Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ncrlnk!ncrcae!hubcap!gatech!bloom-beacon!bu-cs!dartvax!eleazar.dartmouth.edu!earleh
From: earleh@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Earle R. Horton)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Transferring Files between Macs over AppleTalk: possible?
Keywords: Several solutions discussed, none AppleTalk.
Message-ID: <10922@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>
Date: 15 Nov 88 17:21:26 GMT
References: <782@tank.uchicago.edu>
Sender: news@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU
Reply-To: earleh@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Earle R. Horton)
Organization: Thayer School of Engineering
Lines: 57

In article <782@tank.uchicago.edu> gsbrob1@apcvxa.uchicago.edu writes:
>
>There's a fellow here who has bought a new Mac with an internal hard disk and
>he wants to transfer files from his old Mac, which also has an internal hard
>disk.  He wants to move the files from the old HD to the new one. Short of
>actually swapping HD's, he wants to know if there's any way to do this without
>transferring the files to another medium, such as floppies.  Specifically he
>wanted to know if it were possible to just send the files over AppleTalk.  Does
>any PD program exist which will do this?  Or is there another way?
>
Several methods exist which I know of, and probably several more of
which I am unaware.  If you have a serial terminal emulator, such as
MacTerminal, VersaTerm, or FreeTerm, which supports one of the binary
Macintosh file transfer protocols, then you can connect the two Macs
together using a "Mac-to-Mac" cable and send the files that way.  Set
the communications speed to the fastest one the program is capable of.
I believe FreeTerm allows 56700 baud, but I have not tried this.
Newer versions of VersaTerm allow one to send all the files in a
folder when doing uploads, and probably other programs exist with this
feature.  The serial method would be slower than AppleTalk, but if you
can transfer a whole folder at once, then the transfer can take place
while you eat lunch, or sleep.

MacKermit, which is PD, can also be used to transfer files from Mac to
Mac, and is capable of batch operation, but it does not handle most
Macintosh file types well.  Its chief utility is for transfering files
which are all of the same "type," e.g. a whole folder full of text
files.  Specifically, any "one-fork" file can be transferred using
MacKermit, but if the type is not 'TEXT' then you have to manually set
the type at the destination.  Hint:  Convert the files to Stuffit or
Tar archives before transferring, then de-archive at the destination
Mac.

The preferred method around here requires that you be able to borrow a
tape drive:  Just copy all the files to a tape, which you read back
into the second Mac.  Experience indicates to me that this is the
fastest method, and you get a backup of all your files if you elect to
keep the tape when you are done.

The floppy method is definitely the most cumbersome to use, but don't
sell it short.  If you keep the floppies, and store them in a safe
place when you are done, then you get a backup of your files which you
can use at any time.  Assuming you are forced to use floppies, then
there are programs which can reduce the time you spend transfering
files, by compressing the files for you.  MacCompress is a PD program
which can be used to compress all the files on a hard disk, then
decompress when you have the files moved to the new disk.  It restores
all Macintosh file attributes.  Typical compression ratios are very
roughly 50%, but some files compress a lot more (or a lot less) than
this.

A PD, ShareWare, or cheap Mac-to-Mac file fransfer program using
AppleTalk sounds like it would be a hot item.  I am surprised no one
has written one yet.  (Or maybe someone has.)
Earle R. Horton. 23 Fletcher Circle, Hanover, NH 03755
(603) 643-4109
Sorry, no fancy stuff, since this program limits my .signature to three