Target Disk Mode and Migration Assistant

Since FireWire has been removed, what are the best alternatives to Target Disk Mode and Migration Assistant?

1. Put old MacBook's hard drive in external USB enclosure.
2. Connect to new Mac, and run Migration Assistant.
3. Migrate just as you would normally.
Speed over USB 2.0 is almost as fast as firewire. An external enclosure will set you back about 15 to 20 bucks.
Seriously, it's not a big deal. I've been doing it this way for years. The only place you have a problem is when the old Mac's drive isn't accessible. In that case, you remove the new MacBook drive, put it in the enclosure, and use SuperDuper to back up your old Mac. You then pop the new MacBook's drive back in the MacBook and re-install OS X, telling it to transfer the old user files into the new installation.

Similar Messages

Migration Assistant, Target Disk Mode and Bluetooth Keyboards

Wanted to migrate my iMac setup to a new MBP last night. Kept trying to start up my iMac in target disk mode and it would only boot normally not in TD. Finally realized that my bluetooth keyboard was the culprit in that it wasn't connected once the iMac shut off for the restart. Thankfully I had a wired keyboard; plugged it in and migration went as advertised. Nowhere (that I could find) in the Migration Asst. prompts does it mention anything about needing a wired keyboard to restart as a TD. Did I miss something basic? If not, shouldn't Apple make mention of this to avoid confusion and frustration?
BTW, the new MBP rocks!

Yes, that tidbit of info is buried in a support article, as is some other Migration Assistant documentation. But it would be far better if the app had its own comprehensive, searchable Help built into it, just like most other apps from Apple. Note that when you launch Migration Assistant, there isn't even a Help menu, nor are there any question mark in purple circle icons in its windows to offer context sensitive help.
Basically, that's what I requested in my feedback to Apple.

I put my macbook into target disk mode and now it won't start up in regular mode

I put my macbook into target disk mode and now it won't start up in OSX. I have used my install disk and repaired the drive. I have held down the option key to choose the system. I have tried to start in safe mode with same result. The apple screen appears, but the gear just keeps turning. I can get it back into target disk mode by connecting it by firewaire to my macbook pro. It will start up in Windows when I choose that system. What can I do to get it to start up with OSX?
Thanks for your help.

Try this from MacFixIt as well:
In the case of drive directory damage or problems with permissions, the solution is usually to use Apple's Disk Utility to repair the disk. Of course, you won't be able to perform this operation normally (simply launching the Disk Utility application, located in Applications/Utilities, and initiating a disk repair) if your system will not startup. So two options exist:
* Insert your Mac OS X 10.4.x (Tiger) media (DVD or CD) and restart the computer while holding down the "C" key. Once the computer has booted from the installation disc, select "Utilities" from the menubar and open Disk Utility. Repair the disk, then quit Disk Utility and restart your system.
* Alternatively, you can repair the disk while booted in single user mode if you do not have access to a retail Mac OS X 10.4.x (Tiger) DVD/CD. To startup in single user mode, hold down the "Command" and "S" keys simultaneously at startup. Once properly booted, type the command fsck at the prompt. Repeat these process until no errors appear.

Start in Target disk mode and is dead

I put my macbook pro in target disk mode for boot another power book from firewire, he asked me for restart, and now dosent start. Is dead. Nothing respond. What to do? HELP

Strange. It's one of the graphite colored boxes. I bought it as a G4. Maybe they used G3 motherboards for the early G4s. I tried using my iBook in target disk mode and mounting it on the old G4 desktop, then selecting the installation DVD as the startup disk. The machine booted into OS 9, but the iBook's drives mounted. I guess this model has no support for target disk mode and it can't even boot from a target disk.

Target disk mode and my QT movie

Hi Everybody.
I tried to transfer a QT from my Imac and my Ibook. Both are quite powerful and recently new. When I transfered, powered off both and turned the Ibook on, it would not play a 30min QT with the warning that
"The movie file "Rough Assembl-FIN-000000e8" cannot be found. Without this file, the movie cannot play properly."
To transfer, I powered up the Laptop (holding the T)and then with symbol on the screen, firewired and powered up the Imac. I then grabbed the QT from my movie file and dropped it at the yellow coloured hard drive symbol on the Imac which is I presume the Ibook.
What am I doing wrong?
Hope to hear from you.

I think your problem has nothing to do with the way you transferred the QT movie file (using Target Disk mode or others). The problem is that the QT movie is a reference movie (not self-contained) and it references to a render file that is now missing.
If the movie works on its original Mac and not on the second one, then you should make the movie self-contained in the original Mac, and only then move it to the second Mac. You can do it by exporting again from FCE with Export/Quicktime Movie and make sure Make Movie Self-Contained is checked. Or you can use QT Pro, open the movie (always on the original Mac) and Save As and select the right option.
If the movie doesn't work on the original Mac either, it means that in the meanwhile you made some changes in FCE that removed the old render file. So you have first to render again, and then export as above.
In any case you cannot open the movie in QT Player until it has been fixed.
Piero

Migrating Information in Target Disk Mode Wiped out hard drive

I just helped a friend install Leopard on her new MacBook (it came with a drop in disk of Leopard). After the install, I started her previous 3-year old MacBook in target disk mode to migrate over old system settings. During the migration, the new MacBook froze up and forced me to do a hard restart. After restarting the computer, it would no longer recognize the old MacBook that was still in Target Disk Mode.
After awhile I finally decided to pull the hard drive out of the old MacBook and hook it up to my WiebeTech DriveDock. I now get a disk insertion error telling me that the drive is not readable. I have tried DriveGenius, but I cannot rebuild or repair the drive because it doesn't even pop up.
Has anyone heard of the migration assistance wiping out the drive you were attempting to migrate from? And also, does anyone know of a way to fix this?

She backed up with Retrospect a couple weeks ago, so not much would be lost if I wasn't able to resurrect this drive. The feeling of accomplishment from tackling this problem is the only truly important thing that would be lost.

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.

Target disk mode mounts multiple copies of target disk

I'm trying to help a friend who has a problem with her MacBook. We need to copy of her files (guess what, no backup...) before it goes in for repair - it takes the MB about an hour to boot, which is obviously not good. I can mount it via Target Disk mode and briefly see the top-level directory, but then it all goes a bit haywire - the TD seems to unmount suddenly and then a new copy mounts. On the desktop I now have 3 copies of the TD, but in a Finder list window that was already open, it's showing no less than 9 copies!
I cannot eject any of the copies because they are "in use" according to my machine.
I have the feeling that this may be unresolvable, but I thought I'd throw it out there in case one of you gurus has any ideas!

Single-user mode got me further along the track, but then I found I was in a little over my head and suggested she contact her uni's IT department for assistance. I have closed this question.

Mini won't boot - tried many methods, disk visible in Target Disk Mode

I have a PPC Mac Mini running Leopard. It stopped booting last week. It goes to the point where the Apple appears and then stops. No moving ring at the bottom of the screen.
I've done the following w/ no luck to get it booting.
1) Put it in Target Disk mode and run Disk Utility. Repaired permissions and did a Repair Disk. No issues found.
2) Put it in Target Disk mode and ran Tech Tool Pro. Checked volume/file structures and sectors. Nothing found.
3) Reset PRAM.
In Target Disk Mode, I can see the files. But I want to get it running one last time to archive some program configuration files. I know I can erase and restore from a TM backup but I'm using that as a last resort. Other than trying Spinrite, any other ideas?

You must be very keen on those config files. You are going thru a lot of work to get them. But if you must ...
If you have an extra firwire external drive free, that you can partition with APM (Apple Partition Map) and format, then you could use your original install disc or Leopard install disc to install a bootable version of OSX on that external.
Boot from the external, and then download the latest combo update for Leopard and install it on the internal drive. Hopefully that will fix the the internal enough to make it bootable.
Another approach is to pay $100 for DiskWarrior. Most of the time it can fix a problem like yours ... but no guarantees. It is a worthwhile program to own anyway, however.

Disk startup full- can't boot normally. Now in target disk mode.

Hello all, so here's my dilemma-
My disk startup is full and now I am unable to boot my computer past the apple logo and the loading circle.
Here's what I've tried,
I am now in target disk mode attempting to transfer over my files to an external HD via a good computer and then wipe/restore the OS on my bad computer THEN transfer my files over to the bad(now good) computer however..... some of my files won't transfer, especially in my iphoto library (It's HUGE 82 gigs) & my very elaborate final cut pro projects that have taken me h o u r s to do.... For example, some video icons don't show up with a snapshot of the video as they are suppose to but instead they're shown with a a default video icon which almost makes me think they're damaged files but the thing is- I was just working with these files.. My comp passed all HD tests. I don't think it's damaged...I don't know what's going on. If I could just find a way to delete some files...especially from my trash(30 gigs in there) so I'm able to at least boot properly, that would be great
Is there anyway to retrieve these stubborn files via target disk mode or another option?
Also do you maybe have an easier way for me to go about this entire process instead of transferring 500gb of data back and forth? I tried to access my trashcan via target disk mode and delete the 30 gigs I have in there but I was unable to delete it- and I do have "read and write" switched on.
Thanks in Advance!! ANY help is appreciated. I'm at wits end here.
Details
-I have a mid 2012 macbook pro connected with the mid 2012 imac that I'm running on target disc mode via thunderbolt cable (I also tried a 2013 air- same issues)

Before you spend a lot of money with a professional recovery service, look over these links:
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201583
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html
Ciao.

Firewire/target disk mode

ok so long story... bear with me...
i have 2 macs and 1 sorta died so i connected the 2 and transferred all the documents i wanted to keep onto the good one via firewire and it all worked perfectly with the target disk mode and the hard drive came up on the desktop and i could get into all my documents and save them. Then, once i erased and re-installed the system on the old one and i connected the 2 computers again and did target disk mode on the good one, the one i saved refused to recognize the other computer... i think it was some sort of incompatibility issue? i don't know but it's really frustrating and i tried it 3 times already and restarted both computers mulitple times so i just hope someone can help me please
--Louise

Hi, and a Warm Welcome to Apple Discussions and the Power Mac G5 Forum!
Well - If you haven't already, you could try FireWire TDM the other way round with the other Mac as the target. The TDM instructions and a list of suitable FireWire target Macs are here
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583
and some basic FW TDM checks here
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75414
Please post again if none of it helps - perhaps giving more details of each Mac and OS X version, etc. Good Luck.

Firewire Target Disk mode confusion

Alright, so after 1.5yrs my PowerMac decides to crash...after spending time on phone with Apple support and internet, only option is complete reinstall. So I was told about Firewire Target Disk Mode and the ability to transfer all data from crashed computer to a working one, and after reading countless post on this forum as well as others, Im still a little bit in the grey on which is the Host and which is the target, so I felt that I would see if I could get a case-specific answer from my friends here...
If please could someone select correct answer.
Both computers off, start the (crashed/working) computer while holding the "T" key.
Also, is there any way I could cause any data loss to the working computer? Its my roommates and it would be terrible in if fixing mine it destroyed his!!!
PowerMac G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)
Thank you very much in advance...and please flame me if I didnt make any sense, but hopefully will understand what Im trying to do and help a desperate man out. Thanks again!!!

I'm still a little bit in the grey on which is the Host
and which is the target, so I felt that I would see
if I could get a case-specific answer from my friends
here...
The "Target" in Target Disk Mode ("TDM") is the computer that is placed into TDM. The paradigm is that, by booting the TDM computer with the "T" key depressed, it becomes just a fancy Firewire disk (with the TDM icon on the screen) just like any other Firewire disk, and can be mounted on any other working Macintosh computer (the "Host") as an external drive.
In most cases (but not yours), it actually can be done with either computer as the "Host" and the other one as the TDM (Target). Because you can't boot your computer, it will have to be the Target so that the boot ROM can do the Firewire magic to make the drive be a Firewire TDM drive.
If please could someone select correct answer.
Both computers off, start the (crashed/working)
computer while holding the "T" key.
In your case (see above), it should be the "crashed" computer that is put into TDM mode by booting with the T key depressed.
Also, is there any way I could cause any data loss to
the working computer?
Oh sure, just like you could operating on any Computer. You could drag all of the files on the Host computer to the trash, and many would go there (some would need the admin password). You could erase the disk (Mac OS won't let you erase the boot disk, but you could boot from a CD/DVD on the Host computer and erase the boot drive. And you could make the mistake of copying the files from the TDM drive (the crashed computer) on top of similar but possibly different files on the Host. But connecting the TDM computer as a mounted drive, without more, won't cause data loss. It will require some mistake by the person at the keyboard (you).
Hope this helps,
Russ

Firewire Target DIsk Mode Mac partition not Boot Camp partition

Hi I'm having issues starting up my Mac and would like to Firewire mount the drive then image it. However, when I do so the Boot Camp partition mounts instead of the Mac partition. I've tried using Disk Utility on the host machine to mount the Mac partition (it does show up in Disk Utility) without success, Is there anything I can do.
(Yes I have yesterday's Time Machine backup, but would still prefer to do a full image before wiping and installing the OS).

Are you talking about starting up one computer in Target Disk Mode and then seeing it with a second computer (and if so, which model computer and which OS)?
[How to use FireWire target disk mode|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661] includes description of hardware and software requirements.
[What to do if your Mac doesn't enter FireWire Target Disk Mode|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75414], also read about [Open Firmware Password Protection|http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/openfirmwarepassword.html] which can disable Target Disk Mode.
[Technical Note TN 1189|http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn1189.html#TargetMode] - driver details for TDM

G5 won't boot but will go to target disk mode

Hi,
Well it started like this: suddenly a dark grey veil lowered across the screen with a notice in several languages saying "you must restart your mac" (or something to that effect). I panicked and pressed the power button, the mac shut down.
I started it again but it only got as far as the grey Apple screen and then sat there for a while until the fans started ramping up in the famous jet engine style. I shut it down again.
I have tried starting it:
In single user mode = no joy, same as above
In safe mode = some text on a black background, keyboard not functional, fans start going crazy again.
In target disk mode = everything exactly as one might expect, all files accessable, fans ticking over normally.
I have attached an ibook to it, booted the G5 in Target disk mode and run disk utility, repair, but it reported the disk "could not be unmounted". There was a lot of clicking from the G5 though so I assume something happened. I then ran "verify" and it reported that everything was fine.
The G5 still won't start, exhibiting the same symtoms as before.
Anyone got any ideas?
Cheers,
Cliff

Hi Cliff, and a warm welcome to the forums!
See if any of this gives us more clues....
How to reset the SMU on a Power Mac G5 (Late 2004) or Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) ...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1436
Earlier G3, G4, G5 models...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1939
PM G5 won't start...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2173

Target disk mode only shows bootcamp partition

My mid 2006 MBP doesn't boot anymore, I am getting the gray screen with the rotating wheel.
When trying to boot in target disk mode and connect it to my iMac only the bootcamp partition is mounting, but not the Macintosh HD, I could like to make a backup before I run to the Genius Bar.
Any ideas on how to get to the real HD?

I can't boot from snow leopard DVD either. When I try, the DVD just ejects. I was able to boot once in safe mode, repaired disk permissions there. Since then it's not booting anymore. Sometimes I get a gray progress bar, sometimes just spinning wheel. Can't even boot from external disk.
The only thing that works is booting into Windows Safe Mode. But screen looks fuzzy, with small horizontal lines all over the screen.
Before my MBP froze there were 8 horizontal lines around the mouse cursor under OSX.
I just want to try to get to my Mac partition to backup the drive before I go to the Genius Bar.

Target Disk Mode and Migration Assistant

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