Purchased a new iMac and need to transfer all of my digital pix, mp3s, m4as, etc. over from my piece o’ shit Dell. I picked up a MyBook 750gb external hard drive and would like to use it to transfer the files. It’s brand new and hasn’t been plugged into the pc or the Mac yet.

I’m hearing mixed messages about how to make this happen, and surely the Obnish know more about this than the dolts I work with.

Do I…
• plug the external hard drive into the pc first, load up files, then plug into the iMac and transfer the files? OR…
• plug the external hard drive into the iMac first, format it, then plug it into the pc, load up files, then plug back into the iMac and transfer the files?
• need to convert files in any way, shape or form during this transfer?

Rereading that, my head hurts. That said, I’m senseless when it comes to this shite, so any guidance is much appreciated.

i think you can just plug it into the PC drag and drop
then plug it into the mac drag and drop

most of those files will be fine
you might need to add additional programs to your mac for some movie files (if they are in wmv or avi)

As long as you're using mp3 and m4a files you should be fine. There are a few file formats that windows uses that Macs (and iTunes in particular) will have trouble with... but copy everything over and just see what works. Cross any converting bridge when you have to.