[peborah]

I just bought a G5 with OS X, and I also have an older Mac (G3 running OS 8.6). I am wondering if someone could tell me the easiest way to transfer files from the hard drive on my G3 to the new G5. Can I simply connect the two together somehow and drag and drop files from the old one to the new one? Any help is much appreciated!

Thanks,
Debbie

[barbarian]

The fast way:

If your old mac has firewire.

1. Boot your G5 holding down the T key. (the screen will show a firewire symbol)

2. Connect a firewire cable between the two machines.

3. Your G5 will show up as a firewire drive on the G3. Create a folder called transfer and copy everything over.

The slow way:

1. Buy an ethernet crossover cable. Connect the cable to both ethernet ports.

2. Turn on file sharing on both machines. Make sure appletalk is turned on.

3. Browse the network on your G5 (network icon). Log into your old machine and start copying.

(if you have a router you can just buy regular ethernet cable, but it sounds like you don't have a router)

Slower still, but archival! If you old machine has a CD burner:

1. Burn the files onto a CD.

2. Put the cd in your G5.

Slowest way

Mail yourself the files you want on the G3.

Pick up the mail on the G5.


My guess is that you will end up with option #2. Just say the word if you need more help.

[peborah]

Thanks very much barbarian! When I get home, I will see if the G3 has firewire. If not, I'll get the crossover cable and go that route.

One follow up question. Will I need a special firewire cable if I do have firewire on the G3, as I assume both ends would have the same gender on the Macs?

Debbie

Originally posted by barbarian:
The fast way:

If your old mac has firewire.

1. Boot your G5 holding down the T key.

2. Connect a firewire cable between the two machines.

3. Your G5 will show up as a firewire drive on the G3. Create a folder called transfer and copy everything over.

The slow way:

1. Buy an ethernet crossover cable. Connect the cable to both ethernet ports.

2. Turn on file sharing on both machines. Make sure appletalk is turned on.

3. Browse the network on your G5 (network icon). Log into your old machine and start copying.

(if you have a router you can just buy regular ethernet cable, but it sounds like you don't have a router)

Slower still, but archival! If you old machine has a CD burner:

1. Burn the files onto a CD.

2. Put the cd in your G5.

Slowest way

Mail yourself the files you want on the G3.

Pick up the mail on the G5.


My guess is that you will end up with option #2. Just say the word if you need more help.

[ginoledesma]

Nope. You can use a regular 6-pin to 6-pin Firewire cable that has the same jack on both ends, which is pretty much the same cable used to connect most external Firewire devices like CD-RW/DVD-RW/Hard disks. The other type of Firewire cable has to do with a "mini-jack" (6-pin to 4-pin), used by devices like video camera recorders and digital cameras.

6-pin to 6-pin Firewire Cable


6-pin to 4-pin Firewire Cable

[beni]

If you are going to use ethernet, I don't think you need a crossover cable, as the G5 has "auto-sensing", don't waste your money, use a normal ethernet cable if you allready have one.

[york28]

Indeed, all recent macs (including my 500 mhz iBook) have auto sensing, because I just transferred files in this way today.

[barbarian]

If you are going to use ethernet, I don't think you need a crossover cable, as the G5 has "auto-sensing", don't waste your money, use a normal ethernet cable if you allready have one.

I recommended crossover because I've had some problems with auto-sensing when going from a machine that doesn't have it to a machine that has it. It did work eventually but it was a bit flaky.

[bergy]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by barbarian:
[B]The fast way:

If your old mac has firewire.

1. Boot your G5 holding down the T key. (the screen will show a firewire symbol)

2. Connect a firewire cable between the two machines.

3. Your G5 will show up as a firewire drive on the G3. Create a folder called transfer and copy everything over.



This is all good except for what she wants just reverse the computers. You want the G3 to show up as a firewire drive correct?

Here are the complete instructions from Apple ..

FireWire Target Disk Mode
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583-NA

[Bouba]

What I usually do, I open both machines take the HD of one and put it in the other one... my G3 doesn't have firewire so it is the fastest solution for me.

[chris v]

Originally posted by Bouba:
What I usually do, I open both machines take the HD of one and put it in the other one... my G3 doesn't have firewire so it is the fastest solution for me.

G5 has Serial ATA drive ports. Won't work with older ATA drives.

CV

[barbarian]

If the drive in the G3 is an ATA drive there are relatively cheap firewire enclosures... that you could use.... but unless the old drive is pretty big, it's probably better to spend your money on a new drive or more memory and just transfer the files the old way.