reset passwords", pick the Admin account, and change it
Click to expand...
 
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