I have a G4 mac mini that I bought in 2005. It is on 10.4.11 or whatever the latest tiger system is. I also have a brand new MacBook pro that is running on 10.7.3. I want some of the software and files from my mini on my laptop (since I've had it since 05, i obviously can't find the disks) and I talked to the guys at the apple store who told me with the model of mac mini i had, i would need to put it in target disk mode and connect both computers via appropriate firewire (800/400 9 pin to 6 pin)and i could move whatever compatible software there is over. Well i put the mini in target disk mode (i went through the disk utility) and it fired up in target disk mode, however, the Macbook pro is not recognizing that anything is plugged up. I'm not getting any of the common error messages, just nothing at all. No disk image, nada. If you have any ideas, please help. (And yes i have everything all plugged up through apple cables and such and have restarted both devices several times)
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HELP!!! MacBoock not reading Mini in Target disk mode
- Thread starter yokourt
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Does the Mac mini (Mm) show up in Disk Utility? And when you say
What about using a LAN connection to transfer files via file sharing?
do you mean Mac mini > System Preferences > Startup Disk > Target Disk Mode...?
What about using a LAN connection to transfer files via file sharing?
Yes, that is what i meant. And no I had not tried the LAN connection because the guy at the store told me that wouldn't work because of the version of mac mini I have. So you are basically saying that i should put it in target disk mode and try LAN instead of the firewire?
File sharing via LAN (Ethernet) will work with your hardware and OS version.
Target Disk Mode will not work via Ethernet, only via Firewire. And since the G4 Mac mini only has a 10/100 Ethernet connection, you are limited to 12 MB/s (42 GB/h) compared to Firewire 400 and its 40 MB/s (140 GB/h).
File sharing works, when it is enabled in System Preferences > Sharing on the computer you want to share FROM (in this case, your Mac mini, and the Mac mini is booted into the OS and not Target Disk Mode.
Again, does the Mac mini HDD show up in Disk Utility while booted into TDM on the new Mac?
No, the mini is not showing up at all. I am not worried about how fast or slow it takes, I can't get to that point. I can definitively tell that the mini is in TDM, however it does not show up on the MacBook at all. I followed the directions exactly on the apple website for using migration assistant to move stuff from 10.4 to lion and it just does absolutely nothing.