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fastest way to transfer at least 40GB to new MB

S

S2KNICK

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 20, 2008
3
0
I have an old 17'' iMac and need to transfer over a large amount of data to my new MB. The imac does not have USB2.0 but does have Firewire and the opposite for the new MB so Im not sure what my best bet is to go about this. I have heard about the use of ethernet but was told it would be complex. I think the old iMac has a dvd burner in it though. The only other option I see is to buy a USB/Firewire external drive .



any help would be appreciated thanks!
 
any way to find more info on how exactly to go about doing that?
 
No FW, posters.
Use an ethernet cable between the two computers and setup the connection using Network in System preferences. If you worked before with FW and Target mode the ethernet isn't much different. Even dig up and use Apple Talk if you have too.
I used to use this sort of connection between older PowerMacs and the early backup-less iMac fairly regularly, using a crossover cable. Newer Macs can use an ordinary ethernet cable however.
If both computers are already on the same network and in the same workgroup you can move folders that way.
 
Enable file sharing on both Macs (system prefs->sharing), and Internet Sharing over Ethernet on the MB only (you don't need to have an internet connection when you do this). Join the two Macs with an Ethernet cable - you should now see the iMac showing up in the MB finder window. Select it and Connect As with the username and password of the iMac. Now drag and drop to your heart's content.
 
Yea Ethernet is your best bet here since the new MBs don't have firewire. I would use AppleTalk to transfer your data.
 
ibosie said:
Enable file sharing on both Macs (system prefs->sharing), and Internet Sharing over Ethernet on the MB only (you don't need to have an internet connection when you do this). Join the two Macs with an Ethernet cable - you should now see the iMac showing up in the MB finder window. Select it and Connect As with the username and password of the iMac. Now drag and drop to your heart's content.
Click to expand...

There you go. You can also use a wireless network instead of ethernet, but its a lot slower.
 
8theapple said:
use firewire
Click to expand...

Chaos123x said:
I would use FireWire.
Click to expand...

geez read properly!

sangosimo said:
gigabit ethernet. If you have a network setup up file sharing or use sftp/ssh.
Click to expand...

i agree.

lasuther said:
There you go. You can also use a wireless network instead of ethernet, but its a lot slower.
Click to expand...

would be slow, 802.11G.. no thanks

S2KNICK said:
I have an old 17'' iMac and need to transfer over a large amount of data to my new MB. The imac does not have USB2.0 but does have Firewire and the opposite for the new MB so Im not sure what my best bet is to go about this. I have heard about the use of ethernet but was told it would be complex. I think the old iMac has a dvd burner in it though. The only other option I see is to buy a USB/Firewire external drive .



any help would be appreciated thanks!
Click to expand...

hey man, definitely use a gigabit ethernet cable. that would transfer at around 30mbps-40mbps. that would be the fastest way.

as an indication..

wireless (802.11g): 2mbps-3mbps
100mbps ethernet: 8mbps-10mbps
1000mbps (gigabit): 30mbps-40mbps
firewire (if you had it): 30mbps-60mbps (best option but not for your case)
USB: 10mbps-30mbps (probably in the lower scale because of the slower G5 mac processor).

hope this helps.
 
DoFoT9 said:
wireless (802.11g): 2mbps-3mbps
100mbps ethernet: 8mbps-10mbps
1000mbps (gigabit): 30mbps-40mbps
firewire (if you had it): 30mbps-60mbps (best option but not for your case)
USB: 10mbps-30mbps (probably in the lower scale because of the slower G5 mac processor).

hope this helps.
Click to expand...

wireless n is faster then 100mbit ethernet.
gigabit ethernet has a max of 125MB/s
 
Jesus people...

New MacBook = NO FIREWIRE.

The OP's only good option is to get a crossover cable and connect them through ethernet.
 
Warbrain said:
The OP's only good option is to get a crossover cable and connect them through ethernet.
Click to expand...

No need for a crossover cable just a normal ethernet cable will work fine. Macs have had clever ethernet ports that auto-detect that it is connected to another computer and adjust themselves accordingly.
 
Similar quandary...

I have a similar problem as the OP. I will need to transfer tens of gigs of data from my Powerbook 12" to my new Macbook (once I get the Macbook, with the expected delivery date being 5th November). The Powerbook has no gigabit ethernet, so I will be stuck with the slower transfer speeds of 100Mbps ethernet.

Now here's the wrinkle. My Powerbook has only 40GB of hard disk space, so I have backed up a lot of less frequently used data to an 80GB Lacie external disk (including my 15GB iTunes music collection. Imagine living without music for the past several months. That's another reason I am so waiting for the new Macbook to arrive). Anyways, that's a Lacie FIREWIRE external disk. So I can't connect it to my new Macbook.

Is there a way to connect the external drive to my Powerbook and then directly copy the data via Ethernet to the Macbook? I suppose this will involve exporting the the drive as some kind of network share? Because the alternative - copying a chunk of data from the Powerbook to the Macbook, deleting it on the Powerbook, copying another chunk from the external drive to the Powerbook, copying it to the Macbook, lather, rinse, repeat.... is almost too painful to contemplate. :mad:

Any help on the bold part above would be greatly appreciated. :D
 
ATimson said:
And 802.11N caps out at 37.5 MB/s.

Both of which are moot, as I doubt the old iMac has gigabit or 802.11N. :)
Click to expand...
thus why i didnt include it :)

sangosimo said:
wireless n is faster then 100mbit ethernet.
gigabit ethernet has a max of 125MB/s
Click to expand...

in the real world situation, with a G5 imac that doesnt have raid-5 raptors that is NEVER going to happen. the drive speed of the iMac will allow around about 40mbps-50mbps at max.

John Jacob said:
I have a similar problem as the OP. I will need to transfer tens of gigs of data from my Powerbook 12" to my new Macbook (once I get the Macbook, with the expected delivery date being 5th November). The Powerbook has no gigabit ethernet, so I will be stuck with the slower transfer speeds of 100Mbps ethernet.

Now here's the wrinkle. My Powerbook has only 40GB of hard disk space, so I have backed up a lot of less frequently used data to an 80GB Lacie external disk (including my 15GB iTunes music collection. Imagine living without music for the past several months. That's another reason I am so waiting for the new Macbook to arrive). Anyways, that's a Lacie FIREWIRE external disk. So I can't connect it to my new Macbook.

Is there a way to connect the external drive to my Powerbook and then directly copy the data via Ethernet to the Macbook? I suppose this will involve exporting the the drive as some kind of network share? Because the alternative - copying a chunk of data from the Powerbook to the Macbook, deleting it on the Powerbook, copying another chunk from the external drive to the Powerbook, copying it to the Macbook, lather, rinse, repeat.... is almost too painful to contemplate. :mad:

Any help on the bold part above would be greatly appreciated. :D
Click to expand...

oh that will be very very simple! sharing disks under leopard is not hard at all, i would definately be able to help you out for this problem
 
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