File Sharing in Mac OS X

In order to connect to anther computer, select 'Connect to Server' from the 'Go' menu, or press 'cmd + K' on the computer keyboard.

Connecting To another Mac

The second step depends on the type of connection being made. Step 2a (this step) covers connecting to another Macintosh. Step 2b covers connecting to another computer (Mac, PC, Linux, etc.) using an ftp connection. Step 2c covers connecting to another computer using 'Samba' (Datastore uses Samba).

When the 'Connect to Server' dialogue window appears, type in the name or address of the computer. One possibility might be to type in the IP address of the computer. Another possibility might be the computer name, such as, 'Dave's Computer' or 'Fred's Mac', etc. After typing in the correct address for the computer being connected to, press the 'Connect' button.

Using FTP

If the computer being connected to (this could be a Mac, PC, Linux box, or whatever else.) requires an ftp connection, type 'ftp://' and the address or IP address of the computer. for example, if the address of a computer were, 'www.coolcomp.com' the full ftp address to be typed would be, 'ftp://www.coolcomp.com' (without the single quotes).

If the IP address of the computer were '138.87.1.1', the full ftp address would be, 'ftp://138.87.1.1'. After typing in the correct address for the computer being connected to, press the 'Connect' button.

Using Samba (Datastore)

If the computer being connected to used 'Samba' for its connection (this is the method used for connecting to the 'Datastore' drives), type, 'smb://' and the address of the computer.

For example, to connect to the Website folder on Datastore, the address would be, 'smb://datastore01/website'. To connect to the Home folder on Datastore, the address would be, 'smb://datastore01/home'.

After typing in the correct address for the computer being connected to, press the 'Connect' button.

At this point, the computer being connected to will ask for a user name and password.

Type name and password for that computer in the appropriate spaces.

For the 'Datastore' drives (Home, Website, etc.) this will be the ISU ULID and password, but this will not be true with every computer on campus.

It is important to know what user name and password to use ahead of time

Some computers might have a choice of several drive shares to connect to. It is a good idea to know which drive share to use ahead of time. Select the appropriate drive share by single-clicking on the name of the drive from the list.

It is possible to select more than one drive by clicking on the first desired drive, and clicking on the the next drive while holding down either the shift key or the command (open apple) key.

Holding the shift key will select the second drive and any drive that might exist in between the first drive selected and the second drive selected. Holding down the command key will only select one additional new drive at a time.

On some computers, a dialogue window will appear with a task bar indicating the progress of the connection to the computer. This is almost always true with computers being connected to through 'Samba' (like the 'Datastore' drives).

Once the connection has been made, the drive from the remote computer will appear as another computer drive. At this point the user can open the drive and work with the files from that drive share as if they were on a drive physically connected to the computer. In many cases a window will automatically open up showing the contents of the new drive share.