My PC's motherboard died on me so now I am relying on the Mac desktop. However, I have tons of JPEG files stored on two external drives(PC formatted). Is there a way for me to access those JPEG files using my Playbook? The Playbook supplied USB cable will not fit into either of the two external drive ports.
Nope it won't. At least not until the OS is updated to include USB host support.
Speaking of which, is host support enabled on the Z10?
You may be able to do something using your Mac as a link. I don't know ANYTHING about Macs, but can you plug your external disk into your Mac and read the files?
If so then you should be able to copy them across, and then on to your Playbook. If not, I guess you'll have to borrow someones PC or laptop to get the job done.
I'm assuming those external drives are formatted as NTFS. On the Mac, you could enable File Sharing in System Preferences. Click Options, click Share files and folders using SMB (Windows). Click + to add those drives.
You can then use ES File Explorer on the Playbook to browse the file share. Too bad about the lack of USB Host support. I use it sometimes on Android and Symbian but I can't read NTFS-formatted drives on those devices either, only FAT32.
Apparently not, no.
That's not good. I really thought BB10 would have USB Host support enabled as the settings are already in the PB OS but not enabled.
Any good reason why it's not yet working on BB10 given the time they've had to work on it?
No idea, it worked on the Dev Alpha devices (as in, it was enabled). I cannot fathom why they would not enable it on the Z10. Hopefully it will be enabled for the PB (perhaps by the time BB10 reaches the PB, an update for the Z10 will have enabled it there as well).
I have transferred JPEG files from my computer to my PlayBook without problems and the photos open so I would say it should work.
Yeah, you will have to share the drives on a wifi network to access them on the PB. Some routers allow you to connect external drives to them.
I got my NTSF hard rive recognized on my mini mac, but I've run into two issues:
1. Can't transfer files from the hd to the mac (I was trying to move music files, mostly mpegs), althuogh I can transfer to/from PB through the mini mac no problem;
2. Videos that were shot on m,y PB don't show up in the video folder of my PB on the mac. Do I need to alter the files on the PB somehow?
That's because they get saved to your Camera folder, not the Videos folder.
And there they are! Thanks for the assist.
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Your response #1: do you mean that it is "read only?" That's not going to help me on the Mac. Can you clarify on this?
I read about the software Parallel which allows the Mac to open Windows files, but you have to buy the Windows software and provide a Windows "key" to Parallel in order for it to work. And the windows software must not be already installed in a computer. In other words, you cannot even go out and buy a basic PC with Windows software installed so as to make it work with Parallel.
1. Default NTFS support on the Mac is read-only. You can copy stuff from NTFS volumes to your Mac's own drive, but you can't copy or move stuff to NTFS volumes. There are read-write NTFS drivers out there (NTFS-3G) but they're not completely stable and any mishap can wipe out your NTFS volume. I'm not sure about Parallels, I use Virtualbox and it can't do read-write access on NTFS volumes even with a Windows virtual machine.
2. Videos shot on the PB are MP4 files in the /accounts/1000/shared/camera folder, which should show up as /media/camera if you have Wi-fi file sharing turned on.
I actually downloaded NTSF 3G, and it allows me to exchange data, but I have to remount the drive often. I think my best long term bet is to back up the files and reformat the drive for Mac.
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I don't think this answers my question. Transferring files from one's computer to the PB should not be a problem. Question was connection between external NTFS hard drive and Mac computer (or, indirectly, connection between external hard drive and PB)
[QUOTE=blueberrymerry;7997978]1. Default NTFS support on the Mac is read-only. You can copy stuff from NTFS volumes to your Mac's own drive, but you can't copy or move stuff to NTFS volumes.
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Can you clarify on your second sentence? Can I copy JPEG files from the NTFS formatted external drive to the Mac and then use the file to send as email attachments? Also, what if the files are RAW images? I realize I cannot send RAW images as email attachments, just wonder if RAW can be copied to the Mac.
What does "read only" mean? That you can only view it and not do anything else with such files? Would appreciate some clarification for this newbie.
[QUOTE=312Lorden;8002940]On the Mac, you can copy any files from NTFS volumes to the Mac's own drive, including JPEG and RAW files. However those NTFS volumes are read-only: you can read files from them but you can't copy files to them.
NTFS -> Mac = OK
NTFS <- Mac = Not possible
Mac -> PB = OK
Mac <- PB = OK
:)
I guess your best bet is to have some sort of NAS that can expose NTFS, HFS, Ext4 or whatever volumes via SMB or WebDAV. That way you can share your data with any device that can read the networked shares. Files & Folders and ES File Explorer can do this on the Playbook.
Thanks blueberrymerry. Let me make sure I understand you: I can copy files from the NTFS to my Mac, including JPEG and RAW. So far so good. But I do not understand the last part of this sentence " ...you can read files from them but you can't copy files to them," and then NTFS ->Mac = OK. So I can copy (saved) those files from the NTFS formatted drive and do post processing on the Mac or send them as email attachments from the Mac?
P.S. I just did some further research and came across this response (back in 2005) in another forum and i need confirmation that this is true:
"Mac OSX can only read files on an NTFS formatted external hard drive -- it cannot write files to such a drive [this I understand]. If you copy a file from an NTFS formatted drive to the internal hard drive of your Mac, there are absolutely no restrictions on what you can do to that copy of the file."
I purchased a new PC thinking that was my only solution, and if the above is correct I can return the PC, so I am under a time constraint to act. Thanks for your help.
So I can copy (saved) those files from the NTFS formatted drive and do post processing on the Mac or send them as email attachments from the Mac?
Indeed you can :) You can do whatever you want with those files once they're copied from the NTFS drive to the Mac's HFS drive. However you cannot copy anything back to the NTFS drive.
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Fantastic! You guys rock. Thanks a million.