Transfer settings to new Mac doesn't work?

[c-Row]

Hello,

I was trying to transfer the settings and programs from our old G4 (running OS X) to our all new and shiny Mac Pro we received at the office today. Setup on the Mac Pro was running fine to the point where he asked me to boot up the old machine and hold down "T" until the FireWire symbol appears on screen (both machines were hooked up via FireWire cable).

The symbol appeared, but the Mac Pro didn't seem to establish any connection with the old G4. When I pulled the cable, I got a message that the Mac Pro can't import any settings because the G4 wouldn't have OS X installed (which is obviously wrong).

I didn't want to keep the Mac Pro waiting there all day, so I continued setup. Everything went fine from there, but I still want to import all the stuff from the old machine. So...

(1) Any idea why he couldn't see OS X on the old machine in the first place? Is there a problem with transfer between PPC and Intel machines?

(2) If I get this to work, is it possible to import settings even after the Mac Pro has been set up? Or would I need to run a new setup?

Your help is much appreciated!

 

[JNB]

You ran Setup Assistant, which is (in theory) the same as Migration Assistant, but who knows. You can run Migration Assistant anytime (Applications>Utilities>Migration Assistant). What it will transfer is:

• Users
• Applications
• Network and Machine Settings
• Files
• Volumes

Try it again, following the steps closely. I've never heard of an issue like this between two Macs. Make sure that you see the old Mac on the desktop as an available volume.

Check out http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25773 for add'l info...

 

[c-Row]

Cool, will try this later. Let's hope your sig's "I told you so..." is right.

 

[c-Row]

So, I followed the instructions of the Migration Assistant... hooked both machines together via FireWire, booted the old G4 until the logo appeared on screen. The Mac Pro mounts it as FireWire drive as intended, but then the Migration Assistant beach-balls away and doesn't respond anymore.

According to the instructions on apple.com the old G4 needs a firmware update... let's see how I get this without network access (we run a Windows domain, and our company won't let the Mac join in... suckers).

Thanks so far

 

[c-Row]

ARGH!

No firmware update since the G4 only runs OS X, but the updater needs to be started from within OS 9 - but all I see when trying to boot is the standard drive with OS X installed...




Gonna try to hook up the harddisk via USB adapter... maybe this works.

 

[AlexisV]

What version of OS X do you have? You shouldn't need to update the firmware - you just need to do this so that you can upgrade OS 9.2 to OS X.

Migration works with OS 10.1 and later, so it should work unless you have the ancient buggy first version of 10.0.

See if you can indeed connect the two computers: plug in the ethernet cable and look under Network on the new Mac Pro. You should be able to connect and delve into the G4's hard drive.

 

[c-Row]

I decided to open the G4 and hooked the harddisk to the Mac Pro via USB. Worked like a bliss. Still wonder why it didn't work via FireWire in the first place...

Thanks for your help!