[rotuts]

Im going to help a friend after they get a new mac mini (once OS 10.4 comes with it) port from their current iMac running os 10.3 to the new mini 10.4

the imac is an old one and only has a usb port. can this be done? I know apple has some sort of app on the newer OS's to do this, but I didn't know if it works only with firewire or how to set it up.

any ideas?

thanks rotut

[reader50]

Originally posted by rotuts:
...
the imac is an old one and only has a usb port.
...

It also has an ethernet port. Turn on sharing and copy everything across.

[Leonard]

Originally posted by reader50:
It also has an ethernet port. Turn on sharing and copy everything across.

Yeah, just plug an ethernet cable (any ethernet cable - it doesn't have to be a crossover cable) into the iMac and mini Mac. Turn on Appletalk and sharing and away you go. Let us know if you need more details.

[rotuts]

this porject is still in the pipeline and awaits 10.4 on the mini.

I take it I set up the mini with 10.4, then connect to the 10.3 iMac and then copy all the apps and all the files.

but this is not my mac so i son't know where all the files or apps are. I thought that the OS had some sub routine you called up and it found all the stuff to pass over.

thats what I was looking for, to have the mini with 10.4 "know" what to take over and what to leave behinds, it the 10.3 stuff.

I might not be being clear.

rotut

[Leonard]

That "subroutine" is setup assistant and it requires the Mac being copied from to be in firewire target disk mode. If the old Mac doesn't have firewire target disk mode you can't use it. You have to do it manually or use something like Carbon Copy Cloner, or...

If you don't know where the apps are on that Mac and what it has that's another problem. You should at least know where your all your apps are. The more experienced people here can tell you wheere most other things are... for instance you likely want your user stuff in the User folder in the folder named with your user account.

[rotuts]

OK good help so far.

I know all that stuff on my computer, but this is anothers computure who is less that savy.

I suppose Ill just copy over all the user folders and all the desk top stuff like that.

thanks for letting me know that the settup assistant only works with firewire in target mode, which I understand.

thanks

rotut

[rotuts]

hello again

my friends decided not to go with 10.4 as they have an old g3 where it might not run. so I have to get the mini to 10.9 ( no problem ) and then connect it with a ethernet cable to the iMac and open file sharing.

then is all I do is make sure each folder on the imac is completely transferred to the mini? ie the complete contents?

the imac is running 10.3.6 I think.

so it would be just the apps folder, other stuff on the HD and the desktop? I assume I have to transfere all the pref files?

maybe I shouldn't have undertaken this project! I don't want to corrupt 10.3.9 with older OS stuff from the imac 10.6

let me know if you are still stubscribed to this.

thanks a lot, I appreciate your help1

rotut

[P]

Grab your home directory (includes ~/Library/Preferences), the not included Applications, anything you have installed in /Library (like Fonts or Quicktime components or something like that) and if you have put anything else in the root folder (I have a Documents folder there, for instance).

[waffffffle]

If you take the hard drive out of the iMac and put it in a FireWire enclosure (about $40) you can use the assistant that runs when you first boot up the Mini. This will work fine with the mini on 10.4 and the iMac on 10.3.x

[rotuts]

wow thats an intersting idea. I have a firewire enclosure I could use.

but my friends want to give the iMac away and Ive never looked to see how hard it is to take out the HD.

would CarbonCopyCloner work via ethernet cable? if so, how would I set that up?

I like the firewire idea if getting the HD out and back in is easy.

thanks rotut

[P]

Originally Posted by rotuts

wow thats an intersting idea. I have a firewire enclosure I could use.

but my friends want to give the iMac away and Ive never looked to see how hard it is to take out the HD.

would CarbonCopyCloner work via ethernet cable? if so, how would I set that up?

I like the firewire idea if getting the HD out and back in is easy.

thanks rotut

Removing the harddrive is hard from most iMacs. It can be done, and I've done it myself on a slotloader, but doing this via Ethernet is way easier and not that much slower.

Carbon Copy Cloner is a trivial program to use. I'd do it this way:

* Boot up the Mac mini. Start File Sharing for some folder and mount that folder from the iMac.
* On the iMac, start Carbon Copy Cloner. Select the currently running startup disk as the Source and the mounted network drive as the target.
* Deselect any files you don't need (all the hidden Unix directories + /System, at least)
* Hit clone. Go out to lunch, see a movie, whatever. Or play with the Mac mini, Nanosaur 2 is fairly cool.
* When it's done, shut down the share and start moving stuff around on the Mac mini.

[IceEnclosure]

[QUOTE=P]Removing the harddrive is hard from most iMacs. It can be done, and I've done it myself on a slotloader, but doing this via Ethernet is way easier and not that much slower.

I find that removing a HD from an iMac (Tray Loading Rev. D in particular) is rather easy. I've done it many times and it's only about 8 or so screws, slide out the chassis and pull the HD.

or CCC it.

or Ethernet it.

[rotuts]

thanks Ice

I think I might try it by taking out the HD. do you think there is a picture/diagram somewhere that you remember on how to do this?

thanks again rotut

[Kyros]

If you CCC it you would have to re-install Tiger, as the iMac is using Panther righ? Or can you choose what files to ignore with CCC? I haven't used it that much, so I'm not sure myself.

[P]

Originally Posted by Kyros

If you CCC it you would have to re-install Tiger, as the iMac is using Panther righ? Or can you choose what files to ignore with CCC? I haven't used it that much, so I'm not sure myself.

You can chose which files to pick. By default it selects everything, but you can deselect stuff that you don't want.

[rotuts]

well bad news so far.

I tried to take out the HD and do the firewire box idea, but it seems too hard to do that. I got the optical disconnected and then the HD is really buried in there.

So I thought Id go ethernet cross over, as I have that cable.

I set up file sharing and on each computer under go to network the other computer;s name appears but then when I click on that icon, if I enter as guest it won't show me anything. If I connect as registered user, it won't accept the password for the other HD.

the password for each computer is the same!!..

so Im really stuck. something called dropbox came up, I copiedd the desktop foler from the iMac to the dropbox on that screen that seemed to belong to the mini, the imac said I wouldn't be able to see anything in it, and looked at the drop blx on the mini and it said i had insuffient priviledlges.,

what a dummy I feel like now.

should I start a new thead in network or are all you savy power network types still suybacribed to my screwed up thread??

do I need help now!

rotut

[P]

I don't know what you did wrong, but the easiest thing to do is probably to write "share files" in Mac help and do as it says.

[chris v]

Don't connect as "guest" or as the username on the new mini. Log into the old iMac from the Mini using the username and password from the old iMac.