[WSKCONDOR]

This may be a software post, so forgive me, but I think powerbook users might know best and this is about getting up and running on a new powerbook G4. I just bought a new Powerbook, and I want to transfer EVERYthing from the iBook 900MH G3 I have been using to the new system.

1) Should I purchase a program like Powersync?
2) If I use BACKUP with the iBook and an external hard drive, can I then RESTORE to a different computer (i.e. the Powerbook G4)?
3) Should I just boot one as a firewire target and then drag the entire profile from my iBook to the Powerbook? (will that work with programs like Microsoft office, etc?)
4) If I boot the new Powerbook as a firewire target drive, and then copy my iBook profile PLUS applications folder, will that work, or will the libraries be screwed up.

I would think someone (maybe LOTs of Mac fanatics) would have upgraded and wanted to smoothly move from one day to the next but with the newer faster model, while keeping all the habits the same from the last model. (including addressbooks, desktop pictures, applications, itunes, certainly all documents, and not to forget the little third party add on software packages that were on the old machine.)

Help/experience/opinions?

[shadowofleaves]

carbon copy cloner

www.veriontracker.com

[riotge@r]

Originally posted by shadowofleaves:
carbon copy cloner

www.veriontracker.com

I second Carbon Copy Cloner. No need to buy software.

[SSharon]

Cabon Copy Cloner

[vinster]

Originally posted by WSKCONDOR:
This may be a software post, so forgive me, but I think powerbook users might know best and this is about getting up and running on a new powerbook G4. I just bought a new Powerbook, and I want to transfer EVERYthing from the iBook 900MH G3 I have been using to the new system.

<snip>

Help/experience/opinions?

Hey mate, congrats on the new PB!

In regards to moving your existing installation from your iBook onto your new computer without missing a beat. Yes, Carbon Copy Cloner is a part of the picture but you need to do a few more things in order to complete the procedure.

Here's what I did and it worked perfectly.

1. Plug in firewire cable to your powered-down PB and boot your computer into firewire disk mode (press and hold the T key and power on until you see the firewire logo bouncing around on the screen), plug the other end of the firewire cable into the normally-booted iBook.
2. When you see the new computer's HD, fire up disk utility and format the drive (set up partitions if you want and name the HD).
3. Fire up carbon copy cloner and duplicate the iBook drive over to the freshly-formatted PB HD.
4. Once CCC's done its thing, unmount the HD and power down the Powerbook, disconnect firewire cable.
5. Power up the new PB and insert disc 1 of the Powerbook software restore DVD (your new PB will hang when booting). Once the DVD's in, hold the power key for 5 seconds in order to shut it down then restart while hold the C key to boot off the DVD.
6. Re-install the system software from the restore DVD. I recommend doing an archive and install (this is also a good time to go into the customise installation settings and choose not to install the extra languages and printer drivers you'll never use (saves a lot of space and re-installation time)).
7. Restart off the HD which should now boot up just like your iBook does. Log in, test apps check settings, run permissions repair, etc.
8. Restore the extra apps (iDVD, Garage Band, etc.) from the restore DVDs.

(be sure to keep the previous system folder around for a few days just in case... - you can delete it at some point down the road once you're satisfied everything's working properly)

That's it! Good Luck.

Cheers,

[Jack-iMac]

i believe thats www.versiontracker.com, cheers.

[WSKCONDOR]

OK, Many thanks and I pulled the trigger. We'll see how it works. I am specifically worried because I am going from an iBook to a Powerbook (no superdrive to yes superdrive) so some things like iDVD which are installed already on the Powerbook will be wiped clean, and are not installed on the iBook. I can reinstall later, I am just not sure what else I am missing.

i.e. I wonder what programs or features come on the Powerbook that I would never see on an iBook (like, for instance, Graphic Converter comes pre-installed on the Powerbooks, but not the iBooks-NOT that GC is a big deal, I just mean as an example. I wonder if there are other things I will be missing).

Does Garage band do a different installation on a G4 machine than it does on a G3 machine? Stuff like that...

I have the restore discs (with the new Powerbook), so I guess I can always punt if I feel I have missed a lot, but it doesn't solve my problem of stuff on the iBook I want on the powerbook.


Thanks again for the CCC idea and I am cloning away as I type....I suppose I will go right to iPhoto then iTunes, then iDVD and Garageband, to see how they translate. Then MIcrosoft suite. I will post my findings.


WSK

[WSKCONDOR]

OOOH, I JUST SAW VINSTER'S POST!
What will happen if I didn't do step 2)? i.e. did not format the new PB hard drive? Won't CCC wipe everything anyway? It is in the middle of cloning now, so I don't know if I should stop it.... Is it just for naming the hard drive?

[vinster]

Originally posted by WSKCONDOR:
OK, Many thanks and I pulled the trigger. We'll see how it works. I am specifically worried because I am going from an iBook to a Powerbook (no superdrive to yes superdrive) so some things like iDVD which are installed already on the Powerbook will be wiped clean, and are not installed on the iBook. I can reinstall later, I am just not sure what else I am missing.

i.e. I wonder what programs or features come on the Powerbook that I would never see on an iBook (like, for instance, Graphic Converter comes pre-installed on the Powerbooks, but not the iBooks-NOT that GC is a big deal, I just mean as an example. I wonder if there are other things I will be missing).

Does Garage band do a different installation on a G4 machine than it does on a G3 machine? Stuff like that...

I have the restore discs (with the new Powerbook), so I guess I can always punt if I feel I have missed a lot, but it doesn't solve my problem of stuff on the iBook I want on the powerbook.


Thanks again for the CCC idea and I am cloning away as I type....I suppose I will go right to iPhoto then iTunes, then iDVD and Garageband, to see how they translate. Then MIcrosoft suite. I will post my findings.


WSK

All that stuff's on the 2 restore DVDs (including GraphicConverter and the Omni� apps). Those discs are designed to return the PowerBook to the factory state.

In regards to the different machine configurations, OS X includes everything needed in order to boot any compatible machine and will reconfigure itself to the new computer when booted.

Let us know how it went once you're done.

[vinster]

Originally posted by WSKCONDOR:
OOOH, I JUST SAW VINSTER'S POST!
What will happen if I didn't do step 2)? i.e. did not format the new PB hard drive? Won't CCC wipe everything anyway? It is in the middle of cloning now, so I don't know if I should stop it.... Is it just for naming the hard drive?

You should be OK as any weirdness in the system folder will be dealt with during the archive and install phase. Formatting's just a recommendation.

[WSKCONDOR]

Well, a couple of hours later, it didn't work.
:=(
Everything was going smoothly, or at least as planned and as expected up until the final restarting on the internal hard drive. It boots up, everything looks normal, and then.....

It comes up with the log in screen (even seems to think it is the old iBook, and has the correct name) but I can't log in.
It will not accept my old log in from the iBook

What's more, when I go "back" it doesn't have my old name as an option. It only says "Other" and has that shadow outline of a profile. So it seems to all be there, but I can't get to it.

Any ideas before I undo everything I have done and rescrub the hard drive of my new machine?

[vinster]

Perhaps you do need to format the hard drive as part of the procedure. If you've got time, I'd try again as even doing this twice is quicker than re-installing from scratch.

[rag on a muffin]

only thing id like to add is that you should leave the system on the new computer. sometimes software for ibooks are different than software for powerbooks, which could screw up your system. i did this and had to reinstall and took even longer. just copy essential files. it also helps keep your disk organized.

[WSKCONDOR]

OK,
REAL THANKS to Vinster and all. I tried but I chickened out in the end. Here's why:
WHEN I USED THE CARBON COPY CLONE:
GOOD:
-seemed to transfer everything fine to the new PB
-All system stuff, etc gets transferred, and that takes a long time
BAD:
-As detailed, when I finally tried to boot up. my profile was "gone" and there was only a "root" profile. I could reset the password for "root", and did so to finally log on, and at that point I can see my old profile, etc, but it doesn't exist as a valid profile in the system preferences anymore.
-being silly, I thought, "well, all the data is there, what if I just creat an admin enables user with the same name as the olf profile?" And I did just that.
-When I logged on as the old/new profile name, it actually worked, SORT OF, in that I could see my old desktop stuff, BUT I couldn't access anything like documents, iPhoto library, etc, because it didn't think I had sufficient privileges. (I tried repairing permissions, a couple of times, no luck).
-FINALLY, I was worried about that "weirdness" coming back later and not knowing if there was some strange thing in the operating system with permissions, etc. I couldn't get to my MAIN data anyway, so I just stuck the restore disc back in and did a clean system restore install.

WHAT I FINALLY DID:
-System reinstall (erase and install), at this point I am now lacking applications that came from the factory...but I will take care of that later.
-Boot new and clean PB, and create my profile, happened to use the same name as my iBook profile.
-Re-Boot newly cleaned PB in FW target drive mode, and plug into the booted iBook.
-drag the entire contents of my old profile from the iBook into the same folder on the PB. This takes a little bit, but not as long as Carbon copy clone, because there is no system to install (i.e. if I had started using this method).
-drag CERTAIN programs straight from iBook APPLICATIONS folder into PB APPLICATIONS folder, these included (and they work fine on the new machine)
---Adobe Acrobat 5, Photoshop 7
---Limewire, Fire (chat)
---Roxio Toast 6.0.5
-The rest I bought into reinstalling, including:
---Microsoft Office suite
---Here's where software restore from the PB comes in, I popped it in and it specifically states that it will not reinstall iMovie, iPhoto, or iCal, maybe acouple of others. But that's good, because now my new profile was driving the iCal, Mail, iPhoto, and iMovie programs, and it works fine. No hiccups. What the restore disk DOES do is put Garage band back on, and I guess those other things like Graphic Converter, Omni Graffle, etc.

Not sure about the exact difference in time required. But I feel confident about the system on the new Powerbook and that peace of mind is worth a little something. The main things are that Mail, iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, my documents and desktop are all there, and that's MOST of my digital life. I keep completed movies on a separate hard drive, so that was not a factor.

NOTES on the POWERBOOK:
it's a 12" 1.33GHz with the faster 80GB hard drive installed. About to put an extra 512 MB memory in as well.
-seems smaller than the iBook
-Sound is really cool (that little midrange speaker, I guesss)
-it's noticeable faster than my TiBook 1GHz I had before it's drop to a concrete floor in Gatwick.
-Nice to be back in the monitor spanning business.
THANKS AGAIN.

[rag on a muffin]

you would have saved some time if you listened to me.

[mikeini]

just out of curiosity, would i follow the same steps if i were going PC to PB? (transferring info from pc like mp3s, and other files over to the pb).

[rag on a muffin]

you would have to do it over ethernet, or airport.