Target disk mode

[seablue]

I just found some articles on this little trick and I would like to hear from you guys if this will indeed work with my machines and what are the chances of really messing things up -- I don't want to be computer-less.
I have an emac G4 800MHz and a fairly new ibook. I just bought Tiger 10.4 for the emac and want to install it BUT, the eMac doesn't have a DVD drive.
Can I do this:
Using FireWire Target Disk Mode

This installation method relies on the ability of modern Macs to boot into a special mode called “FireWire Target Disk Mode” that causes them to be seen by other computers are simple external FireWire hard drives. It will require that you have a spare Mac with a built-in SuperDrive or Combo drive (anyone knows why they aren’t called ComboDrive, by the way?) to play with.

Start by starting the DVD-deprived Mac into FireWire Target Disk Mode, by holding the “T” key down until you see a big FireWire logo dancing on the screen. Then, by using a thick, known-good FireWire cable, connect it to your other Mac and wait until it appears on your Desktop.

Finally, insert the Tiger DVD into the computer and restart it. From there on, simply follow the traditional steps. You will be able to select the external Mac in the Installer Window as the destination drive for Mac OS X. Your other volumes should be left intact.

Would I be able to use the ibook as the host?? I don't know why but this sounds pretty scary.
Thanks for any help on this matter.

 

[mad jew]

Yeah, it'll work on those machines. Have you read this? Of course, it works for the retail version of OSX and not necessarily for the bundled restore discs that come with some machines.

 

[seablue]

Yeah, it'll work on those machines. Have you read this? Of course, it works for the retail version of OSX and not necessarily for the bundled restore discs that come with some machines.

Yeah, I read that from apple - which made me feel a little better that it would work. I do have the retail version of OSX NOT restores
DH said he was going to go out of town IF I do this target disk mode thing
He said, "just take it to Mac Docs and let them do it. So nothing goes wrong."

 

[seablue]

Celebration!

Well, mac docs wanted 30.00 to install memory and 60.00 to install tiger on my emac. So, I bought a firewire cable and attempted to do it myself. I installed the extra memory and I couldn't believe how easy it was!
Then the new operating system --- using my ibook as the host computer and doing the target disk mode. It WORKED!!! Emac is running and has OSX 10.4.6 now. I'm jumping up and down
Question: It saved ALL my old files and everything. Should that have happened? I thought if I went to a completely different operating system, it would have gotten rid of everything and I would have to start over. Do I need to do anything else like get rid of old stuff to make room for all this new? I want enough space and memory.
I see that OS 9 is still there in folders. From the old OSX 10.2 I can throw those out can't I? Now I'm not sure what I can toss out from the old operating system. I'm kind of wishing it would have gotten rid of ALL the old 10.2 stuff.

 

[mad jew]

Congratulations! Is there a folder named Previous System Folder or something similar on your hard drive? If so then you did an Archive & Install and can therefore delete this folder to re-cumulate a fair whack of space. Otherwise just be happy that the Upgrade Install replaced all your old system files with new ones. You don't need to worry about deleting everything.

 

[seablue]

Congratulations! Is there a folder named Previous System Folder or something similar on your hard drive? If so then you did an Archive & Install and can therefore delete this folder to re-cumulate a fair whack of space. Otherwise just be happy that the Upgrade Install replaced all your old system files with new ones. You don't need to worry about deleting everything.

No there isn't. I've done an archive re-install before and had a previous system folder but there isn't one now after doing this upgrade. There is a folder named damaged files - Do you know what that's about? There are only 4 items in it. Blank items labeled, Address book exporter and AppleSym8xx...

 

[mad jew]

I'm pretty sure they're just files that have been corrupted by the installation (upgrade) and can safely be deleted.