Setting Up a Local Network for File Transfer

[Ari]

Thanks, Graham. I already use a 32Gb SSD that I swap between computers.
I used to have a thumb drive, also 32Gb, but it was slow. The SSD is very quick to copy files.
The main drawback to the system, besides the extra cables, is that I have to point the scanner to put the scans in the SSD each time I plug it back in.
Not a huge deal, I'm happy to continue that way if nothing else works, but maybe the ethernet cable will makes things a little smoother.
It can be tucked out of sight behind my desk, and I would have to plug/unplug constantly.

[Jim Michael]

I usually use scp to transfer files between unix type systems. A permission may need to be set. Assuming the systems are on the local network and you are a CLI user.

[sharktooth]

I've been experimenting with some of my old Macs to see how well they network with newer systems. I've got an old Power Mac G4 Powerbook running Tiger that connects nicely with High Sierra over wifi. Tiger is a generation older than Leopard, and the powerpc chips predate the changeover to Intel, so any Mac running Leopard should have no problem either.

I did find another old Powerbook G4 that had a Leopard partition, so I booted from Leopard to get a better feel for that OS. Leopard is a little more advanced than Tiger in terms of file sharing, and again I had no trouble connecting to it from a High Sierra Mac over wifi. Unfortunately, I don't have a Mac with Monterey, but connecting to a server appears to be almost identical from what I've read.

I made a little web site to publish the steps for setting up file sharing in Leopard. It also shows how you can access the Leopard Mac from another computer using High Sierra. It should also work the same way with Monterey.

Here is the link: https://sites.google.com/view/leopard-file-sharing/home

[Ari]

Thanks, Shark. I'll give it a try.
I have the feeling that Apple is attempting a significant break with the new M1 chip and Monterey, making anything older less and less compatible, in a shorter amount of time than in the past.
While I love the speed and capability of the new Mini, it's a bit apart from what came before.
So what you describe may work seamlessly for everything before Monterey, but there'll be glitches once you switch over to Monterey.

[sharktooth]

If Monterey can't connect to file shares with older Macs there would have been a lot more complaints on the internet by now. I don't really see anyone having this kind of problem with the new M1 Macs. I strongly suspect it's something in your setup that's causing problems. Mac file sharing hasn't really changed that much over the years, so if there was a dramatic change in Monterey we'd know all about it by now.

[Ari]

Got it, it worked! Thank you Sharktooth!
The answer, as is usually the case with me, came down to a silly oversight on my part.
The new Mini automatically applied my user ID from the new Mac to the network from the old Mac.
Once I made both user IDs the same, it kicked in.
Thanks to everyone who contributed, it all helped in the end.

[sharktooth]

Yay, glad it finally worked. If you connect with an ethernet cable now, it should significantly improve transfer speed compared to wireless.

[Ari]

I will compare speeds tomorrow when I have the cable.
I tested some smaller files (10Mb) and they transferred almost instantly.
I now have a Drop Box mounted to the sidebar in each computer, so sending and receiving will be easy.
And I set the scanner to always scan to the Drop Box, and I won't have to reset that each time I transfer files.
Thanks again!

[sharktooth]

It would be interesting to see if file sharing works in the opposite direction. In other words, turn on file sharing on the M1 Mac so it acts as the server, then see if the old Mac Mini can connect to it.

If the old Mac Mini can connect to the M1 Mac, then the advantage would be that you could save the scan files from your scanner software directly to the shared folder on the M1 Mac. This would save a step, since you wouldn't have to save the scan file to the old Mac Mini first before copying it over to the M1 Mac.

[Ari]

That's how I already arranged things, but I didn't need to set up the M1 Mini as server.
I scan on the old Mini, all scans go directly to old Mini's DropBox.
New Mini picks up the DropBox items from old Mini.
So the net effect is that when I scan, the scanned image appears on my M1 Mini's DropBox, ready to use.
Great system, fast, and no cables. I can't say thanks enough times!