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Pinkstiletto66

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 12, 2010
501
1
New York City.
My old Macbook broke some time ago. When I went to the Apple store a few months ago, and bought a new Macbook, I asked the specialist if there was a way I can see what's on my old Macbook without getting an external monitor. He said to buy a cable, which I did that would connect my old Macbook to the tv via and HDMI cable.

Well, that cable never worked. I researched, went on YT and tried different solutions. Read somewhere that it could have been the Samsung TV I had, btw the TV is pretty new. I even tried using the cable with my new comp, and it didn't work, leading me to believe it was the computer. I mainly just want to be able to get my music off my old computer and transfer it to my new comp, as well as get some other stuff like pictures that are on there.

Can I connect the old Mac to the new Mac, and do what I need? I'm staying somewhere else, and the TV that is here is older without HDTV, so the cord I bought won't work.

What kind of cords would I need to get the job done? I figure I can buy locally or on ebay or amazon, and it would be way cheaper than that $30 cord that did nothing. Thanks in advance.
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,537
940
Pull the drive from your MBP and put it in an external drive enclosure. Then you should be able to access it like any external drive, provided the drive itself isn't damaged.
 

Pinkstiletto66

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 12, 2010
501
1
New York City.
If your old computer still turns on, hold down T while it boots and it will enter Target Disk Mode. Then simply connect it via Firewire to your new computer and it will mount the hard drive like an external.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1661

Say what now?! Ok so I will need a firewire cable? I'm going to go grab the old Mac in a few hours. Last time I tried, I was able to turn it on, I heard it come on.

I've had it sitting in a box for awhile, and since I've been on this site in the Ipad and Iphone section I figured, let me ask about it since I'm heading to the house now.


I just checked the link. I will see if I can find that locally.

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Pull the drive from your MBP and put it in an external drive enclosure. Then you should be able to access it like any external drive, provided the drive itself isn't damaged.

I'm going to try the other responders advice first. I'm a beginner techie :p. Everything inside is working, the comp just took a tumble, and slowly got worst (the casing holding the screen part up.) As the crack got worst with constant opening and closing eventually some things came loose, and they wanted to charge me almost $1000 to repair it.
 

troy14

macrumors 6502a
Mar 25, 2008
773
130
Las Vegas (Summerlin), NV
Say what now?! Ok so I will need a firewire cable? I'm going to go grab the old Mac in a few hours. Last time I tried, I was able to turn it on, I heard it come on.

I've had it sitting in a box for awhile, and since I've been on this site in the Ipad and Iphone section I figured, let me ask about it since I'm heading to the house now.


I just checked the link. I will see if I can find that locally.

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I'm going to try the other responders advice first. I'm a beginner techie :p. Everything inside is working, the comp just took a tumble, and slowly got worst (the casing holding the screen part up.) As the crack got worst with constant opening and closing eventually some things came loose, and they wanted to charge me almost $1000 to repair it.

I would just pull the hard drive and get an enclosure for it.

http://www.amazon.com/Vantec-NexSta...1366230819&sr=8-2&keywords=next+usb+enclosure

That way, you can use it as an external hard drive as well.
 

Pinkstiletto66

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 12, 2010
501
1
New York City.
Ok, I'm going to Youtube how to do that. I think I was trying at one point some time ago, but stopped because I think I didn't have the right tools. I got half way through. I'm sure theres some vids that will show me how to do that. Doesn't seem to complicated I guess. So I first remove the hardrive, insert it into the hard drive holder, then, I'm assuming it would come with the needed cables necessary to plug into my computer? Then once I plug it in it should be pretty much easy to follow throw and get what I need to?
 

Pinkstiletto66

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 12, 2010
501
1
New York City.
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Thunder...06539&sr=8-1&keywords=thunderbolt+to+firewire

http://www.amazon.com/CiTi-FireWire...376&sr=1-1&keywords=firewire+400+to+800+cable

Finally able to get the old computer out of the attic, and ready to purchase. So will either of those work? I hear thunderbolt (hence the name) is usually faster, but the speed doesn't concern me, I just want to put the computer in Target disk mode and be able to see what's on my old comp and transfer music and other pictures.

Btw, I just realized (after googling image ports) the person I bought the cord sold me what it appears to be an HDMI, thunderbolt adapter. I bought it a long time ago, and dont have the packaging so I can't exchange it.

Will the thunderbolt to firewire work on a firewire 400 (old Macbook?)
 

ColdCase

macrumors 68040
Feb 10, 2008
3,358
276
NH
The TB to FW adapters are usually FW 800, so you would need a cable with FW400 on one end and the newer FW800 on the other end, a pretty common cable. There are other ways to skin that cat.

The best way, however, is to extract the hard drive an put it in an enclosure or USB adapter. Who knows what else fell apart in the old Mac that would prevent target disk from working.
 

mbh

macrumors 6502
Jul 18, 2002
400
73
If the broken machine has screen sharing turned on, that should work.
 

Pinkstiletto66

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 12, 2010
501
1
New York City.
The TB to FW adapters are usually FW 800, so you would need a cable with FW400 on one end and the newer FW800 on the other end, a pretty common cable. There are other ways to skin that cat.

The best way, however, is to extract the hard drive an put it in an enclosure or USB adapter. Who knows what else fell apart in the old Mac that would prevent target disk from working.

I'm going to try the wired way first, because I don't know how to take anything apart. Last time I used the old one everything seemed fine, it's just the screen part that was struggling to hang on. Thanks.

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If the broken machine has screen sharing turned on, that should work.

That I don't know.. Ugh, well, I'll cross that road when I get there. Or perhaps I can get a used, cheapo monitor.
 

pmau

macrumors 68000
Nov 9, 2010
1,569
854
You can also learn about remote login (ssh), login remotely and copy files over if you need them...
 

Pinkstiletto66

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 12, 2010
501
1
New York City.
I will look into that too. While cleaning I found an ethernet to ethernet cord. Will that work on target safe mode? I put the old comp on, it made a beep noise but holding T did nothing.

I ordered the FireWire so just waiting for it in the mail.
 
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