What is the best way to transfer files? (Mac to Mac)

Staiolz · Post by **Staiolz** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 8:28 pm

I'm basically trying to copy over 50 gigs from my pbook to my G5, so I can get a clean install of Tiger on my pbook, but I keep having issues while transferring them. I used the FTP client Fetch and it seemed to be working but I ended up with an error. Trying to do it in Finder always got me Errors. I do have a 120 gig external hd that is full, I could free it up, but is that my only choice?

noisetonepause · Post by **noisetonepause** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 8:33 pm

What kind of errors? And what files are you trying to copy? You need to take permissions into account. I use AFP - normal Mac OSX file sharing - and never have any problems.

Being a terminal geek I have never used it but apparently there's an app called Carbon Copy Cloner (try versiontracker.com or macupdate.com) which helps you copy configuration files and such cleanly and is supposed to be a generally safe and simple way to make complete backups of, for instance, your home directory.

-Paws

Staiolz · Post by **Staiolz** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 8:44 pm

I'm trying to copy everything from my Home dir, on my pbook and then transfer it to my G5. I think I did have some errors related to permissions? How could I address this? And if there is a way to do this through terminal without any problems, then maybe you could point me in that place also. I will check out the Carbon Copy Cloner too.

kabuki · Post by **kabuki** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 8:52 pm

Ever used slave mode on your PB? If not, look it up...

stew · Post by **stew** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 9:13 pm

Just boot up your PowerBook while pressing the T key, that'll put it to Target Disk Mode. Connect it to the G5 with a FireWire cable and it'll show up as if it were an external hard drive. Just copy everything over, eject it and turn it off.

simsm · Post by **simsm** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 12:48 am

i agree w/ stew, that's definitely the best way to go (by far). target disk mode rocketh!!

-matt

noisetonepause · Post by **noisetonepause** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 1:13 am

Right, forgot about target disk mode, good call there:)

Anywho. This should work:

1. Connect your powerbook to your G5 with a firewire cable and power it (the powerbook!) up while holding down T
2. Open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app on the G5.
3. Type in

Code: Select all

sudo cp -R -pv

at the prompt without pressing enter
4. Find the directory you want to copy in the Finder, drag it to the terminal window. It will add the path at the prompt - delete the last forward slash and add a space.
5. Find the directory you want to copy to and drag it to the terminal window. Leave the forward slash this time.
6. Press enter, type in your login password, and go have a cup of tea...

I recommend you go to your ~/Library (the on in your home directory!) and delete everything inside the Caches directory (not the directory itself) as this is likely to be a slightly silly amount of files that you don't need. Safari is particularly bad...

I think this is essentially what Carbon Copy Cloner does, BTW, only it probably wraps it in a nice GUI. You might prefer it.

Staiolz · Post by **Staiolz** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 1:38 am

I did it! The best way for me was holding down T. I just thought that ethernet would have been a faster/easier solution (totally wrong). Firewire is the way to go.

I simply had my pbook set as an external and copied over everything I needed. Now I'm going to set up Tiger on my Pbook.

Thanks everyone for your help. I'll save that code/directions for the future.

Good ol' Ableton forum