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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > Data Transfer: Target disk mode, or network.

Data Transfer: Target disk mode, or network.
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Googer-Giger
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Dec 13, 2010, 02:13 PM
 
Hey guys, the two Pros arrived! Mine: 2x4/8GB/Radeon 5870/512 SSD/ 2X 2TB. Dad's: Quad/6GB/5770/512SSD/1TB! Both under the tree and wrapped, along with a 30" Dell and some refurbished 20" ACDs. I just have to finish finals and get home! (It's funny because I got my Dad his pro, and he got me mine).

With the Pros here, I have a couple last questions. My Dad's data transfer is easy, I'm just gonna throw his 160 GB HD from his G5 into the 3rd disk bay, so he can access that data when he wants it, and throw a new boot drive in the G5. My transfer isn't as easy, I havn't used my two G5s as dominant machines in a couple years, so I will be transferring data from my MBP.

First Question: Does FW Target Disk Mode with with an 800 to 800 cable?
Second Question: Does Migration Assistant (might be a better option than the TDM) allow you to select specific files, or does it just copy the entire disk (might be a stupid question, but I have never used migration).
Third Question: Wired Network: Would I be able to mount the MBP drive on the Pro, or copy the data from where it is, without moving it into a shared folder on either machine, or to our Buffalo RAID?
Final Question: If I can do 1, 2, or 3, which would be the best?

I have about 300 Gigs on my boot drive right now, mostly junk, but I'd rather not have all the junk transferred, just some, which is why I don't wanna clone the disk.

Thanks, Jesse
( Last edited by Googer-Giger; Dec 13, 2010 at 04:28 PM. )
I miss the days of the G5 and XPS Pentium 4 running side by side as high-end machines.
     
mduell
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Dec 13, 2010, 04:48 PM
 
1) Yes.
2) There's some granularity, but not per-file.
3) Yes.
F) Just copy the files you want over the network.
     
P
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Dec 13, 2010, 06:26 PM
 
I think you're confusing the subject slightly: There is Migration assistant versus the Finder, and wired network versus Firewire Target Disk Mode. You can use the Finder to copy over TDM, and you can use Migration Assistant over a network. MA is just a way to easily grab certain common sets of files. Target Disk Mode is faster than wired network, and you don't have to worry about permissions when copying, but the differences aren't huge. IME, Migration Assistant can be a little flaky when copying from PPC to x86, but that's just personal experience. I copy user data with Migration Assistant and then let the Finder copy the bulk of the data.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
mduell
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Dec 13, 2010, 09:04 PM
 
I didn't confuse anything, I prefer the network approach so the MBP remains usable while copying. Either way you bottleneck on MBP disk performance.
     
Googer-Giger  (op)
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Dec 13, 2010, 09:23 PM
 
I've always thought network was faster, if both machines have gigabit ethernet, what stops them from moving files across at the rated speed of a cat5 cable? And thanks for the help guys.
I miss the days of the G5 and XPS Pentium 4 running side by side as high-end machines.
     
CharlesS
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Dec 13, 2010, 11:03 PM
 
Sending them over the network will entail a bunch of network overhead, whereas FireWire will connect you straight to the hard disk, with the only overhead being the FW-to-SATA bridging. My intuition is that FW800 will be faster despite having 20% less bandwidth.

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AKcrab
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Dec 14, 2010, 12:40 AM
 
In "real world testing" CharlesS is 100% correct. No matter what it shows on paper, firewire is always faster than ethernet.
     
P
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Dec 14, 2010, 07:27 AM
 
Originally Posted by mduell View Post
I didn't confuse anything, I prefer the network approach so the MBP remains usable while copying. Either way you bottleneck on MBP disk performance.
I meant the OP confused the issue, not you.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
Waragainstsleep
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Dec 14, 2010, 07:54 AM
 
Firewire is faster, seconded.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
Googer-Giger  (op)
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Dec 14, 2010, 11:09 AM
 
So firewire + target disk mode it is then! Thanks so much for the help fellas.

Jesse
I miss the days of the G5 and XPS Pentium 4 running side by side as high-end machines.
     
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Dec 14, 2010, 11:38 AM
 
Always use firewire. Much faster
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