Should I try again or backup and reformat?

[GeeYouEye]

I'm trying to transfer OS X from my iBook to my iMac DV+, and having no sucess whatsoever. I have done the usuall routine of make all the folders visible and move .bin sbin .dev .hidden etc. I moved all of the relevant OS X folders (sa far as I can tell) and when I try to boot, I get the smilie face and the spinning beach ball. I tried to boot up again using cmnd-v and it seems to not like something. It gets stuck either on "line 23 of rc.common" or something else which I can't identify. So... what should I do? Should I:

a) keep trying to transfer the files and search for any that I may have missed

b)back up all my data to an external HD and use the iBook software restore on the iMac (Fry's ripped me off and didn't give me the OS X install CD and the Software Install CD only has OS 9)

c) I have the OS X.1 upgrade CD. I know there was a way to make it a full install CD, before Apple made macfixit.com kill the article. I am also faily certain of which file to edit/remove. Only problem: I don't have Toast (and don't really have the money to buy it) and my CD burner (Sony/OnSpec CRX-1002XE with CRX-120XE mechanism) doesn't work in OS X (actually it does as long as it's in a FireWire enclosure (according to people on the apple.com discussion boards), but it's USB, and I don't have a spare FireWire enclosure) so I can't make a bootable CD, as far as I can tell. I do, however, have a demo of CharisMac's Discribe 5 Demo (OS X) with 5 free burns left on it, but when I try to use that, it'll only let me make an OS 9 bootable CD, unless there's something I've missed.

Any thoughts/suggestions greatly appreciated.

 

[evildead]

I dont know what to tell you

I dont know what to tell you but to get an OS X CD and start from scratch.

If you had OS X on an external drive you could boot off it and then do a dd command at the terminal and copy all the files over to your internal drive... but if the dirves are diffrent sizes... the you will wast some space doing that. your new internal drive will be the same size as what ever external one was... and it only works if its the same size or smaller.

you could also try using nfsdump. you could dump everything from the / directory over to the / directory of you internal dirive. I think it work work in Solaris but I don know about OS X.

you can look up those cmmands with the man command at the terminal

#man ufsdump
#man ufsrestore

... I think that would work... but I have not tried it.

 

[AmbitiousLemon]

Re: Should I try again or backup and reformat?

Originally posted by GeeYouEye
(Fry's ripped me off and didn't give me the OS X install CD and the Software Install CD only has OS 9)

dude im sorry about frys. frys is a terrible terrible terrible terrible terrible terrible store. i got ripped off by them once and refuse to ever go back. you dindt mention doing this, but you definitely need to go back t frys and raise some hell and get them to give you the osx disc you bought with your imac. threaten to contact apple about it as well. when frys ripped me off i made agrwon man start crying over the telephone, thats how i was able to talk to the manager. they will jerk you around and try to screw you at every turn but make sure you get what you paid for and then make sure you NEVER buy from Frys again. every frys in CA ive been to has had protesters out in front of it of people who have been ripped off. im amazed they are still in buisiness with the way they lie cheat and steal from their customers. its a pain in the ass but you need to get down there and make sure they give you what you bought.

as far as how to transfer the data. i always like starting fresh so im not sure. evil has some good pointers and i would start there but in os9 i always used a disc image to copy one drive to another. so if all else fails see if that will work for you.

 

[GeeYouEye]

Thanks

Thanks for the advice. I'm probably going to cave in and buy the full version of OS X. As for why I didn't go back to Fry's, I'm at least 40, usually 90 minutes away, and it took a hell of a lot of ...negotiating... to get them to give me the price they had posted. It was an open box unit, only turned on once, so there was a $75 discount. They tried to get away without giving me the discount. Here's how I know they're not jus incompetant: the guy who said that there was a discount took a break RIGHT after he printed out the invoice/receipt thing. Just about RAN off. It took the manager almost dragging him out of the break room to get the right amount printed. needless to say, I have no desire to go there again. BTW, it was the iBook that didn't come with the OS X CD. The iMac was a demo unit from CompUSA. Didn't come with anything except keyboard, mouse and power cord, but it was only $350 plus a packaged $250 warenty. I think from now on, I'll be buying from Apple for everything except RAM.

 

[round2]

Worth a Try

Hi

I don't know if this will work but it is worth a try.
There is a Software out there that alows you to transfer a runing OS X from one Hardrive to another. It is called "Carbon copy Cloner" and is available at the http://mactips.bombich.com/ .
If your iMac and iBook both have Fire wire then the easest way would be to use a Firewire drive as the go between. And you should be abel to Boot with the FW Drive to test if it works. The Big Problem with X is that it has a lot of Hiden Files which don't get copied the conventional way.
I Hope it Works

 

[evildead]

re: AmbitiousLemon

I hate Fry's!!! I have had to return about 3 out of 7 things that i get there. I try to avoid shopping there at all costs. I actuly broke down and went there this weekend. A friend of mine and I had a pretty large combined shopping list and they had sales on most of the stuff. So Fare they are all working (the stuff I got)

I got an IBM 60GB 7200 RPM drive for $99
A Battery back up system(630v) for $29
and 50 pack of Fugi CD-R's for $8

not to bad... and worth the trip if it all keeps working.

I almost paid for for the drive on line just so I didnt have to shop at Frys!