I'm trying to set up a new iMac for my Dad that we got him for Christmas. What is the best way to transfer pics, docs, etc. from the old Mac to the new one?
The older Mac is a G3 iMac.
The older Mac is a G3 iMac.
Mac Users....
- Thread starter Captain Ice
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Hook them up with firewire and use the Migration Assistant program.
You launch it on the new computer.
Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > Migration Assistant
(Or just search for it in Spotlight.)
If the old computer doesn't have firewire or the OS is too old and won't work with MA, write back and tell me what went wrong.
You launch it on the new computer.
Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > Migration Assistant
(Or just search for it in Spotlight.)
If the old computer doesn't have firewire or the OS is too old and won't work with MA, write back and tell me what went wrong.
Possibly, but I don't have either one of those in a format that would be readable on a Mac.
Small white car has it. Migration Assistant will do all the work if both computers have Fire wire or an ethernet connection (but firewire is faster and easier).
Cat5 cable comp to comp.
The new iMac should make it a crossover cable automatically. If not, use a crossover cable if you've got one.
If that doesn't work, USB thumbdrive.
The new iMac should make it a crossover cable automatically. If not, use a crossover cable if you've got one.
If that doesn't work, USB thumbdrive.
Exactly. And any number of USB flashdrives will work with a Mac. I transfer files and pics from Mac to PC and back again all the time with a flashdrive.
Few disk formats aren't readable to the Mac. There may be some issues with NTFS, but most others should be fine.
The only reason you might want to format a thumb drive in HFS+ is because it will be more easily repairable by Mac-based utilities if something goes wrong.
Yeah, but why do you keep suggesting the extremely complicated way?
Migration Assistant takes about 2 minutes to set up, then you just let it work.
Using a thumb drive will take at least an hour (possibly more) while he searches through the file system for things like system and application preferences, widgets, bookmarks, saved mail, and other things like that. It would be a bad idea to just wipe over the entire file system on a new machine from an old one, so he'll be off on an adventurous hunt for each and every detail he wants to keep.
I mean, if that's the only option left to him then he's gotta do it. Sometimes that's all you can do if your other options don't work out. But you've suggested it as your primary suggestion, not as a last resort.
^^ I've done that as well when doing a remote install of an OS onto an older G3 as well as when a friend did it for me when I didn't have a DVD drive on my previous G3.
I don't see how using a flashdrive or a portable external hard drive is anymore complicated than having to hook up two computers to each other. Hell, it strikes me as less complicated. And I wasn't the only one who suggested it.
I don't see how using a flashdrive or a portable external hard drive is anymore complicated than having to hook up two computers to each other. Hell, it strikes me as less complicated. And I wasn't the only one who suggested it.
How is spending 2 minutes doing something that needs nearly no computer knowledge less complicated than spending an hour doing something that requires some moderate level computer knowledge?
Do you supposed the OP knows the difference between
/Macintosh HD/Library
and
/Macintosh HD/Users/name/Library?
Because that's only step 1 in the lessons he needs to learn in order to do it with a flash drive. (And heaven help him if there's any Adobe programs installed on that machine.)
I see no reason he needs to learn all that. Just use the automatic system that's specifically built to do all of that.
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