Hello. I hope to be in topic... but I've searched everywhere and i
can't seem to find an answer.

I have a CD-rom with some fp5 files on it... and the cd was burned on a
Mac.

Now I have filemaker 6 on my PC (Windows XP), but I can't seem to read
that... the files are zero-length and programs like TransMac can't seem
to copy those files on my hard drive.

Any chance anybody can help?

Thanks,
Laz

In article <1120921718.776878.146570 (AT) o13g2000cwo (DOT) googlegroups.com>,
"Laz" <laz (AT) despammed (DOT) com> wrote:

It could be the way the CD was burned.

Depending on the burner software used, Macs have the ability to burn a
CD in either Mac-only format, or in the the standard format that can be
read by either Mac of PC (ISO 9660 is the format, I think). If it was
burned in Mac-only format the PC will not be able to read it. If it was
burned in the standard PC or Mac format, then either should be able to
read it.

FileMaker files themselves are completely cross-platform. No translation
or transformation of any kind is needed, unless you are going from one
version of FileMaker to another. FileMaker 6 and FileMaker 5 use the
same file format, so they are completely interchangeable.

One other thing is the requirement to have the three-character extension
on the filename in order for the PC to recognize that it is a FileMaker
file. The correct three-character extension for FileMaker 5 (or 6) files
is .fp5

Another consideration is that files read from a CD onto a PC usually end
up being read-only. You have to go in and change the properties of each
file on the PC to make it read & write.

I have moved FileMaker 3/4 (.fp3), FileMaker 5/6 (.fp5), and FileMaker 7
(.fp7) files from Mac to PC via CD without difficulty, following the
basic rules:
1. Include the correct filename extension on the filenames.
2. Burn the CD in the standard format that can be read by Mac or PC.
3. After copying to the PC, change the file properties to read&write.

Bill

--
For email, remove invalid.

Laz <laz (AT) despammed (DOT) com> wrote:

It's not a Filemaker problem, it's a Windows problem. Macs can read PC
formatted CDs just fine, Windows is all stuck up and all and refuses to
acknowledge there might be another format they might need to read.

Find a Mac, zip up those files from the CD and email them to yourself.
Zip first, since emailing naked FM files often strips the header
information and then the files cannot be opened by FM anymore.

There is no other conversion needed, since the files already have the
..fp5 extension. You might have to set the files to "Archive" instead of
read only in the properties.

Lynn Allen
--
Allen & Allen Semiotics www.semiotics.com
FSA Associate Filemaker Design & Consulting

In article <1gzfkb9.terhjv3u685iN%lynn (AT) NOT-semiotics (DOT) com>, lynn@NOT-
semiotics.com says...
Actually, you might just have to uncheck the read-only property.

The 'archive' property is totally irrelevant. (It was used waaaaaaaay
back to allow veeeeeerrrrrry basic backup sotware to perform
'incremental' backups. When a file is modified the OS clears the archive
bit. When the backups ran they set the archive bit.

In 2005 its a piece of legacy you can pretty much completely ignore.