How do I transfer data from g4/os10.4 to intel imac/os10.5?

[rmcknight]

When I restart the g4/800mhz quicksilver while holding "t" it issues the sound of happiness and hums for a bit then clicks off. There is no regular error message on the imac but I did get "there is no osx disc on your old computer, etc". Is there any way to do this without having to be smart enough to put every f'ing file in the right place on the imac? These machines are supposed to be smarter than I am right? BTW every drive on the g4 has os 10.4 installed on it. I'm looking for that clean transition from one computer to the next. Am I screwed?

Also, is there some reason I wouldn't be able to install os 10.5 that came with the imac on a macbook/2.0? I know I'm an idiot, but I appreciate any help.
RM

 

[MarkMS]

Also, is there some reason I wouldn't be able to install os 10.5 that came with the imac on a macbook/2.0? I know I'm an idiot, but I appreciate any help.
RM

I don't think I can help you with the transferring of data, but restore discs that came with the iMac are just for that iMac model. So you can't use those discs for any other computer like a MacBook. Just something Apple did. I don't know why, but I'm guessing it's for drivers and etc. OS X Leopard is not too expensive and if you check out sites like eBay and CraigsList, I'm sure you'll find an inexpensive copy.

 

[sickmacdoc]

OK before anyone can really offer help I think we need a little more info to know the situation more.

You mention in the first line pressing the T key which tells me you are attempting to use Target Disk Mode, so I am forced to assume that before doing that you have connected a FireWire cable to the Mac you wish to transfer files to and you are performing the steps in the Apple "Using Firewire Target Disk Mode document, right? When you next mention "the iMac" what revision/edition might it be- is it an Intel based iMac or an older PowerPC based one?? What are you attempting to transfer from the Quicksilver to "the iMac"-- data files, OS files or ?? I ask that because I wonder if you should not be using the Migration Assistant instead of TDM.

On the second part of your question, the System Restore disks that come with each model are configured for that model, so it very doubtful that you can use them in spite of that also being a violation of the EULA. Each computer ships with their own set of disks designed for them, and replacement sets are available from Apple at a moderate cost too, BTW.

 

[rmcknight]

G4/800mhz/os10.4 to intel iMac/2.4ghz/os10.5 set up transfer.initial

Okay, I just bought the intel iMac. It's the latest machine, or one of them. When I turned it on for the first time it asked if I had a mac I wanted to transfer data from, I told it: yes, I do. Imac asked me to stick the fw cable into both machines and click continue: I did what I was told. It told me, very politely, to restart my old machine and hold the "t" down: obedience to the machine was my reply. The rest I have related above-- the g4 made a happy sound, breathed a bit then clicked off. iMac said it didn't know g4 at all.

 

[danny_w]

If you have an external hard disk the simplest thing may be to make a clone of the g4 hdd using SuperDuper! or CCC. After you make the clone, attach it to the new Mac and run Migration Assistant in the Applications/Utilities folder (or restart from scratch if the new Mac hasn't been setup yet and still gi es you the setup screen). The external hdd clone is treated exactly like the g4 in target disk mode would have been if it had worked.

 

[velocityg4]

Will the G4 boot normally?

You have two other options. You could connect by Ethernet turn on file sharing on both computers then transfer your data manually. Or you could get an external enclosure and to install the G4's hard drive into. Then you could either use migration assistant or manually move your data.

Since you are moving from PowerPC to Intel I would recommend against moving applications and use recent Intel native versions instead.

 

[rmcknight]

Does system boot normally etc

Yes. G4 works properly besides this little glitch.
Thanks for the advice. I guess I'm stuck bypassing the g4 as target disc.
Question-If imac won't recognize g4's discs while inside g4 is it likely that it would recognize them in an external box.
Question- if I clone g4's os in an external isn't that the same as just physically removing the discs and putting them into an external box?
Question- does anyone know why this would happen? I mean is this an os corruption or a hardware glitch?
I can transfer files via wireless but of course that take days. Is there a special ether. cable I need or does a regular one do the job?

 

[BlueRevolution]

Question-If imac won't recognize g4's discs while inside g4 is it likely that it would recognize them in an external box.

Yes. I don't think the problem is with the hard drive itself, since the computer works otherwise.

Question- if I clone g4's os in an external isn't that the same as just physically removing the discs and putting them into an external box?

Yes, only a lot easier.

Question- does anyone know why this would happen? I mean is this an os corruption or a hardware glitch?

Beats me. It'd have to be hardware, though, since target disk mode is OS-independent.

Is there a special ether. cable I need or does a regular one do the job?

Nope, any cable will work.

 

[velocityg4]

Question- does anyone know why this would happen? I mean is this an os corruption or a hardware glitch?

I think it is just a problem with PMG4's. Target Disk never worked on my old Digital Audio G4.

Since I always had two or more hard drives installed I assumed it was a limit of target disk mode. Since all other single hard drive Macs never had this problem. Although this never mattered to me since I have always transferred files manually.

 

[madog]

I think it is just a problem with PMG4's. Target Disk never worked on my old Digital Audio G4.

Since I always had two or more hard drives installed I assumed it was a limit of target disk mode. Since all other single hard drive Macs never had this problem. Although this never mattered to me since I have always transferred files manually.

You can have multiple external drives plugged into one that you are putting in TD mode and they will all appear fine, as well as any other drives installed internally; or at least it should.

Otherwise, this might not sound like much of a tip, but don't have the machines plugged into each other when attempting TD mode. If anything, unplug any external devices (keyboard/mouse are fine, you do after all need the keyboard) and then attempt to boot into TD mode. If it is successful, then attach them together with your FW cable. You'll notice it when the machine your booting into TD mode displays a grey screen with a yellow/orange FW logo ("Y" looking).

I've had problems before with machines attached and then booting into TD mode, so that wouldn't surprise me at all if the machine is otherwise running normally.

 

[madog]

Is there a special ether. cable I need or does a regular one do the job?

You referring to an ethernet cable? Because it needs to be a FireWire cable, either 400 or 800 (whichever is compatible with both machines. Both your machines should only have 400 though.) Just makin' sure.

 

[dolphin842]

Call me crazy, but I don't think Target Disk Mode will work in this case, since one Mac is PowerPC and the other is Intel. Trying to boot a G4 with Intel boot disk (or vice versa) never worked for me.

In any event, as someone mentioned earlier, it's probably best to do a fresh install of 10.5 on the iMac, then have the Migration Assistant move over your files and settings from the G4.

 

[madog]

Call me crazy, but I don't think Target Disk Mode will work in this case, since one Mac is PowerPC and the other is Intel. Trying to boot a G4 with Intel boot disk (or vice versa) never worked for me.

In any event, as someone mentioned earlier, it's probably best to do a fresh install of 10.5 on the iMac, then have the Migration Assistant move over your files and settings from the G4.

As far as I can tell it's an new intel iMac or fresh install and he's using the migration assistant.

Either way, as long as both the machines have firewire the migration will work across a PPC to an Intel Mac. That's not to say it doesn't have the potential for stranger issues to happen, but it works.

 

[dolphin842]

FWIW, Migration Assistant technically works over FireWire, Ethernet, or AirPort (though the last option is known to have problems).

Has the OP tried Migration Assistant yet? My post was in reference to him/her trying to boot via Target Disk Mode.

 

[danny_w]

FWIW, Migration Assistant technically works over FireWire, Ethernet, or AirPort (though the last option is known to have problems).

Has the OP tried Migration Assistant yet? My post was in reference to him/her trying to boot via Target Disk Mode.

I don't think he ever got that far, since the g4 rebooted when entering TDM. The Migration Assistant is what runs during initial setup to migrate data, or you can also run it manually.

 

[rmcknight]

Damnit

Madog is correct in his interpretation, it is a new imac running 10.5.

I think the rest of the info is lost in the fray here, namely that the g4 is an 800mhz quicksilver and so, according to mac, it will not run os 10.5

Migration is explicit in saying that both machines have to be running 10.5 to migrate with airport.

As for the firewire, well, it's not clear to me anyway if 10.4 of the g4 is a problem––I think that's what were talking about.

In terms of ethernet, I only saw that option during the initial start up and since I was an impatient fool I went ahead and set up an admin account so I'm beyond that point. If there's a way of getting that option again I'll certainly try it, but right not I only see FW and AP.

So, yes, I tried initial transfer at setup, then migration after admin account setup.

Okay, I tried booting as target without fw connection. no workee. Same failure. Happy, hum, click off.

My comment about the ethernet cable was in response to a person who suggested manual transfer of data via eth. connection and file sharing.

I don't want to do this because every time i've tried to 'clean up' or otherwise organize any of the files behind the user interface, everything in the user interface has been f'd up.

I not an expert by any means so I may be missing the point, and the manual transfer might be really simple. If this is the case please tell me to stop whining and just use the ethernet transfer, but something tells me that the standard transfer can work.

Something someone said made me think that if I disconnect all but one of the discs in the g4 that one might boot up as a target disc. Does this sound plausible.

 

[dolphin842]

Hmm... it's odd that it's not working. The only other option I can think of is to do a fresh install on the iMac, then try the migration assistant that appears during the initial configuration.

 

[danny_w]

Hmm... it's odd that it's not working. The only other option I can think of is to do a fresh install on the iMac, then try the migration assistant that appears during the initial configuration.

What good is a fresh install on the iMac going to do? The problem appears to be that the Quicksilver g4 cannot go into TDM. It looks like to me the only recourse is to clone the g4 or put the g4's hdd into an external box, and use that with migration assistant. I would strongly suggest the former (cloning) as this is much easier and will rewrite any bad files onto the external disk (not a sector copy).

 

[rmcknight]

I would strongly suggest the former (cloning) as this is much easier and will rewrite any bad files onto the external disk (not a sector copy).

I don't understand. Won't the clone on an external drive be in the same unbootable condition as g4's internal drives? or does and external have a different status?

 

[madog]

FWIW, Migration Assistant technically works over FireWire, Ethernet, or AirPort (though the last option is known to have problems).

Has the OP tried Migration Assistant yet? My post was in reference to him/her trying to boot via Target Disk Mode.

Learn something new everyday! That's cool that ethernet works, AP doesn't sound like a fun prospect unless you had an Air.

To the OP, if you've only tried booting up to TD with the computers connected to each other, try booting up to TD mode without em connected. It's not a common occurence but I have had that happen to me.

 

[madog]

I would strongly suggest the former (cloning) as this is much easier and will rewrite any bad files onto the external disk (not a sector copy).

I don't understand. Won't the clone on an external drive be in the same unbootable condition as g4's internal drives? or does and external have a different status?

If you clone the PM G4 to an external HDD, then you're totally bypassing its inability to boot into TD, and you have all the same data otherwise. No system files are copied over unless used for a third party app for personal data/preferences. For example, third party mouse drivers and such won't copy over, but the preferences for it will.

Therefore, when you get into migration assistant you can select "From Another Volume on this Mac" if it's a USB external drive, or "From another Mac" if it's a FW drive and it's skipping that target disk mode part. When it states "Waiting for other Mac to Boot", it just waits for the external to mount, and should work fine after; as when you do TD mode it just allows the internal HDD of a Mac to mount as if it were an external drive.

 

[danny_w]

I would strongly suggest the former (cloning) as this is much easier and will rewrite any bad files onto the external disk (not a sector copy).

I don't understand. Won't the clone on an external drive be in the same unbootable condition as g4's internal drives? or does and external have a different status?

As I understand it the g4's drive IS bootable, just not in TDM. And when we Mac users use the word 'clone' we seldom mean a true disk image clone (as in the Windows world). By 'clone' I mean a SuperDuper! clone, which is file-by-file, and then is made bootable by SD!.

 

[rmcknight]

If you clone the PM G4 to an external HDD, then you're totally bypassing its inability to boot into TD, and you have all the same data otherwise.

Therefore, when you get into migration assistant you can select "From Another Volume on this Mac" if it's a USB external drive, or "From another Mac" if it's a FW drive and it's skipping that target disk mode part. When it states "Waiting for other Mac to Boot", it just waits for the external to mount, and should work fine after; as when you do TD mode it just allows the internal HDD of a Mac to mount as if it were an external drive.

I suppose that's the solution. Thanks everyone. Sorry I'm so dense, but I always come away from these chats a bit more savvy. RM

 

[danny_w]

Good luck in your attempt to get this to work. I also learned an awful lot from this forum when I got my first Mac. BTW, your posts would be much easier to read and to tell what was being quoted if you would use the Quote button on the post you are quoting; this will put the quoted text into a text box so that it stands out, like this:

If you clone the PM G4 to an external HDD, then you're totally bypassing its inability to boot into TD, and you have all the same data otherwise.

Therefore, when you get into migration assistant you can select "From Another Volume on this Mac" if it's a USB external drive, or "From another Mac" if it's a FW drive and it's skipping that target disk mode part. When it states "Waiting for other Mac to Boot", it just waits for the external to mount, and should work fine after; as when you do TD mode it just allows the internal HDD of a Mac to mount as if it were an external drive.

I suppose that's the solution. Thanks everyone. Sorry I'm so dense, but I always come away from these chats a bit more savvy. RM

 

[Sun Baked]

Of course it is a PowerMac, so it is simple enough to take out the drive put it in a dirt cheap USB/FW case.