Can I swap G5 & Intel iMac startup drives?

[Goop]

We've got a 17" G5 iMac and a 20" Intel iMac that need to switch places and users. The easiest thing for me, would be to just swap out the internal hard drives.

They both have Leopard installed, but I don't know if the different processors get dedicated system software installed, or can I just swap 'em?

 

[jodelli]

That's not going to work. The universal aspect only applies to the install disks, not the installation on the HD.

 

[Goop]

That's not going to work. The universal aspect only applies to the install disks, not the installation on the HD.

That sucks.

So it would only work if both machines were the same type of CPU or is it even more complicated than that?

 

[SkyBell]

That sucks.

So it would only work if both machines were the same type of CPU or is it even more complicated than that?

That should be the only issue, but it might also have to do with the other hardware. (I don't know if Leopard installs drivers for all hardware on every install, or just the specific ones for that machine.)

 

[old-wiz]

software aside, the hard drives might not even be the same interfaces.

 

[jodelli]

software aside, the hard drives might not even be the same interfaces.

That's true. Some of the early 17" G5s were offered with PATA drives.

 

[BlueRevolution]

That should be the only issue, but it might also have to do with the other hardware. (I don't know if Leopard installs drivers for all hardware on every install, or just the specific ones for that machine.)

All hardware. You can safely clone a drive from one Intel Mac to another, or one PowerPC Mac to another. I'm not sure if that holds true with Snow Leopard's aggressive optimization, though.

 

[szark]

The answer is no.

Intel Macs and PowerPC Macs use different hard drive partitioning schemes for their boot drives. Intel machines can only boot off a drive with a GUID partition scheme, and PowerPC machines can only boot off a drive with an APM partition scheme. So neither drive will be able to boot in the other machine.