Review – MacDrive 98 3.0

MacDrive 98 3.0
Company: Media4 Productions
Estimated Price: $65.00
http://www.media4.com

File and Disk Translation Utility for IBM Compatible PCs

Finally, somebody has made a utility that makes using your Mac-formatted disks on your PC as easy as using PC-formatted disks on your Mac. Media4 Productions has released MacDrive 98 3.0 and I’ve got nothing but raves for it.

You know you’ve done it. You work on a file at home on your Mac. You save it to a floppy and take it to work and try to load it on your PC. Only to remember you didn’t use a PC formatted disk. Absolutely maddening. Especially if this is a hot project.

Well fret no more! MacDrive 98 not only allows a PC to read your 1.44MB floppy, but will allow a PC to read and see your Mac formatted Zip, Jaz, EZFlyer, EZ-135, SyQuest, SyJet, CD-ROM, even hard drives! MacDrive 98 even in HFS+ format. This is one nifty utility.

One of the best things about MacDrive 98 is its “set it and forget it” nature. Once you have MacDrive 98 loaded, you’ll be able to begin using Mac-formatted disks right away. 99% of the time you won’t even have to worry about mapping file extensions for your cross platform programs. Word 97/98, Excel, PowerPoint, Photoshop, PageMaker, PDF… even SimpleText–you name it. MacDrive 98 lets your open and work with these files from your Mac-formatted disks instantly and transparently.

Don’t worry, MacDrive 98 has the ability to manually set your file mapping extensions. And if you have no idea what you just read, don’t worry about that, either. Once loaded, you will most likely never have to worry about file mapping extensions again. MacDrive 98 just works!

Another plus with MacDrive 98 is the ability to use a PC to copy Mac files from one Mac disk to another without any modifications made to the files. That is a treat. If you work in a cross-platform atmosphere, sometimes you need to copy a Mac disk for another Mac user. Problem is, there is no Macintosh close by. So rather than trucking over to the art department where most of the Macs are, you can copy the Mac disk on your PC even if no PC will ever read that data. Handy!

MacDrive has some nifty additions as well. Check out their “downloads” web page at http://www.media4.com/downloads.htm for up-to-date file mapping extensions and a terrific text converter utility that allows you to switch between Mac OS and Windows character sets. Stop by even if you don’t plan to purchase MacDrive 98! You can download and use the text converter for free.

MacDrive comes with a real honest to goodness “User Manual” printed on paper. Maybe our kids won’t like using paper printed manuals but I still do, and I wish more software came with printed, rather than “online,” documentation. Media4, thank you. This manual answered every question I had and was easy to read and use, even for a Windows or Mac novice.

I tested MacDrive 98 3.0 on a PC running NT 4.0. You can also use it on a Windows 95 or 98 machine (Windows 3.1 and 800k Mac disks not supported).

Overall, this is one terrific product. The best kind. It just works, and it works well!

Now if only Media4 would write a utility for the Mac that would let me access NTFS-formatted disks and drives. Now that would be killer!

Great Job, Media4! I Highly Recommend MacDrive 98 3.0 as probably the handiest utility for PC people who also use a Mac.

MacMice Rating: 4.5

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Bob McCormick
bob@mymac.com

Websites mentioned:
http://www.media4.com
http://www.media4.com/downloads.htm