Switching windows to mac

i currently use a windows computer. i want to get a macbook, but i've heard that switching an ipod from windows to mac (or vice versa) will kill your ipod. what can i do to prevent that and still keep all of my songs from my itunes? thank you!

A Mac can read, access, and sync to a Windows formatted iPod without problems. So you can either leave it in Windows format and use it as is on the Mac or reformat it on the Mac and make it Mac only, but keep in mind that Windows computers can not read Mac formatted volumes natively.
What you will want to do is use the iPod as an external drive and trasnfer your iTunes library from the Windows machine onto the new Macbook. Then you can either leave it in Windows format or reformat on the Mac.
How to use your iPod to move your music to a new computer using iTunes7
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300173
iPod: Frequently Asked Questions
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60920
Patrick

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I am writing to this forum to ask for help in determining whether Aperture will satisfy my needs when I switch from Windows to MAC in the near future.

I am writing to this forum to ask for help in determining whether Aperture will satisfy my needs when I switch from Windows to MAC in the near future.
I am currently using Photoshop Elements 8 on Windows 7. After several years of use, I am self taught and adequately proficient for an amateur. What I didn't realize (until I started researching my upcoming migration on the Internet) is that I actually use PE8 for two functions: digital asset management and digital editing.
Regarding Digital Asset Management: My research leads me to understand that PE on MAC does not provide the same level of organizational capability that I am used to having on Windows, instead providing Adobe's Bridge which does not look very robust. Furthermore, iPhoto, which come on MAC will not support the hierarchical keyword tagging that I require to organize my library of photos. The two SW applications which I am thinking of switching to are either Aperture or Adobe's Lightroom. Frankly, I'm thinking that it would be smoother to stay within the Apple product line.
So the remaining question is whether Aperture will support my digital editing needs. The tweaks that I do to my photos are not very complex (no, I do not want to put people's heads on other animal bodies). But could someone who uses Aperture tell me whether It will allow me to do the following kinds of edits?:
- If I have a photo where someone's face is too shadowed, can I lighten just that person's face, and leave the rest of the photo as-is?
- if I have a photo where the background is cluttered (eg, 2 people in front of the Parthenon which is undergoing renovation), can I remove just the construction cranes?
- Can it splice together several separate photos to give a panoramic?
If, once I get Aperture, I find that it cannot enable the kinds of editing that I do, I would probably get PE11 in the future. However, if people in this forum tell me that Aperture will definitely not support the kinds of editing which I've described in the previous paragraph, I would prefer to get PE11 with my initial configuration (since someone will be helping me with my migration).
Thanks in advance for your consideration and help!

I am concerned, however, about using a non-Apple Digital Asset Manager in OSX. I would really like to avoid integration problems. Is using PE11 to import and catalog my digital photos likely to cause conflicts?
Thanks for any insight on this
Amy,
Not so much conflicts as maybe a little less seamless integration with Apple software and perhaps some third-party software providers in the Mac App Store where some programs build in direct access to iPhoto and Aperture libraries for getting images into those programs easily. Typically, there is a manual command to go to Finder (think Windows Explorer) to browse folders.
One caution to mention however, is that the organization you set-up in PE Organizer is unlikely to transfer over to either iPhoto or Aperture if you decide to change at some point.
The only real stumbling block that I see in your opening comment is that you want hierarchical keywording (Kirby or Léonie can go into the details on keywording limitations as I stay at one level). If you can work with the keywording schemes of either iPhoto or Aperture, then using PE for your external editor (either program supports setting an external editor) would probably be ideal since you know PE well. This is the idea with the Mac App Store version of PE (editor with no organizer).
Note - I use Photoshop CS6 (full version) with Aperture and it works really well. The only downside is that Aperture has to make either a TIFF or PSD file to send to an external editor so that the original file is protected by not sending it to the pixel editor. While TIFF or PSD files protect the integrity of the image information without degrading it, they are typically much larger file sizes on disk than either RAW or JPEG files. Therefore, your library size (iPhoto or Aperture) will balloon quite a bit if you send a lot of files to external editors.
One other possibility for an external editor would be a program called Pixelmator. It is pretty similar to early versions of Photoshop, but built for Mac. Other than the panoramics you want, it will do most pixel editing that PE can do. It is not an organizer, so it is built to go with either iPhoto or Aperture. It does have differences in how you complete certain procedures, so there is bit of a learning curve when you are used to doing it the Adobe way.

Boot Camp, How to switch back to Mac OS X from Windows?

I successfully installed boot camp and Vista on my imac so I could watch netflix on my computer (other than that I have no use or patience for Vista or Windows). Now, I am in Windows Vista and am unable to switch back to Mac OS X. I have looked everywhere, including the Windows Help and Support and I can't see how to close Windows and get back to the good side.

Open the Control Panel, click on Startup Disk, and change the setting; this item will only appear if the Boot Camp drivers are installed. Alternatively, restart the computer with the X or Option keys held down; in the second case, select the Mac OS X system, push the button with the straight arrow, and change the startup disk from System Preferences afterwards.
(35215)

HT1533 How can I switch back to Mac OS X from Windows 7 Bootcamp?

I'm having problem switching back to Mac OS on my Macbook Air. It's currently running Windows 7 bootcamp without a Mac OS installed with it. I tried booting up on Mac OSX installer disc (Snow Leopard) on the external CDROM drive but it boots to Windows instead. I tried the Boot Camp Control Panel on Windows and Restart to Mac OS X but it could not find an OS X intalled and I tried changing the startup disc to the installation disc on the CDROM and restarted but still goes to Windows.
Please HELP!
Thank you.

The MBA did not ship with an OS on DVD because they don't have an optical drive. There are two kinds of OS disks - commercial release, which for Snow Leopard is 10.6.3 I believe, and machine specific. If your SL disk is gray it isn't going to boot your MBA because it isn't made for the MBA. If your SL disk has a cat on it look at what specific version it is. As I said, I think it is 10.6.3 and while I wasn't able to find out what specific OS version your MBA shipped with, I'm pretty sure it was a version later than 10.6.3 and if I'm right your disk isn't going to boot the computer. You'll need to either contact Apple for a valid replacement installer or find someone with a Mac who can make a valid installer on a USB drive or DVD.

Time changes when switching from Windows to Mac, vice versa

Hi,
I am using Bootcamp to run Windows XP SP2 on my macbook. When ever I switch from one to the other (mac to windows, vice versa) my time will always be incorrect. I have to restart the computer everytime to switch, but when ever I just reset and load into the same OS as before, my time is fine. Anyone know what is wrong? It's really annoying to have to change the time or think its a certain time and it being wrong.

Everyone gets that problem. Evidently Windows and Mac use a different reference point for the time, I think one uses Greenwich and the other local. On the Mac side you can go to System Prefs->Date & Time, and see if checking the box to "Set date & time automatically" fixes the problem.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

I have a licensed copy of Adobe Acrobat X Pro for Windows. I recently switched over to MAC OS and would like to move my Adobe X Pro over but the CD will not work for Mac OS? Can anyone assist me with this conversion? Best, James.

I have a licensed copy of Adobe Acrobat X Pro for Windows. I recently switched over to MAC OS and would like to move my Adobe X Pro over but the CD will not work for Mac OS? Can anyone assist me with this conversion?
Best,
James.

you cannot use your pc license to install on a mac. you would need a separate license (and serial number) for that.
adobe allows platform swaps, but only with the latest (xi) version, Order product | Platform, language swap
your option to use acrobat on a mac are to upgrade to acrobat pro xi and change platforms, use a windows emulator (parallels/boot camp etc) on your mac or swap with a third party.

Switching from Windows to Mac CS5 Master Collection

I have purchased CS5 Mastercollection for windows. However I have switched my machine from a windows to Mac. I need to re install the Program over to the mac system. I am unable to download the CS5 master collection as it is no longer available on adobe website. How do I go about it?
Thank you for your help.

Welcome to the forum.
Normally, when one changed platforms with Ps, Adobe called that a "cross-grade," and the price to do so was about equal to the "upgrade price." As Ps CS 6 is sort of in limbo, since the release of the CC (Creative Cloud) subscription license model, I am not sure what Adobe is doing about upgrades, or cross-grades, and from CS 5.
With the CC model, there is no platform differentiation, regarding the license - one can use Ps CC on either a Mac, or PC (or one-each). Not so with the perpetual license of Ps CS 6.
I would contact Adobe Customer Support and inquire what your upgrade/cross-grade path might be. It could well be that the best "deal" would be the CC license.
Good luck,
Hunt

Switching from Windows to Mac - Drive Compatibility

I'm finally getting back to Mac after a 15 year break using Windows.
My question relates to all my existing files. I have an external drive that I store all of my data on. It includes my ITUNES files, my photos etc. The drive actually hangs off of my Airport Extreme N Router.
When I get my MAC, will I be able to access those files? Will this be read/write? Even if it is just once so that I can copy them off of my external drive and onto my new Mac harddrive? Sorry, being in the Windows world I'm hung up on always thinking that things are incompatible. Is the drive formatted in a way that I can access?
I plan to use Boot Camp and/or Parellels as well - a couple of nagging work applications with no Mac version. When running Windows, will I still be able to access files from that drive as well? For instance, if I continue to run Windows Office while in the Windows environment, can I read/write files to that drive still without disturbing files that the Mac OS and applications will be accessing? Or will the drive be eitehr pure "windows or mac" ?
I'd still like the external drive to be accessable from the other Windows machine in the house as well until I switch that one out....can that happen?
What about my Apple TV which I haven't installed yet. Will it be able to access my photo files, etc. on this drive?
This is my last hold up to switching. I just dont want to dive in and find myself without any of my old data.
I know the answer is probably easier to explain than I'm asking. I just can't get my head wrapped around this for some reason. Thanks in advance.
Summary:
One Windows Machine that uses External Drive for all data storage - replacing with Mac
One Windows Machine that uses External Drive for backups
External Drive hanging off of AEN router.
Apple TV - to be installed

Hello Atlantax,
I can't answer all of your questions, but some.
my photos etc.
Yes. As you know, all files are associated in Windows by their extension. With OS X, the Mac is also now like this. Though it does double up with the older Type/Creator codes of OS 9 and earlier. So all you your .jpg, .tif, .eps, .ai and other formats will all be easily recognized by your Mac counterpart applications like Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark, etc.
Not that it will be perfect. On the Mac, while all .eps files for example, like Windows, have the same extension no matter which app created them, the Mac also assigns Type/Creator codes to each file so it knows which app it belongs to. So unlike Windows, which can have .eps assigned to only one application (meaning an Illustrator .eps will try to open in Photoshop if that's the app the .eps extension is assigned to), this doesn't happen on the Mac. An .eps created in Photoshop will open in Photoshop, Illustrator in Illustrator, etc., when you double click on them.
But you will have an issue with the files you copy over since they will have no Type/Creator codes. As will .jpg, .tif and all other image formats. If there's more than one app that can open them, you'll have the same issue with those older files as you do in Windows. They will simply try to open in the whatever the default app is in the LaunchServices database.
You could get around this somewhat by assigning a Photoshop .eps to Photoshop. But then OS X will behave just like Windows and try to open all .eps files in Photoshop, ignoring the Type/Creator codes.
Will this be read/write?
If it's FAT16 or FAT32, it will be read/write. If it's NTFS, it will be read only.
When running Windows, will I still be able to access files from that drive as well?
Yes. It would be best to have the external formatted as FAT32 so both the Mac and Windows can access it natively. What the Mac will do in that case is copy two files to the external drive for each item you copy over. Say the name of the file is KittyCat.tif. It will put these two files on the external drive:
KittyCat.tif
._KittyCat.tif
Since the second file starts with a period, it will be invisible in OS X. But it's important because it holds the resource fork information of a Mac drive that can't normally exist on a FAT32 drive. So when you copy it back, OS X will automatically rejoin the data fork information (visible file) with the resource fork information (Type/Creator codes, time stamps, etc.). You'll see those ._xxx files from within Windows, so don't just start deleting them. Either that, or use OS X's Disk Utility to partition the drive into two parts. One as Mac OS Extended (HFS+), and the other as FAT32. Then save your files on each partition as per the OS they belong to.
I'd still like the external drive to be accessible from the other Windows machine in the house as well until I switch that one out....can that happen?
Yes, if it's FAT32, or split into separate Mac/Windows partitions as described above. Unless you've got MacOpener on your Windows machine, it simply won't access the Mac formatted partition. NTFS will also work, but you'll only be able to read from the Mac.
Also, as Gnarlodious mentions, the Mac will let you use some characters in file names that Windows doesn't allow. I'm sure you're already aware of these, but here's a list anyway.
These are all characters reserved by the system in DOS.
? [ ] / \ = + : ; " , * |
In the Windows Joliet file system, these characters are not allowed.
? / \ : " * |
Hope this helps.

Switching from Windows to Mac. Is it worth it? Please help!

Hey everybody,
I think I finally made my decision to switch from windows to Mac,..the I-book. G4 (not the power book). The I-book I want is around 1299.00, with the wider screen,..than the smaller i-book.
Anyhow,.what led me to this decision was just sending back the Sony FS series. It was sleek beautiful and"white" like I love,..but the speakers were awful. I have just about given up on trying to find a decent notebook. I love the look of the i-book,..but cant get that gorgeous wide screen from Sony out of my mind. It was more than the speakers. Just too noisy. Anyway...if you bought this i-book all over again,..would you? Alos I have a brand new Linskys Router with the built in Security. Would the Macs intergrated wireless card,..work with my router?
Please help!
Lil
planning on getting this notebook. Need advice

I'm afraid you're not exactly going to get an unbiased opinion here
As a long-time Mac fan (back since System 6) who was forced into a PC world man years ago, OSX has re-kindled my passion for computing. I'm an old Unix guy and OSX has combined the best PC operating system with the power of Unix. To the average user who doesn't care about shell scripts and porting free applications, what you'll get from Unix is a tremendous amount of reliability and security...
One of the best reasons for anyone to switch to the Mac was summed up in a post over on iLounge as a reply to someone who was switching. When asked why anyone would switch, one reply simply said, "...because he realises that a computer should be a productivity tool, not a virus scanner."
In the year since I've bought my Mac Mini, the only failure I've had has been a crash of Virtual PC (an emulator that will allow you to run your old Windows-based applications), which took the virtual disk out and forced me to reinstall my Windows environment. That's nothing different than I've experienced countless times on my old PC.
That said, I'm looking at a 12" iBook. I didn't even consider the 14" because I don't want something larger that doesn't give me extra screen real-estate. I debated the 15" Powerbook but decided I don't really need it's larger screen, and I'd rather have something more portable. There are companies out there that sell dual-layer DVD-RW drives that can be installed in an iBook (even the 12" Powerbook only ships with a single-layer DVD burner).
512mb should be plenty, unless you plan on editing video or running Virtual PC--in which case, I'd recommend at least a gig.
Mini Mac OS X (10.4.3) 12" iBook + 2.3ghz Powermac on the way! Former Newton OMP user.

HT202879 I am switching to Apple macbook pro from Windows laptop. Is Apple compatible with Microsoft Office? How can I transport from Windows to Mac? What I have saved on external hardrives, will I be able to open it on Mac?

I am switching to Apple macbook pro from Windows laptop. Is Apple compatible with Microsoft Office? How can I transport from Windows to Mac? What I have saved on external hardrives, will I be able to open it on Mac?

Office for Mac, http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products, can open/edit/create Office documents.If your external drive is formatted NTFS then you can copy the Office documents to your computer and work on them. You won't be able to save the files back to your NTFS formatted drive. But you will be able to save the documents to your internal drive. You can move all the external files to your internal drive then format the external drive for Apple. Then you can copy the files back to your external drive for ongoing use.

I am switching to Apple macbook pro from Windows laptop. Is Apple compatible with Microsoft Office? How can I transport from Windows to Mac? What I have saved on external hardrives, will I be able to open it on Mac?

I am switching to Apple macbook pro from Windows laptop. Is Apple compatible with Microsoft Office? How can I transport from Windows to Mac? What I have saved on external hardrives, will I be able to open it on Mac?

Is Apple compatible with Microsoft Office?
Any computer is compatible as long as it can read and write Office files. But for perfect (or at least near perfect) compatibility, you would want to purchase Office 2011 for Mac.
How can I transport from Windows to Mac?
You can't directly transport any installation of Windows. All PC's come with a machine specific version of Windows intended for that PC. They don't have all of the hardware drivers the retail disks cover.
If you want Windows on your Mac, you would first purchase a full version copy (NOT an upgrade disk) of Windows 7 or 8. Those are the only supported versions on newer Macs. You install it through the supplied Boot Camp utility that comes with the Mac to create a new partition for Windows, and then install the retail copy of Windows you purchased.
The reason only these versions of Windows are supported is the same basic reason as a machine specific version of Windows for a PC. Apple only includes the necessary Mac hardware drivers for Win 7 or 8 on new Macs.
Once Windows is installed, you could then install the version of Office for Windows you already own. The nuisance of a Boot Camp partition is that you have to physically boot to either Windows or OS X, so you can only use the apps of the OS you're in at the time. To use both at once, you'd have to use virtual machine software (Parallels, VMware, VirtualBox) and then install Windows within that. Then you'd be able to run Windows inside of OS X and have access to both at the same time.

Weird behavior when switching from windows to mac

I encountered a very strange behavior that I thought all of you should be aware of, and maybe one of you has an answer for me.
Let me begin by saying I have a MacBook Pro with a 24GB windows partition.
I was working in windows and I restarted to go into mac. The typical mac login window then appeared and I typed in my password as usual. Once my desktop, menu bar, and dock came up, the dock and menu bar disappeared almost immediately, and then it would go back to the mac login window. It would repeatedly do this no matter how many times I logged in.
By the way, it might be important to add that I only had about 12-15% battery remaining.
Anybody know what's happening here?
If not, maybe I should notify apple?
Thanks a lot
p.s. I didn't know if this was a problem with MacBook Pro or boot camp, so I posted it in both forums. So don't get all upset about that like some of you sometimes do.

OK now I plugged in and switched back to mac and it is working properly...
I think this is a weird problem...

IPod classic - switching from Windows to Mac

I have an iPod classic and am switching from Windows to Mac - what's the best way to retain my iPod library? Thanks!

If you just want to connect and use the iPod on the Mac then set it to manual update on your PC first. The content of iTunes and the iPod are not syncronised in this mode so the two can be different. You can directly access the content of the iPod and play it through iTunes and you can drag and drop whatever you want to the iPod from either library:
Using iPod with Multiple computers
Managing content manually on iPod and iPhone
Syncing Music to iPod
Something else to be aware of when using an iPod in manual mode is that the "Do Not Disconnect" message will remain on the display until you physically eject the device: Safely Disconnect IPod
Macs can read Windows drives, the iPod shuffle for instance comes Windows formatted and is fully supported (you can update the firmware or restore it on the Mac and it retains it's Windows formatting). Other iPods (such as a 5th Generation or Classic for example) can be used in Windows format on a Mac but have to have the firmware updated or be restored on a PC to maintain the formatting. If however you don't intend using the iPod on a PC again you'll need to transfer your library from your PC so you can restore and reformat the iPod and keep it's firmware updated.
Once you are safely connected there are a few things you can do to restore your new iTunes directly from the iPod. If you have any iTunes Music Store purchases the transfer of purchased content from the iPod to authorised computers was introduced with iTunes 7. You'll find details in this article: Copying iTunes Store purchases from your iPod or iPhone to a computer
The transfer of content from sources such as songs imported from CD is designed by default to be one way from iTunes to iPod. However there are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve music files and playlists from your iPod. I use Senuti but have a look at the web pages and documentation for the others too, you'll find that they have varying degrees of functionality and some will transfer movies, videos, photos and games as well. This is just a small selection of what's available, you can read reviews and comparisons of some of them here:
Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
Comparison of iPod managers
Senuti Mac Only (Currently only the beta version is iPod Touch & iPhone compatible)
PodView Mac Only
PodWorks Mac Only
iPodDisk PPC Mac Only (experimental version available for Intel Macs)
TuneAid Mac only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPodRip Mac & Windows
YamiPod Mac & Windows
Music Rescue Mac & Windows
iPod Music Liberator Mac & Windows
iGadget Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
Floola Mac & Windows
iRepo Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod Access Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
TouchCopy Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
There's also a manual method of copying songs from your iPod to a Mac or PC. The procedure is a bit involved and won't recover playlists but if you're interested it's available on page 2 at this link: Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer - The Definitive Guide

How do I switch from Windows to mac?

How do I switch from Windows to mac on a macmini?

Hi,
I assume you are talking about a BootCamp Windows, right ?
If so, usually you hold down the Alt/Option-key at startup of your Mac to get the Boot Selection screen.
There you can choose which Operating System to boot into.
Once in OSX you might wanna go to System Preferences - Startup Volume and set your OSX to be the default.
Regards
Stefan

I have a mac pro for work and they made it log on windows at start up. how can i switch back to Mac as well so i will use the i cloud fetures ?

I have a mac pro for work and they made it log on windows at start up. how can i switch back to Mac as well so i will use the i cloud fetures ?

Is a version of Mac OS running on this Mac? Reboot and hold down the option key.

Switching windows to mac

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