TransMac Help

More information can be found in the TransMac help file. From TransMac click the "Help" menu and select "Help" or click the F1 key.

Symptom: An attached drive does not show up in the treeview.
    Problem: Fixed drives require administrator privileges. In Vista, even accounts with admin privileges, must specify that applications be run at that level.
       Solution 1 (Vista only): To run one time as administrator, right-click the TransMac icon and select "Run as administrator".
       Solution 2 (Vista only): To always run as administrator, right-click the TransMac icon and select "Properties". Click "Compatibility" tab. Select "Run this program as an administrator".
       Solution 3 (XP/2000): Log in as administrator.

Symptom: The message "No Mac HFS volumes found" appears when selecting a disk.
   Problem: The disk is not Mac HFS or HFS+ formatted.
        Solution: TransMac can only read Mac HFS and HFS+ format disks.

Symptom: Copying from Mac to PC is slow and seems to copy twice.
Symptom: When copying from Mac to PC, the destination disk runs out of space even if there is room.
   Problem: Windows drag/drop interface copies files to a temporary folder on the boot drive before moving to the destination disk.
        Solution: Instead of drag and drop, use the right-click menu "Copy To". This will copy directly to the destination disk.

Symptom: The "Erase CD/DVD" and "Burn CD/DVD" context menus are grayed out.
    Problem:
No media in burner.
       Solution:
Insert CD/DVD into burner.

Symptom:
A read error message appears when selecting a Mac disk.
    Problem: Disk has bad sectors.
        Solution: Use a different disk, reformat disk or fix disk by running a check for bad sectors on a Mac.
    Problem (diskette only): You are trying to read a low density 400K/800K diskette.
        Solution: Use only Mac high density diskettes with TransMac. Low density diskettes are written a different way on a Mac. PC diskettes controllers can not read them.
    Problem (diskette only): The Mac drive that formatted the diskette and the PC diskette drive have a different head alignment.
        Solution: Try a different diskette drive or use a diskette formatted by TransMac.

Symptom: An error message appears after a file copy has started.
    Problem: File is too large for the target file system.
        Solution: Make sure file is less than 2GB for PC FAT16 file system and less than 4GB for PC FAT32 or Mac HFS file systems.
    Problem: Disk has bad sectors.
        Solution: Use a different disk, reformat disk or fix disk by running a check for bad sectors on a Mac.

Symptom: An error message appears when writing to a disk?
    Problem: The disk is write protected or read only.
        Solution: For hardware write protect, turn protect switch off.
    Problem: Disk has bad sectors.
        Solution: Use a different disk, reformat disk or fix disk by running a check for bad sectors on a Mac.

Symptom: An error message appears when formatting a disk.
    Problem (diskette only): Diskette is not low level formatted.
        Solution: If the diskette has never been formatted before, use Windows to low level format it first, then use "Format Disk for Mac" in TransMac.
    Problem: The disk is write protected
        Solution: For hardware write protect, turn protect switch off.
    Problem: Disk has bad sectors.
        Solution: Use a different disk, reformat disk or fix disk by running a check for bad sectors on a Mac.

Symptom: A file copied from a PC is not recognized on the Mac.
    Problem: The file may have the wrong type and creator or extension.
        Solution: You can change the type and creator from TransMac by double clicking the file in the Mac window. You can also change the file type map so that the correct type and creator are assigned automatically based on the file name extension. If the file has already been copied to a Mac, there are Mac programs for changing the type and creator.
    Problem: The Mac does not have an application installed that can open the file type.
        Solution: Some file types are the same on both machines (jpg, gif, mp3, etc). Some files can be opened with the same application on the opposite platform. For example a file created on a Mac with Quark can usually be opened on a PC if it has the PC version of Quark installed. For some files there is no application that will open them on the other machine. Since there are thousands of different types of files, we usually can not advise as to whether a particular type of Mac file will be of use on a PC or vice versa. You can either test it out for your particular situation or contact the maker of the application that created the file to get crossplatform information.

Symptom: A file copied from a Mac is not recognized on the PC.
    Problem: The file may have the wrong file name extension.
        Solution: You can change the extension manually by renaming the file. You can also change the file type map so that the correct extension is assigned automatically based on the Mac type and creator.
    Problem: The PC does not have an application installed that can open the file type.
        Solution: Some file types are the same on both machines (jpg, gif, mp3, etc). Some files can be opened with the same application on the opposite platform. For example a file created on a Mac with Quark can usually be opened on a PC if it has the PC version of Quark installed. For some files there is no application that will open them on the other machine. Since there are thousands of different types of files, we usually can not advise as to whether a particular type of Mac file will be of use on a PC or vice versa. You can either test it out for your particular situation or contact the maker of the application that created the file to get crossplatform information.

Symptom: Files are corrupt after copy.
    Problem: The wrong translation setting was used in TransMac.
        Solution: Make sure you have used the correct translation mode in the "File Translation" box. Most of the time you should use "Automatic" translation. Using "Text File" or other translations for binary files may change their data and corrupt them.
    Problem: The file system on the disk is corrupt.
        Solution: Use a disk checking utility (on a Mac), or reformat the disk (if there is no needed data on it).

Symptom: TransMac can not access a drive through a network.
    Problem: TransMac can only access local drives.
        Solution: Use network software (like Dave or PCMACLAN) for doing this type of operation.