# pc-mac communication



## diskbutchr (Nov 27, 2007)

i have an external hard drive mounted and shared on an hp proliant ml350 g3 server running SBS2000. everyone has all permissions.

although i can access this drive on all pc's, i can't access it from any mac.

looking for suggestions.

thanks,
george


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

what version of the os does the mac have, and what have you tried.


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## diskbutchr (Nov 27, 2007)

i knew i'd forget something.

both macs that need access are running 10.4.11.

this drive used to be mounted on a pc workstation and all we had to do was to "go computer" and the drive would be available. this configuration proved to be less than convenient when someone would restart the workstation for one reason or another not knowing that a mac was connected. mounting on the server also facilitates backup.

i have tried "connect to server" and "go computer" and neither well show the external as an option for mounting.

thanks for your time.

george


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

ok, you have the mac's workgroup name set to the same as the computer which the hard drive is attached to, correct? also, you have sharing turned on for the hard drive on the windows pc (right click and "share this drive" or something like that if i remember correctly, either way there should be a hand on the icon now.), and gave everyone read/write permissions. Now, here comes the fun part, you have to make an account on the windows pc, with username and a password, that the mac users will use to log into the pc, and then mount the drive from. now you can use "connect to server" in the finder, hit browse, and look for the workgroup name. click on that, and you should then find the win cp's computer name, click on that and then connect. you will get a dialog box asking for username and password. enter in the name and password from the account you made. now you will get a list of all the shared folders/drives. click on the one you want, and then click the mount button. now it will be on the desktop with what ever permissions you gave them.


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## diskbutchr (Nov 27, 2007)

whatever you get paid for putting up with guys like me, it's not enough. you should know up front that i'm a prepress operator and the the IT responsibilities have falen to me cuz i sit at a computer all day. that qualifies me, right?

we have always used "guest" to log on to the server. when we "connect to server" we have used the IP address of the server and never had any problems. since you suggested setting up an account on the server, i did that with no change inthe result. we can see the two shared internal folders with no problem but still can't see the external hard drive. an odd side note: no matter what i type in as a user name or password, i will always be able to mount those two shared folders. there is no place that i can see where a workgroup is referred to in the log on process.

i feel so inadequate in this position but i'm all we've got!

thanks again for your willingness to help.

george


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

ok, here is a pdf with step by step instructions on how i was able to get to my usb hard drive that was on my win pc from my mac. i hope it helps. but i am using win xp pro, and that may make a difference.
View attachment Windows drive sharing.pdf


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## diskbutchr (Nov 27, 2007)

sinclair,

i can't thank you enough for taking the time to put together such a detailed list of instructions. your generousity with your time is commendable.

unfortunately, i still can't make it work. whether it's the SBS operating system or something else, the share still doesn't show up.

in step (10) my "network" icon is grayed out and unavailable. any attempt to connect through other branch of my tree where the computer name does appear, clicking on connect yields an error message stating that the alias is damaged. all efforts at repair have been fruitless but that may be my inexperience with IT protocols.

at any rate, unless thhis information is in any way helpful, i'll just put the USB drive back on the workstation that worked before (via "go computer") and live with the inconveniences associated with this action.

again, i can't thank you enough for your efforts to help me!

George


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

all i can say is that there must be some kind of limited sharing with regards to sbs. and i don't have a copy, so i can't try it out. can again if there is anything else we can do.


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