Setting Up a Local Network for File Transfer

[sharktooth]

It looks like Monterey can't share it's own files via AFP, since it's only using the new APFS file format.

See this link: https://www.macworld.com/article/234...to-change.html

It's not clear if Monterey can see files from your old Mac Mini via AFP, since the article above is only up to Big Sur. It states that Big Sur can still see AFP shares from other computers, but this may or may not still be the case in Monterey.

What all this means is that the old Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) is problematic with the latest Mac computers. Your old Mini will be sharing using AFP, but there's no way it can see any file or drive being shared by the M1. It still might be possible for the M1 to see the drives or files being shared from the old Mac Mini. You'll have to try it. Turn on file sharing in your old Mac Mini, and make sure you've also enabled sharing for the drive you want to share in your old Mac Mini. In your M1 check if the drive from your old Mac Mini shows up in the network.

If you can't see your old Mac Mini drive in the M1 network, the next option is to use SMB instead of AFP. You'll have to change from AFP to SMB sharing in the option settings for sharing in your old Mac Mini. Your M1 should be able to see SMB shares, since that's what Apple now uses now too.

[Ari]

Thanks, Sharky, will try everything tonight!

[Peter Mounier]

Ari
See if this works …
On the computer running Monterey, click on file sharing in the preferences and note the access address.
Then go to the computer running Leopard and while in the Finder click go - connect to server
Then input the access address for the computer running Monterey and click connect. Fill in your password and see if it connects.

[Ari]

Thank you, Peter. I'll try that.

[Old_Dick]

Does a Mac Mini run"ftp"? That is what I use between Macbook and a Solaris SPARC.

[Ari]

Monterey only seems to run SMB, I don't see any other option.
So far, nothing I've done has worked. I got close, then I got a message that I could not connect to the other Mac.
I managed to connect them through Bluetooth, but transfer speeds were abysmal.
I'll keep trying and will order an ethernet cable as well.
Thanks for everyone's help, greatly appreciated!

[sharktooth]

It definitely seems like it's the file sharing protocol incompatibility that's the issue. In that case, using an ethernet cable probably won't help.

Your best hope is that you can enable file sharing via SMB on your old Mac Mini. I know that's an option in Snow Leopard, but I don't know if it's available in Leopard. In Snow Leopard there's an option button in the "Sharing" setup. Click on that, and you get an option to use file sharing by SMB.

I've also read on another site that Monterey does see other AFP servers, so you should be able to connect to the old Mac Mini from the M1 Mac as long as the old Mac Mini has file sharing enabled and is acting as the server. Sharing the files or drives in your M1 Mac (M1 acting as the file server) probably won't work, since it's using a newer sharing protocol that the old Mac Mini can't interpret.

Another option, If your wireless router has a USB port, is to hook up a USB drive to your router's USB port, and use it for backups and file sharing with any computer that can connect to your router.

[Ari]

Thanks, I'll try that again tomorrow. I'm pretty sure I tried all three options on the old Mini and none could connect.
This may require a call to Apple if the cable is a no-go.

[sharktooth]

Here's some good file sharing instructions for Leopard.

https://www.macworld.com/article/189...mac2503-2.html

Set up file sharing on your old Mac Mini with Leopard using the instructions in the link. Once that file sharing is up and running, you should be able to see it when you click on the "Go" menu in your M1 mac and select Connect to Server.

[sharktooth]

I get the sense you're new to this file sharing stuff, so maybe I'll try to briefly outline how it works. Forgive me if I'm insulting your intelligence.

With file sharing you're really just letting one computer gain access to another one. The computer that's allowing itself to be accessed is the server. When you enable file sharing on a computer it becomes a server, since it is allowing access to it's files. Any other "client" computer can connect to that server as long as it has the appropriate user and password. This means you only need to have file sharing enabled on one computer, not both.

In your case, the older Mac Mini is using a very old Leopard operating system. If you enable file sharing on this old Mac, there's a far greater chance that the newer Mac can connect to it. On the other hand, the older Mac Mini with Leopard probably can't connect to the M1 Mac if the M1 Mac is set as the server, since Leopard doesn't have the newer protocols it needs to communicate.

1) Enable file sharing on the old Mac Mini with Leopard. Your old Mac Mini is now a file server.
2) Use your M1 Mac with Monterey to connect to your old Mac Mini server. In the finder, click on the "Go" menu, then select "Connect to Server". You should see a list with the drives or folders you shared from your old Mac Mini.