Migration Assistant problems

[dylanemcgregor]

I'm trying to use the MA to move settings from a PowerMac G4 to a new Macbook. The PowerMac is a dual boot system with OS 10.3 and OS 9, each OS is on it's own hard drive. I really just want to move the settings from the OS X drive, and maybe a couple of files from the OS 9 drive (but that is easy enough to do over the network, so I don't have to use MA for that).

So I fired up MA on the new Macbook (running Tiger), plugged in the firewire cable to both machines, and restarted the Powermac while holding down T. THe firewire symbol came up on the Powermac, and I can see the OS 9 hd on the Macbook desktop...but that's it. The MA still shows that it is waiting for disks to appear even though it has been going for over 30 minutes. I did a search on Google, but didn't come across anyone with a similar problem. Anyone have any idea if I'm doing something wrong, or am missing some step?

Thanks,
Dylan

 

[mad jew]

Is OSX kept on a second internal drive? As far as I know, Target Disk Mode can't recognise anything but the primary internal drive.

 

[dylanemcgregor]

Is OSX kept on a second internal drive? As far as I know, Target Disk Mode can't recognise anything but the primary internal drive.

Yep, it is on a second internal drive, but it is the default boot drive. I thought the Target Disk Mode would work with any bootable volume?

If that is not the case what's the best way to transfer files from the drive?

 

[mad jew]

Nah, I think it only works with the primary drive (not necessarily the default boot drive). You may need to swap the drives around inside your case, or at least the cables. Having said that, I'd avoid Migration Assistant since it's quite buggy. Sine you're going from PPC to Intel and from 10.3 to 10.4, you might run into trouble with Migration Assistant for anything less basic than your documents. 🙂

 

[richmk]

Changing Primary Drive

How exactly do you make the secondary drive the primary drive on a G4? I tried just putting the cables on the secondary drive and disconnecting the primary but when I rebooted, the drive was not recognized.

Nah, I think it only works with the primary drive (not necessarily the default boot drive). You may need to swap the drives around inside your case, or at least the cables. Having said that, I'd avoid Migration Assistant since it's quite buggy. Sine you're going from PPC to Intel and from 10.3 to 10.4, you might run into trouble with Migration Assistant for anything less basic than your documents. 🙂