# PC Equivalent to Mac Target Disk Mode **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 16, 2006, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-equivalent-to-mac-target-disk-mode/348541 "2006-03-16T00:51:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Netbrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71e660/32.png) [@Netbrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Netbrian)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-equivalent-to-mac-target-disk-mode/348541/1 "2006-03-16T00:51:18Z")
I recently was given the chance to observe a very cool Macintosh feature called target disk mode, where if you booted up while holding a particular key combination, you could plug the computer into some other machine, and the machine could access the hard drive as if it were a USB or Firewire device. Is there some way to do this with a PC? It’d be very helpful to all of us here. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-equivalent-to-mac-target-disk-mode/348541/2 "2006-03-16T02:29:09Z")
> [@Netbrian](#): > > I recently was given the chance to observe a very cool Macintosh feature called target disk mode, where if you booted up while holding a particular key combination, you could plug the computer into some other machine, and the machine could access the hard drive as if it were a USB or Firewire device. > > Is there some way to do this with a PC? It’d be very helpful to all of us here. Thanks! Not easily since a) It would require BIOS/OS support for this (USB drivers, file system drivers, etc.) and I do not know of any BIOS/OS that supports such a boot mode b) It would require the USB hardware in the PC to be able to act in mass storage mode, which most USB adapters are unable to do. ---
**Author:** ![AHarris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@AHarris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHarris)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-equivalent-to-mac-target-disk-mode/348541/3 "2006-03-16T03:42:56Z")
Not that elegantly but there are two ways two achieve the same effect: 1. Install the second harddrive as a slave on the first machine 2. Buy an external harddrive enclosure and install the second harddrive into that (they do come with USB connections). ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-equivalent-to-mac-target-disk-mode/348541/4 "2006-03-16T06:04:58Z")
Because apple has total control of the hardware, it can do something like this. For it to happen in a PC would require every BIOS maker and every USB chipset to support such a feature. Not impossible, but certainly very, very hard.