[HOWTO] - Use Firewire "target" mode

[zeppo]

theoretically you should be able to bootup from a CD, then connect your two macs w FW, and simply copy the entire content from one disc to the other (the bootup CD is to liberate the system files and make it possible for them to be copied). however, i suspect that you would need identical machines in order for this to work correctly - AND - i've never tried it out (but i will).

hope this is inspirational :-)

zeppo

[Cardanine]

On a related note, why would you use Firewire transfer mode instead of Gbit ethernet? Firewire is theoretically 400Mbps (50MB/sec), while Gbit ethernet is 1000Mbps. All you need is a cheap crossover ethernet cable (Category 5 with RJ-45 plugs) and use Filesharing or Appletalk.

Note that real-world speeds will be a small fraction of these theoretical maximums, as most hard drives are much slower.

Using the Gbit method, I got around 12MB/sec using Mac OS X 10.1.3 (transfered 60GB in about 1.5 hours.) Does anyone have any benchmarks for these two methods of transfering files?

[sheepguy42]

Firewire target disk mode has zero setup - just plug it in and turn it on. Also, what if your system won't start up? then network setup is inaccessible.

[zeppo]

well, it's not all machines that have Gb ethernet...ex G3's. thats one thing. another point is that it is possible to clone wout erasing your image. there's a brilliant donateware program out called carbon copy cloner (www.bombich.com), where it is optional if you want to erase your disk before cloning over material/entire systems.

i set up a FW HD with different systems on different partitions, and then i just boot up from whichever image it is that i want to clone from, and clone the image to the appropriate drive.

hope this helps

[DavidBaker]

You can also use PsyncX (available from VersionTracker). It works a lot like CCC.

David

[shelob]

Take a look at FireWalk, ok its commercial but it permits networking via Firwire.

[t1m0]

Question: when I do FW "target" mode, the target disk doesn't always show up in my host finder.

Sometimes I log out and in and it shows up, but sometimes I have to reboot.

Anyone know what's going on? The Apple FAQ just says,

If the target computer's hard disk does not become available to the host computer, check the cable connections and restart the host computer.

[yaoihost]

You can also access your optical drive as well as Hdd I target FW mode.
I have a G4 powerbook with superdrive if in Target FW mode I can access the optical drive on my G3 700 and use it as a DVD writer!!!