How do I get files off of old computer to new iMac ?

[CalGrunt]

Ok, here's the deal.

I have files on an old beige G3 desktop that I want to get over into a new iMac. The old G3 does not have firewire or USB ports. On the G3, I'm running OS 8.6.

This is what I've heard so far. I can try and use file sharing over an ethernet connection, but I heard that it's not a good idea to try and swap files between OS 8.6 and OS 10.

Another idea was to use an on-line back up service to send my files up and then download them, but I was told that in order to do that and receive the downloads, I'd have to install 8.6 on the iMac, which I don't want to do.

There is a local shop that will burn the files off my HD onto a DVD. The problem is, is that I only have 2.2GB of files to transfer, and they want to charge me 90 bucks to do this.

Any other ideas?? BTW, I'm not real technically savvy, so please keep this in mind. Thanks.

 

[rainman::|:|]

you couldn't install 8.6 on the iMac if you wanted to. Cannot happen.

What type of files are we talking mostly? Music, Word files, RAW/JPEG, etc. I would almost certainly set up an Ethernet connection between the two. My biggest fear wouldn't be moving them (should be relatively easy, even with 8.6 on the G3) but rather making sure you have OS X versions of all your apps.

Someone with a bit more hands-on than I can explain an ethernet crossover from 9/X.

 

[balamw]

There is a local shop that will burn the files off my HD onto a DVD.

Pull the hard drive from the G3 and put it in an external enclosure?

Dunno if the G3 was SCSI or IDE, but IDE enclosures are cheap, SCSI you might want to try eBay.

I've done this kind of thing with a few System 7 vintage boxes where I have pulled the drive, placed it in a linux box and dd'ed it over to an image that can be run in Basilisk II. Kinda fun, but I don't think that works for System 8.

B

 

[iEdd]

Do you have a spare copy of OS 9 lying around? I seem to have tonnes of OS 9 disks.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

See if there's anything helpful in this "old" support article: Mac OS: Moving files from your older Macintosh to a new on.

 

[CalGrunt]

you couldn't install 8.6 on the iMac if you wanted to. Cannot happen.

What type of files are we talking mostly? Music, Word files, RAW/JPEG, etc. I would almost certainly set up an Ethernet connection between the two. My biggest fear wouldn't be moving them (should be relatively easy, even with 8.6 on the G3) but rather making sure you have OS X versions of all your apps.

Someone with a bit more hands-on than I can explain an ethernet crossover from 9/X.

Most of the files are Word files, JPEG, Wavs and Mpeg's.

One other issue regarding trying to set up file sharing. When I tried to do this on my G3, it said that I couldn't because file sharing lib. was missing and I can't find my old System 8 install disk.

So.............anyone know where I can download a version of file sharing lib for 8.6?

 

[rainman::|:|]

Oh, yeah, I forgot how terrible OS 8 was for networking. even if you find filesharinglib for 8.6 you may be missing other components. balamw's advice is sound and may be your best option-- unfortunately you'll have to spend a bit of cash on a drive enclosure, but at least you could sell it after you're done and recover some. a once-used enclosure should be easy to eBay off.

uploading to a server might work, but most servers limit the amount you can upload at a time... you don't want to have to do this in 10mb chunks. If you can find a host for a month that will let you FTP such a large amount of data-- and you have the time (and high-speed connection) to dedicate to first uploading (which is very slow) and then downloading it, it's an option that might be cheaper. but it's riddled with hassle.

Ultimately, unfortunately, I don't know of a way you're going to do this without spending money...

edit: does anyone know of an FTP server application that will run on 8.6? if you could serve the files from the G3 directly to the iMac, by manual IP address... I think that might work... ?

 

[Macky-Mac]

Pull the hard drive from the G3 and put it in an external enclosure?

Dunno if the G3 was SCSI or IDE, but IDE enclosures are cheap, SCSI you might want to try eBay.

I've done this kind of thing with a few System 7 vintage boxes where I have pulled the drive, placed it in a linux box and dd'ed it over to an image that can be run in Basilisk II. Kinda fun, but I don't think that works for System 8.

B

haha....way easier to just use the ethernet cable.....friend of mine had to transfer his files off an old powertbook that was running OS 8.1 and move them to a new ibook thats running OS 10.4 .....it worked out fine....WAY easier than pulling the hard drive

he did have to transfer the files by working from the old power book to make the connection because of some issues with OS10.4 and filesharing....but it workded....and hey, if you're just wanting to move the files to your new machine it's a much simpler to plug an ethernet cable into the two machines than it is to be pulling hard drives

 

[mduser63]

I think the easiest route if you don't mind taking the hard drive out of the G3 is to get an external firewire or USB enclosure. Take the hard drive out of the G3, then put it in the enclouse and use that to transfer your files over. OS X should have no problem reading the OS 8.6 hard drive, you won't have to do an indirect two step transfer, and the whole process should be quite fast. That's how I would do it anyway. Of course, I'm assuming that the G3's drive is an IDE drive. If it's SCSI, I'd probably try to do it over an ethernet cable.

 

[mwpeters8182]

If you can get online, and there's a version of AIM that supports file transfer, just do it that way.

That's how I got all my crap from my PC to my mac when my laptop HD sounded like it was going to die.

 

[spinne1]

If your system 8 is not letting you network, consider downloading system 7.5.3 for free, then installing it, then setting it up to network, then using an ethernet cable. (if you want to retain your os 8 setup, before you install os 7.5.3, rename the entire os 8 system folder to something else and then install the 7.5.3, but don't reboot in between!--although it's been so long that you may not even need to do that-it may just install and keep the old stuff there with a renamed system folder??)

http://forums.macosxhints.com/archive/index.php/t-30414.html

Here is 7.5.3:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macos/428

 

[balamw]

it's a much simpler to plug an ethernet cable into the two machines than it is to be pulling hard drives

I agree, networking is much easier when the machines are capable of it and set up to talk to each other, or a common server.

When I've pulled hard drives it's because networking didn't work and/or like for the few Mac IIs I was trying to archive they didn't have an Ethernet port, and I didn't have any other macs to connect via AppleTalk.

SCSI or Firewire Target modes are great alternatives, but again the machines have to be compatible. Does no good if you have an older Powerbook that does SCSI, but have no SCSI port to connect it to. Or a newer FireWire machine and no FireWire port.

Which brings me to another possibility, does the G3 have a PCI slot you could add a firewire 400 card to? I know I've got an older Adaptec card that I just pulled out of a PC was supposed to be Mac compatible. I presume the iMac can be put in target mode, no?

B

 

[maxterpiece]

AIM is a good solution. If you can get them both on the same network, AIM will take advantage of the 10/100 network speeds and it should go pretty quickly. How much stuff are we talking about transferring here? If it's just documents then you could probably email them to yourself.

Alternatively, just buy a used IDE enclosure on ebay. I bought mine used for $28 shipped. You can then keep the old drive or buy a new one and use the external HD for backup. They're pretty easy to use - as long as you are confident with a screwdriver you will have no problems.

 

[CalGrunt]

Thanks for the ideas guys. Much, much appreciated. I think I'm gonna try the AIM route and if that doesn't work, I'll try downloading System 7.5.3....................

BTW, how can you tell if your HD is SCSI or IDE ??

 

[CalGrunt]

Oh, one other question. My connection speed is 256 up and 3000 down. How long do ya think it would take to transfer 2GB of files over using:

AIM--File Transfer
Ethernet File Transfer
Email

Thanks again.

 

[Josh]

Assuming you can connect to the net, you could always try creating archives of groups of files, then email yourself those archives using GMail, then on the new iMac, check your mail and download them, unarchive them, and voila!

 

[balamw]

Oh, one other question. My connection speed is 256 up and 3000 down. How long do ya think it would take to transfer 2GB of files over using:

Just transfering 2GB of data over a 256kbps line will take around 17.5 hours. Download would be up to 12X faster, i.e. 1.5 hours.

Assuming the G3 only has 10Mbps ethernet you'd be able to do it in ~30 minutes.

Speed directly hooking the drive up could be better than the 10BaseT speeds, but woun't be just a few minutes, but as it is an older drive it will be limited by the drive's electronics, buffer, etc...

I think AIM will be close to 10BaseT, e-mail will potentially take a hit from MIME encoding/decoding.

B