The operating system integrated in Macs (MacOS) is quite different from Windows, not in its functionality, but in how the available options and settings are organized. If we want to see the folders shared by a PC or a data server in the local LAN or remotely (served through a NAS or a network disk connected to a modem or router), how can we access them from our new Mac "> Buy a Network NAS Storage: what it's for and how much it costs
NOTE: This guide talks about connecting from Mac to remote files and folders located on another PC.
In another article, the programs for connection in remote destkop.
1) Connection via Samba (SMB) or other data servers
If we have folders shared by other PCs with Windows in the same local network or other devices that support the SMB protocol we can connect via Mac simply by clicking on the Go menu and then clicking on Network .
If the PC or device with the SMB folders are already available, they will appear in this window as new visible network devices (PC, NAS, server etc.); click on it and enter your Windows login credentials (if required, but we can also connect without a password using anonymous SMB access).
If the folders are not visible or the data server can only be reached with a specific IP address, we can connect to it by clicking Go and then click on Connect to the server .
A window will open where we can enter the IP address or Web address of the data server to which we want to access.
We enter the data in the Server Address field, then click on + to add it to the list of favorite servers, then always selecting the server we click on the Connect button.
If requested, enter the login credentials to the data server in order to view all shared folders.
If the server is visible in the internal LAN, we can also use the Browse button, so as to automatically retrieve the IP of the same and connect.
2) Connection via FTP
If our data server to which we must connect supports the FTP protocol, we can either use the menu Connect to the server as seen in the previous session or download the free FileZilla program on Mac, available for download from the link present here -> FileZilla Client .
Once downloaded, let's start it (we can find it in the Launchpad) to find ourselves with an interface similar to the one shown in the image below.
We can quickly connect to the FTP server by entering all the required parameters next to the Quick connection button (i.e. IP or host, username, password and port) or by clicking on the Site management button at the top left, so you can easily add all the FTP servers we need and manage them all in one program.
Click on New site to unlock the right part of the window so that you can enter the host (IP or the site of the remote server), the port, the type of protocol, the encryption and finally the type of access, so as to have maximum control over all types of FTP or FTPS servers (with encryption) that we have to manage on the Mac.
At the end of the configuration, click on the Connect button to start the connection; for encrypted connections the fingerprint of the certificate may be shown, which we must check and only in case of positive confirmation confirm (this check is used to ensure that we connect to the right server with the right encryption, so that no one can steal data in transit ).
3) Connection via SFTP
Another network protocol widely used in business is SFTP, which uses SSH tunneling to manage file systems remotely with greater security than old protocols such as Telnet.
This type of protocol is very different from FTP or FTPS, but it can be managed with great convenience on any Mac either using the Connect to server menu (already integrated in the Mac) or using the FileZilla Client program already recommended for FTP connections.
If we intend to use FileZilla to manage all the remote data servers with SFTP protocol, all we have to do is download and open the program, click on Site Management, click on New Site and use it as SFTP protocol, as shown in the image below .
We then enter the IP address, the Web address and the port number of the SFTP resource to which we want to connect, use the fields below to enter the login credentials for the SFTP server and finally click on Connect .
As already seen for FTP, the connection will require confirmation of the fingerprint of the certificate present on the server, since all connections are encrypted (to obtain maximum security).
4) Connection via WebDAV and cloud services
If our data server to which we must connect supports other types of protocols such as WebDAV, SCP or one of the many clouds available at the moment we will have to download the free Cyberduck program, available at the following link -> CyberDuck .
Once the program is downloaded, simply start it, so that you can become familiar with the interface.
To connect to a supported data server, simply click on New connection at the top, choose the protocol among those supported, enter all the required data and finally click on Connection .
All added servers will be available in the main screen or in the top menu Quick connection .
The program supports the following protocols: FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, Amazon S3, OpenStack Swift, Backblaze B2, Microsoft Azure, OneDrive, Google Drive and Dropbox; if we have multiple cloud accounts or data servers with these protocols, we can use CyberDuck to connect to all at the same time.
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