How do I use an external FW drive as a source for Migration?

Question

I'm about to turn on my new iMac (intel)for the first time. Before I do, I would like guidance and advice on the best way to proceed to migrate (transfer) two specific users, internet settings, e-mail settings from a FW drive that had been established and bootable as Tiger on a powermac ( see my profile below). The situation is that the powermac is dead due to motherboard failure. Its drive was rescued and made into a FW external drive. Should this FW drive be connected before I start up the the iMac? And assuming the drive is recognized, should I use Migration assistant to transfer such key items such as only two of four users that were made on that drive, internet settings, and e-mail settings? Any other crucial items I should either "migrate" or copy from that external drive? I am not planning to try to migrate third party applications. I believe I can transfer data files using the usual move or copy methods. I am concerned about preference and other files that impact user settings that may require permission repairs. Finally, assuming all users will be migrated by the migration assistant, how do I remove one of them, once on Leopard?
So, any all advice based on experience is greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

poppijade,
1) As I have given it, the rsync command would move the entire contents of the "Users" folder. You mention you have two users to migrate; the HOME folders associated with both would be moved. However, the command can be written to move just a singe HOME folder, if desired.
The "chown" command does not rename anything. It is the change ownership command. Yes, it must be run after either a manual copy or use of rsync, at least in the case of your current move.
2) The only reference for "rsync" is the set of "manual pages" that accompany rsync. You can view these using the "man" application at the command line. Type:
<pre style="overflow:auto; font-family: 'Monaco'; font-size: 10px">man rsync</pre>
then press <RETURN>. To view the next page, press the spacebar. To scroll line-by-line, use the arrow keys (you can go up or down). When you have read enough, press "q" to exit the man application.
The manual pages for rsync are very comprehensive; some of the best I have seen. rsync, however, is a very powerful and potentially complex utility, so those pages are consequently daunting.
Since this is your first time migrating users from one machine to another, I am going to recommend that you just use the Finder, in the "root" account, to move the accounts. Keep It Simple. That said, I am willing to help you use rsync, if you like. I would prefer to gather the necessary information from you, then I'll provide the exact command you need to run. I would post it here in a form that you will simply copy and paste into your Terminal window. In this case, though, I still want you to read those manual pages for rsync, so you'll at least understand in general what you're doing, what's going on when you run the command I provide.
3) Your short name is how OS X (more specifically the underlying UNIX foundation) "thinks" of you. In point of fact, OS X (again, UNIX) references you by the "UID" number that is assigned to you, and then "maps" that number to your short name. For example, when the Setup Assistant is run (when an OS X machine is booted for the very first time), the first user that is created is assigned a UID of "501." Subsequent users that are created are assigned UIDs sequentially; "502," 503," etc. This happens automatically, and the short names that are chosen during the creation of those accounts is mapped to those numbers.
When a user creates a file, or files are created for that user, those files are "tagged" with the user's UID. This is how OS X knows that a particular file is "owned" by that user, exclusively. This touches on why the "chown" command is required for any files that are migrated to a new machine by either copying in the "root" account or by using rsync. When using the Finder in the root account, the transferred files will be owned by root, and thus the ownership must be changed to intended user.
rsync, on the other hand, transfers files with the old UID in place. Since the mappings between users' short names and their UIDs are machine-specific ("501" on machine A might be mapped to "fred," while the same UID on machine B is mapped to "george"), the chown command is required to insure that everybody ends up owning the right files.
The quickest way to determine your short name is to look at your HOME folder. It is automatically named using your short name. You can also just open Terminal. The default prompt will include your short name. In order to determine the short names used on your old machine, just look in the "Users" folder from that machine. The HOME folders there will be named accordingly.
4) When you use either of the methods I have suggested, either copying manually in the root account or using rsync, the result is as if you had not changed machines at all. Everything specific to your users will be in place on the new machine. Preferences will be in place for every application that you use, and they will not be over-written. Simply reinstall the application itself, and you will be right back where you left off. In some cases, one or more users might see the "question mark" icon in the Dock or Finder Sidebar for an application that has not yet been reinstalled, but those question marks will correct themselves when the app is installed. This is one reason why I recommend that you reinstall your third-party apps before the migration (in any case, these "broken" links are no big deal).
Incidentally, the Microsoft Office suite is not necessarily outside the scope of this forum. Put simply, everything I have stated above still holds true for any files associated with MS Office. The Office suite must be reinstalled, but the files and data associated with the entire suite will already be in place.
Scott