[G4] Cloning G4 to G5: Naming Hard Drives

[Al Poulin]

John, I've seen your exchange with Wayne Wilkin.

Questions for others to answer:

1.  Does the G5 come with system software and perhaps utilities and 
applications that do not get installed on a G4?  In other words, is 
there some unique stuff that a G5 needs that would not be present on a 
G4?

2.  While running a G5 in target disk mode, can you simultaneously 
clone another OS X System to the same volume?   Hmmm.  I would not 
worry about running target disk mode from one volume while cloning to 
another volume on the same drive.

3.  Will CCC take care of all OS 9 applications and aliases?

On Feb 19, 2005, at 12:23 PM, John Miller wrote:

> Just got a new dual 2.0 G5.  I plan to clone my G4/867 master drive to 
> the G5 hard drive using this 10 step process:
>
> 1. Repair permissions/update directory on the G4 with DiskWarrior
> 2. Put original G5 system restore disk into CD/DVD drive
> 3. Connect both macs via firewire
> 4. Boot the G5 into target mode
> 5. Reformat the G5 drive with Disk Utility

You can name the G5 drive here.

> 6. Clone the G4 hard drive with Carbon Copy Cloner

This means you include the OS X System, right?  Along with all the 
applications and data.  See question 2 above.

See question 3 above.  When I was setting up my two hard drives before 
installing OS X Panther, I had to drag/copy OS 9 and its applications 
back and forth; I did not have CCC.  I had to reinstall my Canon 
scanner driver and CanoScan Toolbox, the Nikon Camera and Palm software 
stopped working, and I had to reconnect a bunch of aliases.

> 7. Shutdown the G5, remove firewire cable
> 8. Reboot the G5 from the system restore DVD
> 9. Install the OSX operating system using Archive and Install

Once you get this far, this part should be a piece of cake.

> 10.  Pray like hell
>
> Now the questions:
>
> 1.  Am I missing anything in the cloning process described above?
>
> 2.  My G4 hard drive is named "bigmac".  Can I name my new G5 hard 
> drive "bigmac" as well before I begin this cloning process?

Yes.

> Does it make sense to do so to minimize any confusion later on with 
> configuration files?  For example, on the G4 I'm running an Apache2 
> server with mysql databases/PHP, and managing several websites with 
> Dreamweaver and Contribute.  I'd like to avoid having to go through 
> "broken links" because of hard-drive naming inconsistencies.

But I do not know whether you would have problems if you use another 
name on the G5.
>
> 3.  Is Carbon Copy Cloner the best tool for this process?

Yes, to my knowledge.
>
> 4.  I have an OS9 folder on the G4.  Should I move it over to the G4, 
> or install classic from the G5 system restore DVD?

I would, since I would not want to mess around with rebuilding the 
extensions, reinstalling fonts, and resetting control panels.  But you 
still may have to rebuild aliases, including aliases in the Launcher if 
you use it.

Frankly, I would first set up the G5 with all peripherals and test.  
Yes, reformat the hard drive and reinstall the OS to start.  Install 
scanner and other peripheral software if not provided with OS X.  
Download any driver updates.  Then I would install fresh copies of all 
my third party applications, testing each one individually as I go.  
Only then would I move my data, Home Folder, and whatever straggler 
stuff is on the G4.

Al Poulin
Anger, hate, and revenge are for the devil, forgiveness is for God, 
proactive self-defense is for the rest of us.