Move from iMac G4 to G5

[Whitehill]

I have an iMac G4 that's on its last legs. If I get an iMac G5, what's the best way to "migrate"? I have a full backup of the G4, but the idea of restoring that onto the G5's disk makes me more than a little queasy.

 

[nixgeek]

i've used the Migration Assistant before and it's worked decently. You need a Firewire cable that is the same on both ends so that both Macs can connect to one another.

One recommendation: don't move over the applications. Just your documents in your home folder and your user account.

 

[Hard Nard]

I just did this same thing (G4 to G5 iMac) this week. During the OS install it asks you if you'd to move your accounts and info from another machine. Answer yes, connect a firewire cable between the two and restart the old machine in target disk mode and it will start to migrate everything over to the new machine.

It took about four and a half hours to move my stuff to the new machine, but you mileage may vary depending on how much you have on the old drive. After a restart the new machine looked just like the old one, with just a few folders that needed to be moved around (the old drive was partitioned into two segments, everything was migrated into one).

Try it, you'll find there was nothing to be worried about. It's really very painless.