Migration assistant troubles

Question

I am attempting to migrate data from my old iMac G5 to my new MacBook. After booting the iMac into target disk mode, Migration assistant eventually times out showing some message about the target disk not supported or whatever. I forget what it said. Anyhow, I attempted to use the installation disk to perform a repair on the iMac g5 and that seemed to be ok. It found a few troublesome areas but appears to have fixed them. But... still cannot get migration assistant to see the disk in my iMac. I tried to use the Tech Tool Deluxe CD to repair the disk but the iMac just spins the fans to max and freezes.
Any other suggestions?

Answer 1

First do the following on your iMac:
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger and Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now shutdown the computer for a couple of minutes and then restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger and Leopard) and/or TechTool Pro (4.6.1 for Leopard) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
Next:
Shut down both computers. Connect a Firewire cable between each computer. You need a 6-pin FW400 cable in good condition. First start up the iMac and after the chime press and hold down the "T" key until the Target Disk Mode screen appears. Then start up the MacBook normally. After the MB starts up you should see the hard drive of the iMac on the MB's Desktop.
I would, however, recommend against using Migration Assistant to move data from a PPC Mac to an Intel Mac. Instead simply follow these instructions:
Folders You Can Move to Your new Mac
From the Home folder copy the contents of Documents, Movies, Music, Pictures, and Sites.
In your /Home/Library/ folder:
/Home/Library/Application Support/AddressBook (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Application Support/iCal (copy the whole folder)
Also in /Home/Library/Application Support (copy whatever else you need including folders for any third-party applications)
/Home/Library/Keychains (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Mail (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist (* This is a very important file which contains all email account settings and general mail preferences.)
/Home/Library/Preferences/ copy any preferences needed for third-party applications
/Home /Library/iTunes (copy the whole folder)
/Home /Library/Safari (copy the whole folder)
If you want cookies:
/Home/Library/Cookies/Cookies.plist
/Home/Library/Application Support/WebFoundation/HTTPCookies.plist
For Entourage users:
Entourage is in /Home/Documents/Microsoft User Data
Also in /Home/Library/Preferences/Microsoft
For FireFox:
/Home/Library/Applications Support/FireFox
/Home/Library/Preferences/org.mozilla.firefox.plist
Credit goes to another forum user for this information.
I suggest you reinstall your third-party software that aren't universal binaries or replace them with updated versions that are universal binaries. Do not copy preference panes, contextual menu items, internet plug-ins, input managers, startup items, or hardware drivers (extensions) from your iMac. They are incompatible with Intel Macs.