# Solved: Mac External FDD on a PC?



## twotugs (May 14, 2003)

Generic USB FDD UD-376, Mitsumi D353G; I'm trying to use it on a Compaq Presario running XP, which refuses to install any drivers. Mitsumi's website gives me an FTP error when I try to download a driver, so that's a bust. Google hasn't been my friend this morning, either. Can this bugger even be used on a PC? It's from my girlfriend's iMac, which she gave away but kept the drive to use on her laptop. It's not a big deal, but I wanted to ask before I call it quits.

Thanks in advance!


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## MSY-Houston (Dec 5, 2004)

twotugs said:


> Generic USB FDD UD-376, Mitsumi D353G; I'm trying to use it on a Compaq Presario running XP, which refuses to install any drivers. Mitsumi's website gives me an FTP error when I try to download a driver, so that's a bust. Google hasn't been my friend this morning, either. Can this bugger even be used on a PC? It's from my girlfriend's iMac, which she gave away but kept the drive to use on her laptop. It's not a big deal, but I wanted to ask before I call it quits.
> 
> Thanks in advance!


Not positive about this, but if the drive was formatted for a Mac, you might not be able to use it with a PC. That is the case with some external LaCie drives.

Anyone else know for sure?

Houston


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## jschin_2 (Feb 1, 2005)

MSY-Houston said:


> Not positive about this, but if the drive was formatted for a Mac, you might not be able to use it with a PC. That is the case with some external LaCie drives.
> 
> Anyone else know for sure?
> 
> Houston


No, Mitsumi claims the drive will work for both Mac & PC, he just needs the driver. Which is here:
ftp://ftp.mitsumi.com/pub/drivers/gu316.exe

...I was able to download it with no problem. What specifically is the ftp error your getting? You can ftp with DOS into 'ftp.mitsumi.com/pub/drivers' and get the file as well. Just log in as 'Anonymous', they ask you for your email as a pw.

In summary, this CAN be done, looks like you just need to figure out if you want to put the work into doing it 

-j


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## twotugs (May 14, 2003)

jschin_2 said:


> No, Mitsumi claims the drive will work for both Mac & PC, he just needs the driver. Which is here:
> ftp://ftp.mitsumi.com/pub/drivers/gu316.exe
> 
> ...I was able to download it with no problem. What specifically is the ftp error your getting? You can ftp with DOS into 'ftp.mitsumi.com/pub/drivers' and get the file as well. Just log in as 'Anonymous', they ask you for your email as a pw.
> ...


I'm still getting the error: "425 Can't open data connection." Perhaps caused by my router? I'll try again tomorrow at work.

Thank you both for responding!


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## jschin_2 (Feb 1, 2005)

A 425 error is typically because of a firewall (in this case, probably your router), but if you have a firewall running on your PC it could be at fault as well. 

Whatever ftp client you are using should be set to use 'passive' mode when connecting and this should solve your problem. If this turns into an ordeal after this, I suppose I could just email you the file  

-j


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## twotugs (May 14, 2003)

Just a quick update: I finally got the file, but had to do it from Linux. Wasn't a router or software firewall thing, but XP itself. I have no idea why FTP is blocked, but I expect it's a security tweak one of the recent patches "fixed."  Anyhow, I couldn't get the driver to take, so I'm just going to save this drive for the Mac mini we'll be buying soon. I'll pick up a cheap external drive for the laptop. Thanks for the help, tho!


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## MSY-Houston (Dec 5, 2004)

twotugs said:


> Just a quick update: I finally got the file, but had to do it from Linux. Wasn't a router or software firewall thing, but XP itself. I have no idea why FTP is blocked, but I expect it's a security tweak one of the recent patches "fixed."  Anyhow, I couldn't get the driver to take, so I'm just going to save this drive for the Mac mini we'll be buying soon. I'll pick up a cheap external drive for the laptop. Thanks for the help, tho!


In Microsoft XP, there is a Firewall set. You might try turning off that Firewall. I can't remember where it is exactly, but if you do a Help Search on the word Firewall, it should tell you how to turn it off.

Houston


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## twotugs (May 14, 2003)

MSY-Houston said:


> In Microsoft XP, there is a Firewall set. You might try turning off that Firewall. I can't remember where it is exactly, but if you do a Help Search on the word Firewall, it should tell you how to turn it off.
> 
> Houston


I have the XP firewall turned off; we use Sygate on both of our computers. My computer is tweaked to be as secure as possible, whereas her laptop is relatively untouched; neither could download the file, even when I disabled Sygate and bypassed the router. I have Fedora firewalled also, and it had no problem connecting & downloading the file; whether that means anything, I don't know. I'm looking at it as one more reason to get a mini.


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