full system transfer - one laptop to another

[mongushu]

Hello all!

I have a quick question about transferring an entire system install and user files from one laptop to another.

I am trading my 15" G4 laptop for a 12" G4 laptop. The guy i am trading it with would like me to transfer his entire system from his 12" to my 15.

What is the best way to do this? Of course, I plan to fully erase and reformat my hard drive first to protect my information.

But beyond that..... I am familiar with 'T-ing up", creating images, etc, so a fully technical explanation isnt totally necessary... just a procedural outline.


Any help you guys can proved is fully appreciated.


thanks
-mongushu

 

[PlaceofDis]

boot in FW Target mode on the destination machine,
erase in disk utility.
use SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner to create the exact drive on the destination drive.

there you go.

 

[mongushu]

After reading around a bit more.. i think ive found the way im going to do this....

Please let me know if you can see any issues i might run into.


I will erase and reformat my 15" powerbook without installing any system software.

I will then use Firewire Disk Mode to have my 15" powerbook's Hard Drive appear as an external drive on the 12" powerbook.

Then using Carbon Copy Cloner, i will copy the entire 12" startup drive to the empty 15" hard drive.

From there, the 15" should boot up, right? Exactly as it had been on the 12" right?


Thanks in advance.

 

[mongushu]

thanks PlaceofDis.

the destination computeris the 12" or the 15"? I know that i need to erase the 15".... but i think the Target Disk Mode terminology is getting me mixed up.

sorry for the confusion.

 

[PlaceofDis]

the destination drive is the one you need to Clone to, so that would be your 15" since his current is the 12" correct?

FW Target mode is just booting holding the "T" key down and it'll appear as an external on the machine its connected to by FW.

 

[Sherman Homan]

It doesn't get easier than the Migration Assistant and Target mode. If you have a Firewire cable, Migration Assistant will walk you through it! You say you are going to reformat yours first, but make sure that with Disk Utility, Erase, you choose zero all data. That actually over writes the data, simply erasing merely removes some directory information, not the data itself. There are plenty of ways to recover "erased" files. You can go nuts with multiple zero passes, depending on the amount of time and paranoia you have!

 

[andiwm2003]

would it be possible to do this with a PB G4 and migrating the data to a Intel MBP? or is it better to install the system and all apps manually and then coppy the home folder?