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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Osx 10.3.9 & a Winxp Pc External Fw Hard Disk

djil - Jul 6, 2005 - 6:15 pm

Problem: I have a colleague who sent me some work files on an external WinXP PC formatted hard disk. Connected via FireWire, the disk mounts, but i cannot access our work files!?

What is happening: i have an "untitled" disk on the desktop, it is accessible but only seems to contain an "autorun.inf" file. The work files that i am interested in are there but neither visible nor accessible: when i check the disk info, i 'see' that there is about 60 gigs of content, that i can't access :-(

Of course all this is super urgent, since we have to deliver the project by Monday, and i need to access the work files to integrate them with the rest of the stuff i have... Urgh, this is freaky...

My config: a small but efficient powerbook 12"/1,33Ghz G4/768 M RAM, w/OSX 10.3.9
The external hard disk is a Maxtor OneTouch II, 300 gigs, that was formatted under WinXP (probably NTFS, although we are not sure...)

Question: is there anything i can do to access those work files, in order to copy them on my HFS+ formatted hard disk (also a Maxtor OneTouch II)??

Note: i obviously do not wish to reformat the hard-disk, because then the files would be lost, and i do not have VPC, nor a PC for that matter (so i can't connect via a network or anything)

Thanx for anything you can do to help me out

amrcnidt961 - Jul 6, 2005 - 7:15 pm

paste this into an applescript and try looking on the drive again:

tell application "Finder" to quit
display dialog "Show Hidden Files..." buttons {"ON", "OFF"} ¬
default button 3
copy the result as list to {buttonpressed}

try
if the buttonpressed is "OFF" then do shell script ¬
"defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles OFF"
if the buttonpressed is "ON" then do shell script ¬
"defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles ON"
end try

tell application "Finder" to launch



it's a simple little applscript and it'll show hidden files if you select "ON". Run it again and click "OFF" to hide them again.

djil - Jul 8, 2005 - 9:58 pm

Joey, thanks for your idea, but it does not work.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
Chronology of events
- - - - - - - - - - - -

I launched Applescript, cut/pasted your script, compiled it (no problem), and ran it. The Finder disappeared, but immediately after, I got this message:
"Applescript Error Parameter error."

I relaunched the Finder, in order to see the desktop again (mainly to stop freaking out).

I checked the Event Log History and found this:
tell application "Finder"
quit
end tell
tell current application
display dialog "Show Hidden Files..." buttons {"ON", "OFF"} default button 3
"Parameter error."

I changed the "3" to "1" and recompiled the script (no problem). I ran it again and this time it worked: The MacOSX invisible files appear :-)

However, on the PC disk, nothing has changed... It is the same thing when you put a hybrid PC/MAC CD: apparently impossible to access the PC information... urgh, there HAS to be a way, since the files ARE there...

I ran the script again to hide the invisible files again.

- - - - -
Any other idea?

Thanx

amrcnidt961 - Jul 8, 2005 - 10:37 pm

yea, i forgot about that error. i had to fix it too, sorry. well....hmmm this one's a thinker. Can the disk hook up via USB as well? Try that, because it might treat it as a mass storage device and that shoud be cool beans down the line.

Other than that I would do some research and find the most compatible format and then do the following:
1. Borrow a neighbor's PC
2. Connect the drive to the PC on a network.
3. Share it. (Right click on it and go to sharing... and then select "share this disk" or whatever)
4. Copy all files on it from your mac (or to the desktop of the PC and then to the mac, if you still can't read files on the disk from the mac)
5. Format the disk to the format you found best
6. Make sure Mac OS And Windows can read it
7. Copy all files back

djil - Jul 9, 2005 - 2:14 am

Hey Joey,

Tried the USB connection, but same result :-(

Guess you're right about the PC approach, so i'll do just that, plug into a PC get the files backed up and then format it iin FAT32 or something...

Urgh! Damn Windows and it's proprietary approach

Thanx for your time and consideration ;-)

[ peace ]

amrcnidt961 - Jul 9, 2005 - 1:33 pm

I can't think of anything else, but if you solve the problem on a PC somewhere, let me know and then I'll close the ticket.

djil - Jul 10, 2005 - 12:39 pm

you can close the tickets, I did a file tranfer via a PC/MAC LAN, it took some time but it's done!

Thanx