HMAUS Signal Supporting Macintosh and Apple Users in Hawaii

The Targus File Share Cable allows 2 Macs or a Mac and PC to share files. It has a large USB connector on one end for the destination computer and small USB connector on the other end for the remote computer. After plugging in the cable, Easy Suite’s EasyMacCopy software icon appears on each desktop. There is no installation needed because the software resides in the cable. Double-clicking both icons opens a file viewer window with top and bottom panels (see screenshot) on both desktops.  Using the file viewer on the destination computer, it’s as easy as dragging and dropping files from top to bottom panels.

I recently purchased a MacBook and used the Targus cable to transfer files from an old iBook. While a folder containing dozens of fonts transferred in seconds, a 16 MB file folder took 40 seconds. The speed of the file transfers was hampered by the USB1 port on the iBook. Having USB2 ports on both computers is recommended for the highest speed, estimated at 480 Mbps. Because the transfer is from computer to computer, there is no file size limit as there would be using CDs or DVDs.

Transferring applications was mostly unsuccessful. Photoshop Express did not transfer intact and transferring Mahjong Towers Eternity actually crashed EasyMacCopy. The only application I did manage to transfer was Senuti.

The Targus File Share Cable is a viable option for large file transfers, particularly for MacBooks lacking a port for Firewire Target Disk Mode.

The operating system requirements are Mac OS X 10.x or later for Mac, and Windows Vista or XP for PC. On the Targus website,  www.targus.com/us/forMac, the File Share Cable is priced at $49.99.

Targus USB2 file share cable

Screenshot of two-panel file viewer

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