Fire wire target disk mode work with usb also?

hi all,
does starting up in fire wire target disk mode also work with usb drives?

No, and it requires a Mac with built-in FireWire.

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Fire Wire Target Disk Mode

I Have a MacBook Pro 2010 that I have put into FireWire target disk mode. Is there any way to just copy the entire hardrive onto my other MacBook Pro rather than going through the entire hard drive and transferring everything separately?

Once in TDM you can perform any type of file transfer/backup that you could do with any other mounted disk. However, if you wish to copy everything to your other computer then you need a way to keep the contents apart from your regular computer. Maybe you could tell me what it is you wish to accomplish with transferring the TDM drive to your other computer.
What OS X versions are installed on each computer?

Safely copying files from Target Disk Mode to External USB. Advice?

Just got a new iMac and transferred my system and important files to it from my old iMac. However, a partition on my old iMac has files I want to move to my new iMac so they can be included in Time Machine backups while others I want to move to another external hard drive since I have physical copies of most of those files elsewhere.
I can connect my old iMac to the new via Target Disk mode and copy the critical files from Mac-to-Mac easily and quickly enough. What I want to know is if I’m safe to copy the other files from the TDM-connected iMac to a USB drive.
I’ve read that having other devices connected to your Mac while another Mac is connected via TDM can result in corrupted files. Is this true? Is it unsafe to copy files from a TDM Mac to an external USB drive?
If it is safe, is it best to connect the USB drive to the new Mac or to the old one while it’s in TDM? There’s a lot of data so I’m wondering about transfer times. One method would see files going over Firewire through the new iMac to a USB drive, while the other would go from TDM-connected Mac directly to a USB drive connected to its own USB port. That is:
TDM iMac > New iMac > USB Drive connected to New iMac
or
TDM iMac > USB Drive connected to TDM iMac
I have limited space on my internal drive and I also don’t want to copy-hop from TDM iMac to New iMac then copy from New iMac to USB drive. I'd like to go directly from old drive to external USB drive if it's safe.
So I’m looking for advice on the best way to connect devices in order to cut down on copying time and number of copies, and to do it safely without corrupting data. Any advice is appreciated!

I've used Migration Assistant already to move all of my immediately necessary data and settings over. This other data was on a separate partition and I'm unable to copy all of the data over to my new drive due to lack of space.
Things are complicated by the fact that I need to change some of my externals over to Time Machine ready backups. Previously I was using 1 TB and a 2 TB drive for TM and another 2 TB drive for general backups/archiving. Now I need to juggle things around so that both 2 TB drives are for TM and the 1 TB is used for archiving.
An important point I should have mentioned is that I can't use my old iMac normally due to a GPU problem that seizes the system up. This is the reason I can't just copy stuff directly from old iMac to external USBs.
I'm interested to know if what I described above is safe and if there are any time savings or benefits for copying through my new iMac or connecting the externals directly to the old iMac in TDM.

So how does Target Disk Mode work without a FireWire port?

Does it work with USB 2.0?

FireWire-less Macs isn't new, unfortunately. The MacBook Air (still in production) and the unibody MacBook (EoL) were released without FireWire. Apple has allowed for wireless, wired and even remote disc to assist with the day-to-day needs of migration assistant, file sharing and data transfers. Yes, TDM makes this process much easier, especially if there's a problem with the drive. But for the average user, who doesn't use FireWire's TDM feature, you're not completely dead in the water.

Fire wire drive won't work with Mac Pro

This is kind of crazy. I just bought a MacPro 2.8 Ghz 8-core. I hook up my OWC Neptune FW drive to it. Nothing. Didn't Apple invent Firewire? It boots just fine on the ten year old G4 running OS 10.4.11. I really am getting a little annoyed with Apple. They control the software, the hardware, and created firewire, but it doesn't work. On the other hand, is it a problem with the FW drive being a couple of years old? Should I be writing OtherWorldComputing instead?
Thanks in advance for any help.
MGuilfoile

Thank you very much. That clarifies the boot issue. The firmware password is a password that you can only create when booting from your Leopard disk, then set it from the OSX menu.: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1352
Now, I can see some discussions reporting similar issues:
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=2008061212382380 (you need membership)
also for certain firewire drives, you need a firmware update:
http://www.neowin.net/news/main/04/11/09/apples-mac-os-x-update-brings-word-of-f irewire-problems (now, this refers to Panther but it is VERY likely that you need to do the same on OSX Leopard. You HAVE updated via the "combo update"? http://support.apple.com/downloads/MacOS_X_10-5-6_ComboUpdate)
NB: could finder be your issue? have you repaired disk permissions with disk utility? (only a thought)
Message was edited by: Alexandre

Does Target Disk Mode work between FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 ports?

Can I mount one as an external volume for the other Mac and vice versa? The one with FireWire 400 port runs on OS X 10.5, and FireWire 800 one has OS X 10.6 installed. If it works, I am thinking of buying an 800-400 adapter.

Can I mount one as an external volume for the other Mac and vice versa?
Yes.
(47103)

Target Disk Mode from a 2009 MBP - 2012 MB Air

Hi all,
Recently my 2009 MBP hardrive crapped out on me with a 'diskos2 I/O' error. However, when I go into the Lion Recovery mode and use the disk utility, it registers that the internal harddrive is 'fine' when I use repair. I went ahead and picked up a new Macbook Air, figuring the SSD was better for all the travelling my mac does. But now I want to try and recover some of the data on that old MBP. So the two questions I have are: Will 'Target Disk Mode' work with a firewire 800-usb (or thunderbolt?) adaptor cable? If not, is there another way to possibly recover this data?
Thanks

Maybe it will, maybe it won't. I'm guessing the firmware in the guts of the adapter will play a large role in the aye or nay.
An alternate route would be getting the HDD outta the corpse, putting it in an external USB case and using that instead.

How do I start-up in Target Disk mode without a keyboard ....?

I am trying to start-up an iMac 700 G4 flatpanel in Target Disk mode without a USB keyboard ... the machine is running Mac OS X.3 Panther & the system prefernces do not include the start-up in Target mode feature that Mac OS X.4 Tiger has ...
Actually, I do have a bluetooth keyboard which works fine once I get to the desktop - but the keyboard will not pair quick enough to register the 'T' hold-down before the system boots up ...
Q: Is there another way I can get this machine to boot in Target mode ...?
Maybe a terminal command ....?
I am not so savvy with Terminal - but if someone can step me thru it (v e r y s l o w l y) - you will have my sincerest gratitude ...;-)
Nutshell: Firewire Target startup between iMac 700 running Panther with no keyboard - to G5 PowerMac running Tiger ....

Niel ....
That's so helpful!! very happy mate - thank you ....
I have successfully booted into Target Disk mode using the command at Mac Geekery as suggested ... however, a backward step is now required without access to the machine's terminal window ...
Q1: How do I reset the PRAM without a keyboard ...?
Q2: What is the Open Firmware reset command via a 'hard-pressed' power-up using the Power button at the rear of machine ...?
... I still cannot pair my Bluetooth Keyboard early enough to register a PRAM reset (Opt Cmd P+R) at start-up (as per instructions by the authour) before the system boots back into the 'fixed Target mode ...
Any suggestions ...? ... or can anyone else assist ...?
Oh, & thanks again everyone ... & apologies this request might not be in the correct catergory ....
Best,
Macfinger

FYI: Corrupt hard drive will cause target disk mode to fail

I have just finished restoring my nephew's iBook which had had a major disk corruption issue - keys out of order, invalid key lengths, etc. in the catalog. While the iBook would boot, it had a lot of problems running due to the corrupt file system.
As part of the restoration process, I tried to connect the iBook in target disk mode, but had a lot of trouble. Apparently, bad file system data structures will cause the target disk mode to hang; I needed to disconnect the iBook from my main system to get out of the SPOD. In the end, I booted the iBook from the installation DVD and ran Disk Utility from there to reformat the hard drive. Surprisingly, it was impossible to reformat the drive in target disk mode due to the corruption.
Once the disk was reformatted, target disk mode worked fine, and I was able to restore the entire system (less files lost due to the corruption) in that mode.

It is impossible to say what can be recovered without knowing the cause of the installation failure. The possibilities range from some interfering third party addition to the previously installed OS to a substandard or degraded hardware component (especially RAM) that can't meet the more stringent demands of the new OS version.
All I can suggest is to try Target Disc Mode & see what you can recover to another drive -- one that your bother should have had for backups to begin with & should now see the value of having if he did not before.
If that doesn't work, the alternatives are investing in special data recovery software (moderately expensive) or a data recovery service (very, very expensive).

Target disk mode opticle drive?

My ibook g3 cd drive is broken and my external drive is having problems booting from install discs. The iMac boots them fine. I have an iBook g4 that will do this but its dads laptop. I need to install mac os x 10.1 (which will not mount external drives on installation) on the iBook g3 (there is somthing wrong with the mother board, it runs tiger worse than the iMac which has less ram.)
my point is is how can I use the iMac g3 opticle drive on the ibook g3 with target disk mode?

I don't think you can do it that way, if you are using the iMac in target mode. According to this document
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
"FireWire Target Disk Mode works on internal ATA drives only. Target Disk Mode only connects to the master ATA drive on the Ultra ATA bus..."
On the slot-loader iMac G3, the optical drive is the slave drive on the ATA bus. The hard drive is obviously master. So only the internal hard drive can be seen by the host computer.
You may be able to do it as follows. Start the iBook in FireWire Target Disk Mode. Connect it do the iMac running normally. The iBook's hard drive should show up on the iMac's desktop as an external FireWire drive. If so, insert the Mac OS X 10.1 installation disc. Restart with the C key held down to start up from the iMac's optical drive. Run the installation using the iMac and target the iBook's hard drive for the installation. Once installation completes, and after the initial restart, shut down both computers and try to restart the iBook normally, from the new 10.1 installation.

Old G4 450 Sawtooth - Multiple Drives - Target Disk Mode ?

So I have had this old computer a long time and have upgraded it over the years as much as it can handle - faster processor, max ram, multiple drives ...
The problem I am having at the moment is only one of the drives will show up in TDM - the one that shows up is the original 20Gb drive. I have a Seagate 500Gb and another Seagate 1.5 Tb drive too. Neither of the Seagates show up in TDM. I haven't cracked it open in a while but seem to remember they are connected via a SATA controller card. Just verified the two SATA connections. The 500Gb drive is my boot drive.
So is there something obvious here that I should understand? Thank you.
Oh I'm connecting to a circa 2007 MBP and Mavericks. The G4 is running Leopard.

I think I found my answer .... unless someone has an idea or info otherwise.
Tip: FireWire Target Disk Mode works on internal ATA drives only. Target Disk Mode only connects to the master ATA drive on the Ultra ATA bus. It will not connect to Slave ATA, ATAPI or SCSI drives.
Doesn't mention SATA but inferring it does include SATA.
Found at:
http://www.appleexaminer.com/MacsAndOS/Analysis/HowTo/Acquisition/acquisition.ht ml

Can't get Target Disk Mode to work with host computer

Here's the problem. My Powerbook G4 went down a week ago (it's 7 years old) and I suspect the problem is either the hard drive or the portion of the logic board controlling the drive. I also have a Power Mac G4 400 that's running OS 10.4 Tiger. I've been trying to extract some files (that I failed to back up) from the Powerbook via Target Disk Mode using the older Power Mac as the host, however the target disk doesn't show up on the host screen. When I boot up the Powerbook holding the T key, it chimes and the FireWire symbol shows up like it's suppose to, but that's as far as goes. I plan on upgrading to a newer Mac, which would probably work better as a host, but money is a bit tight right now. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

If the trouble with the Powerbook is either a failed hard drive or a failed hard drive controller, FireWire Target Disk Mode isn't likely to work with any host computer. What you may want to try is installing data recovery software on the desktop G4 and seeing whether it can see the Powerbook's drive (connected in FWTDM) even though it won't mount. Data recovery software is often able to salvage data from drives that won't mount normally; it may be able to do the same thing via FWTDM.
These three DR utilities are all available in free downloadable demo versions that will show you what the full version would be able to recover before you have to pay for anything:
Data Rescue
FileSalvage
VirtualLab
Good luck.

Target disk mode "USB"

Anybody know if you can start a MacBook (13 inch - white plastic) in target disk mode without a Fire Wire port ?
My version only has USB ports and Internet port. I want to start it up in target disk mode to run DIsk Utilities on
the hard drive. Please let me know if you have an suggestions . . thanks !
BooSparx

If you're doing it from another Mac, you can connect by ethernet and use Disk Utility from there; doesn't have to be TGM unless you've got a boot problem on the target Mac.

Using a MB Pro in target disk mode via USB?

Can a MB Pro be used in target disk mode via USB instead of Firewire?
Thanks!

Perhaps because it's called FireWire Target Disk Mode, and is not designed to be implemented via USB.
Keep in mind that sustained data transfer rates with USB are much lower than FireWire (the 480 mbps for USB2 and 400 mbps for FW400 are max rates, not average sustained rate). Also, USB requires the CPU to manage data flow, while FW does not.
FW400 or FW800 are will work, just not USB.

Broken Macbook Pro won't finish copying even with target disk mode. Help!

Hi,
I'm helping someone with a Macbook Pro 2010-11. It worked for a few years but eventually degraded last month when it wouldn't go 10 minutes without displaying the rainbow loading ball. Possibly a hard drive problem.
The owner never backed any of the computer up. I am trying to salvage their data before it's lost. The computer can power on. I have been turning the computer on and salvaging most of the data from numerous trips with USBs until it crashes, and then moving on to Target Disk Mode. The computer turns on slowly, displays the rainbow ball every minute or so, and never finishes copying or exporting anything. It still seems to be degrading.
I still need two things: One is a large folder with thousands of old OUTLOOK e-mails created on an old PC (which the owner no longer has).
Second is the folder/autobackup where OUTLOOK for Mac stores all the e-mails and settings.
I have found the folder -- I think it is the Main Identity or Office Identities. Am I correct? Will this bring back OUTLOOK on the newer Macbook Pro exactly like on the old one? I also know where the old e-mails folder is, but when I try to transfer either folder through Target Disk Mode on the newer Macbook Pro, it stops and gives me the "Some data in _____.olk14msgsource could not be read or written." AKA error code -36, halfway through the transfer.
I have tried exporting OUTLOOK on the broken Macbook Pro to a .olm, but it gets stuck halfway and gets stuck back on the rainbow ball. Then I shut the computer off. I have also tried going into the folders through target disk mode and deleting the .olk14msgsource files that are problematic, but there are too many of them.
Please help! The owner needs these files and OUTLOOK exactly like it was!
Thanks!

Tried connecting the cable? Still won't start?
If you are still under warranty and/or have AC, call them & let them deal w/it.
OOW: Take the MBP to your local AS or an AASP. Diagnostic testing is FREE!
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1365 Intel-Based Apple Portables: Troubleshooting a computer that will not power on

Fire wire target disk mode work with usb also?

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