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File transfer from old iMac OS9 to PB OS X

cb911

cb911

macrumors 601
Original poster
Mar 12, 2002
4,134
4
BrisVegas, Australia
well i just need some quick advice on how to transfer some files from an old iMac running OS 9 to my PowerBook running OS X.

i was going to just put the files on my iPod and then burn a CD on my PowerBook off the iPod. but i just checked and the iMac is really old, it doesn't have any FireWire ports. it's just got 2 USB and one network port.

so is there any way i can boot in 'target disk mode' (where you hold down 'T' at boot) using USB instead of FW?

or, how would i go about setting up a network between the two computers if i just have a regular network cable?

basically, i've got about 1.4GB to get off the iMac. what's the easiest way to do that?

thank you for the help. it's much appreciated. :)
 
Just link the two computers with a standard Ethernet cable and turn Appletalk on on both machines. Also turn file sharing on (at least for the PBook). I can't remember how you turn Appletalk on in OS9 (maybe Selector - see below); in OS X it's a tab under "builtin ethernet" in the network pref pane (in Panther).

Apple Menu --> Selector on the iMac

You should see the PBook under the AppleShare icon. Select it and click "ok". Use your user name and password from the PBook. Once connected you can mount your PBook's home (or the entire drive of the PBook or both) on your iMac's desktop. You can then just drag and drop from the iMac.

Hope this works/helps! (it's been a long time since I've used OS 9)

(if a standard ethernet cable doesn't work, use a non cross-over one, or is it a cross-over? Anyways, the other type of Ethernet cable)
 
whocares, thank you very much. :)

i'll try that tomorrow. before i read your post i was also thinking whether i need cross-over or a non cross-over cable? can anyone clear that up? or else i'll just buy one of each, don't want to take any chances:)
 
cb911 said:
whocares, thank you very much. :)

i'll try that tomorrow. before i read your post i was also thinking whether i need cross-over or a non cross-over cable? can anyone clear that up? or else i'll just buy one of each, don't want to take any chances:)
Click to expand...

In doubt, buy the "non-standard" as it is sure to work (ask the sales rep., he'll know). Modern Macs support both types of cable, but I'm not sure the iMac will.
 
cb911 said:
whocares, thank you very much. :)

i'll try that tomorrow. before i read your post i was also thinking whether i need cross-over or a non cross-over cable? can anyone clear that up? or else i'll just buy one of each, don't want to take any chances:)
Click to expand...

Your new mac should make teh crossover irrelevant, but the old one would need it on a direct connect. I did this when I moved with no problems at all. It copies a huge amount very fast. I"m sure someone else can tell me how fast, but all of my accumlated docs, which probably were only 200mb, went over in seconds.
 
thaks everyone. :) i'll pick up a crossover this morning, and see how it goes.

the purpose of doing this is to back up some data from the iMac, becuase obviously it doesn't have a burner. so i was going to burn over the network from my PB. should i be able to do that? i've done it at home with my PCs with no problems...

and should i have to reboot both machines after AppleTalk and everything else is fixed up?
 
cb911 said:
thaks everyone. :) i'll pick up a crossover this morning, and see how it goes.

the purpose of doing this is to back up some data from the iMac, becuase obviously it doesn't have a burner. so i was going to burn over the network from my PB. should i be able to do that? i've done it at home with my PCs with no problems...
Click to expand...

Yes. But I think it would be easier to just drag, drop & burn.
To do it, mount your iMac's drive on the PBook's Desktop (Connect with Cmd-K in the Finder). Then just add the files to the CD from the "network" drive as you would from any other device. Burn. Bob's your Uncle.



cb911 said:
and should i have to reboot both machines after AppleTalk and everything else is fixed up?
Click to expand...

IIRC, no. Just turn it on, plug in the network cables, turn on file sharing and voilà! :cool: :cool:



Le Big Mac said:
Your new mac should make teh crossover irrelevant, but the old one would need it on a direct connect. I did this when I moved with no problems at all. It copies a huge amount very fast. I"m sure someone else can tell me how fast, but all of my accumlated docs, which probably were only 200mb, went over in seconds
Click to expand...

That's entirely true, but I wonder if the newer Mac can't mannage the direct connect for both machines?
 
well i've got the crossover cable now and i'm just leaving for college to try this out. hopefully it works well, because after today everyone's on holidays for a week. :D

ah, i just remembered my brother has a 512MB RAM drive. i could have taken that with me as well for a backup plan. :rolleyes: oh well.
 
success!! :D well that all went well without any problems. i just used a crossover cable and it was too easy. although i only ended up transfering the files using the iMac, i couldn't see the iMac from my PB. i still wish i could have burnt a CD over the network using my PB but it was still easy enough.

experiences like this really make me happy that i've got a Mac. :)
 
cb911 said:
thaks everyone. :) i'll pick up a crossover this morning, and see how it goes.
Click to expand...

FYI, you only need a crossover cable of neither machine can auto-sense the connection. Since the PowerBook can, you could have gotten away with a standard ethernet cable. And also, not all new machines have auto-sensing - I think the consumer level machines still don't, but if you must know Apple should have knowledge base articles on it (I know it's in the hardware developer docs).
 
didn't i need a cross-over because the iMac is older model? it wouldn't have had auto-sensing would it? or does only one of the computers need auto-sensing?
 
cb911 said:
didn't i need a cross-over because the iMac is older model? it wouldn't have had auto-sensing would it? or does only one of the computers need auto-sensing?
Click to expand...

Only one machine needs auto-sensing.
 
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