Target Disk Mode with G4 PowerBook

This week I'm installing a new hard drive in my 2003 867Mhz PB. I plan to do a fresh install from the original CDs so I will have a computer clear of much data for a trip I'm going on next week. I will apply all updates to 10.4.11 to match my Mac Pro.
1. Can I install my '08 iLife apps onto my PowerBook? I'm the only user of both machines and normally I wouldn't care that the PB still has '06 since I rarely use it. However, the purpose of my trip is to take photos for five days. My PB doesn't meet the minimum requirements for Aperture. I want to start culling some of the photos on the trip so I won't have too many to import to Aperture when I return. Taking a bunch of DVDs isn't an option because the PB doesn't have a SuperDrive.
2. If I can install iPhoto '08, will Aperture see the PB's iPhoto Library in Target Disk Mode? If I can't install '08, will Aperture see the '06 iPhoto Library in Target Disk Mode? I will not be editing any photos in iPhoto on the PB - only viewing them to delete the bad out of the collection so I won't have to import a huge collection. Obviously iPhoto won't be running on either machine when I connect them in Target Disk Mode, so technically I won't have more than one copy in use at any time.
I have a wireless home network. I could set up file sharing on my PB to transfer the photos, but I think that would be much slower than using Target Disk Mode. Since I'm taking photos for my job, and knowing the schedule of events and shoot list, I'm estimating 10G of photos minimum. That's a lot of time with a pokey old PB for transferring. I won't be taking a Firewire hard drive because it's too bulky with all the other equipment considering that the 120G hard drive I'm installing in the PB won't have many apps. I also won't have internet access so I can't upload the photos to my iDisk.
3. Does anyone know if Target Disk Mode can be used with my PB when I upgrade my Mac Pro to Leopard? I'm not planning on installing Leopard on the PB (don't know if it meets the minimum requirements) because I don't see myself using the PB too often. By the time I need to be portable more frequently, I will buy a MBP. I hadn't turned the PB on for over a year until last week to make sure it still works for this trip. It would be more useful to buy an extra iPod to store photos than to buy Leopard for the PB.
Sorry if that seemed like a confusing bunch of questions. I tried searching the forums and Apple's support site and now I'm too exhausted to think too clearly. Thanks for any help or pointers.

I have to answer my own post as this question probably isn't allowed here. After installing the new hard drive I read the license agreement while waiting for the restore DVD to finish. I didn't bother with upgrading 10.2 which is what the PB had when new. I immediately installed Tiger and after it's done updating I'll see what software I need/want besides iWork. I'm sure Tiger isn't different in the license than Leopard. (So I'll have to plan on getting a new portable soon as I think the Target Disk Mode is faster for transferring unless I get another Firewire drive.)
But at least the new hard drive and maxed RAM has made my PB a bit more peppy. Or maybe I'm not remembering how slow it was because I haven't yet used it. I'm currently still waiting for Tiger to finish installing. I'll hold off a little longer before upgrading my Mac Pro to Leopard to find out if there are any network gotchas I should know about with my PowerBook. If I'd been using the PB, I'd know all these answers. I've just been so thrilled with my Mac Pro and 23" monitor that the PB hasn't had much appeal. But maybe I'll try to wring a little more life out of the PB.

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Any problems with using a MBP in target disk mode with a PPC desktop? If so... what???
Thanks for any feedback, help, cautions.
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Can you install tiger on a power mac g4 with out a DVD drive if so how, I do have have a 2011 iMac can I use that in target disk mode with a FireWire cable any help would be appreciated

Can you install tiger on a power mac g4 with out a DVD drive if so how, I do have have a 2011 iMac can I use that in target disk mode with a FireWire cable any help would be appreciated

Hello,
You need to put the Tiger Install Disc in the 2011 iMac, boot the 2011 uMac into Target mode...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
Boot the G4 holding the Option or alt key, hopefully the Install Disc in the 2011 iMac will show as a boot choice.
We just want to use the 2011 iMac as a big expensive FW Optical drive, it cannot be installed osing the 2011 iMac itself.

Target disk mode with external hard drive?

Hi all,
I have a very annoying problem. I've just bought a new Mac Mini, previously I had an iBook G4 600 (about 6 years old). My Mac mini works perfectly, but...
1) I don't want to copy everything over from the iBook with Migration Assistant, I'd rather pick and choose what to copy. Is buying a firewire cable and using Target Disk mode the only quick way to do this?
2) I was intending to transfer files using my external HD. But the Mini doesn't recognise my poor old external drive. However, all my iTunes music is on the external HD. It seems by far the fastest way to get the music off (as long as I can't get the mini to recognise the HD)would be to boot the iBook in Target Disk mode then somehow be able to read from the external HD as well. Is this possible? If not, what on earth can I do??
Thanks in advance,
Suz
Message was edited by: Suz

Okay after testing, I am ready to conceded that you are correct that you can daisy chain an external drive and a TDM Mac together and have them mount both drives.
However. unless Suz proves me wrong (Which is always a possibility), I do not think that it will fix her initial problem. Since all's TDM does is allow the computer to act as a Firewire device, so it and the external hard drive, are simply 2 FW devices on a serial bus. If the new Mac Can't mount the external drive from the old computer, I doubt it would mount it with the old computer connected to it. (Unless there is just some funky thing going on that having another firewire device on the bus corrects?)
Let's see if it shows up in System profiler, and if it shows up there how does Disk Utility see it?
Have you also tried resetting the NVRAM?
Also just to be on the safe side, do you have another Firewire device that you can connect, to let us know that the port on the new mac is actually working?

Startup problem after use in target disk mode with a PC. Ideas?

I used my Mac 10.4 in traget disk mode. Data transfers between Mac and PC worked fine (via Macdrive 6). After disconnecting and trying to boot normally, Mac doesn't recognize internal volume. It flashes the question mark.
Tried to repair disk via install DVD - disk utility found no problems.
Reapired permissons.
Reset PRAM and NVRAM.
Tried Startup utility - found the internal volume and even after selecting it for startup, I still get the flashing question mark.
Apple hardware test found no problems.
Archive and reinstall is not allowed.
Data can still be accessed fine via target disk mode.
Any ideas how to reinitialize or reset the startup volume?
Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Hello,
You need to put the Tiger Install Disc in the 2011 iMac, boot the 2011 uMac into Target mode...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
Boot the G4 holding the Option or alt key, hopefully the Install Disc in the 2011 iMac will show as a boot choice.
We just want to use the 2011 iMac as a big expensive FW Optical drive, it cannot be installed osing the 2011 iMac itself.

Target Disk Mode with RAID Volume and Macbook Pro

I just received a MBP which I today intended to use to pull a netrestore image off our lab server. The latter is a Mac Pro with 2 RAID 1 arrays. I started the Mac Pro in target disk mode, hooked it up to the MBP and was expecting to see the RAID volumes to show up in the finder. Unfortunately nothing happened. I then started the disk utility only to find out that the volumes are shown but are not accessible.
Doing the same thing using our backup server (running OS X 10.4.8 server) works like a charm.
Is it possible that MBPs and/or the non-server version of OS X don't support target disk volumes off RAID arrays?
I used the same MBP as a target disk mode slave today and that, too, worked.

Hello BK:
Welcome to Apple discussions.
This knowledge base article will, perhaps, give you more information:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583
Barry

Target Disk Mode with Set Up Assistant?

I am receiving a new Mac Pro on Monday and want to transfer all my apps and data and settings from my old Mac Pro (running 10.6.8), via Set Up Asst using firewire target disk mode. My question is, do I connect and turn on the old Mac before I start up the new Mac for the first time? Thanks in advance.

Thansk very much, Barney-15E. Here's what I did, which worked perfectly: in system prefs on old computer, selected Restart machine in Targe Disk Mode. It restarted as advertised. Connected old to new computer via firewire. Then hit power button on new computer, for first time. Set Up assistant ran right away, and I chose the option to import settings, users, data, apps from disk (old computer in target disk mode), which was mounted. Worked perfectly. I am impressed by how smooth this transition was, inherited my old time machine backups, everything is great.

Mac mini doesn't recognise Powerbook G4 in Target Disk mode

The hard disk on my Powerbook G4 is reporting errors so I would like to get the data off it by connecting it to my mini in target disk mode with a firewire cable.
The powerbook drive fires up into target disk mode but the mini doesn't seem to recognise it. Anyone else had this problem and solved it?
Thanks in advance.
MK

Hi,
Thanks for your reply, I cannot get startup manager to come up unfortunately, I have tried trying to get startup to take place with the 10.4 bootup DVD, but couldn't get that to work either. I am thinking of resorting to using DiskWarrior DVD to load from it and see what I can salvage....

Using a Mac mini as a target disk for a G4 Powerbook

Hello,
I saw a post that dealt with the above issue but i would like to get a bit more specific. I bought my Powerbook in 2005 and by now it's a bit dated. I use it to run Logic Pro, but also love games... So would it be possible to get a Mac mini Intel Duo 2Ghz, connect it to my Powerbook G4 and run games or other applications on the Mac mini but using the display and controls of my Powerbook? So in a few words, play on the Powerbook but run the game from the Mac mini. It sounds possible, but i am no computer genie! What do you think?
Or should i just spend an extra £200 and a get a Macbook...?
Thanks for your time,
Dimitris
Message was edited by: dimis
Message was edited by: dimis

When you run a computer in Target Disk Mode, the primary unit is what utilizes the processor, and the secondary unit in Target Disk Mode is only serving as the boot volume.
What does this mean?
Let's use two "equal" machines. At least, ones I've worked with. An iMac G3 400MHz and a 12-inch PowerBook G4 1.5GHz.
If you connect your PowerBook in Target Disk Mode to the iMac G3, your iMac will not run faster and things that work with your PowerBook, say, Pages or iWork '05, won't run on your iMac. The primary unit is the iMac and all it is doing is accessing the PowerBook for the startup volume and any files. But it still runs at G3 speed and won't take advantage of the G4 speed since it is not the machine being used. All the iMac is doing is accessing the PowerBook as if it were a bare external drive. (Well, not bare in that sense).
Vice versa, if you were to connect your iMac G3 in Target Disk Mode to your 12-inch PowerBook, things you saw that were slow at 400MHz, will fly at 1.5GHz and in G4 speeds, since the PowerBook is now your primary unit.
To put it in your terms, what you want to do is really use an Intel Mac mini as your primary unit and connect your PowerBook to it in Target Disk Mode so that you will see speed increases there. What you outlined in your post will not be possible.
If you connect an Intel Mac mini in Target Disk Mode to your PowerBook, the G4 processor will be the one being utilized, and in that case, you won't be able to run things like, say, Tiger Woods PGA Tour from EA (Electronic Arts) because while that runs and only runs on Intel-based Macs, with the Mac mini in Target Disk Mode, it will not use the Intel processor.
Vice versa, if you were to connect your PowerBook in Target Disk Mode to your Intel Mac mini, things like OS9 apps in Classic mode wouldn't run on the Mac mini since it's accessing the files on the PowerBook, but the processor being utilized is the Intel one, and Classic is not compatible with Intel-based Macs.
However, Logic Pro, as long as it was the Universal version, would fly on the Mac mini if using your PowerBook in Target Disk Mode.
So, after all that, the best thing to do would be to buy a MacBook, or in an "apples to apples" comparison, the professional equivalent in the MacBook Pro.

Mac shuts down in target disk mode

So I finally replaced my old iMac G4 with a shiny new MacBook Pro. But I've run into problems while attempting to copy user data over during the setup assistant process. I connect the two computers using a firewire cable. I put the old iMac into target disk mode. The PowerBook recognizes all my settings and lets me choose what to copy over. But every time the MacBook Pro starts copying data from the old iMac, the old iMac shuts down. Any ideas?

Don't quite know. Anything in Apple doc.#58583 help?
Perhaps you are using the wrong procedure?
 DALE

Using Target Disk mode to reinstall OS-X

I have a PPC G5 Dual 2.0gHz which failed the other day. All the fans were running full and a red LED showing on the logic board (it's just a warning I think). Since then the machine cannot be started up. It will begin the startup process normally but will hang on the Apple logo screen (no spinning gear wheel).
The same thing happens when attempting to start up from the install disks and also when started in safe mode or with Option pressed down at startup.
The logical assumption (given the original failure) is a hardware problem but I'm not entirely certain that's the case and cannot get it to a technician right now. I can run Apple Hardware Test and it passes that. I can also mount the G5's drive in Target Disk mode using a PowerBook G4 as a host so the drive itself appears to be okay. All the data is there and can be transferred.
Is it possible that this is software not a hardware issue? The normal startup chime is there, the relay clicks at startup and it does begin to access the drive and all the normal noises can be heard. Just stops loading at the Apple logo screen. I'm wondering if some OS files were corrupted in the original crash (which happened overnight so I don't know what caused it) and if there is some way to eliminate the OS as the problem before going to a technician.
As I can mount the drive in target mode, is it possible to use my PB as a host and reinstall the G5 OS-X that way? They're different machines so I don't know if that would work or the PB would reject the installation. Alternatively, if it could be just corrupted OS system files would it make sense to try to 'guess' the most likely to have been corrupted and manually replace them, again using the PB as a target host?
I'm really stuck without this machine but just can't get it to a workshop for at least a couple of weeks so I'll try anything!

Boy, I love these forums, and I love Macs (most of the time). I was so convinced this was hardware but it seems (fingers crossed) to be fixed. Yay!
You guys were both right in a way. Roam's solution would clearly have been the easiest but because I had tried it before without success I didn't expect it to work. And, trying it again with the G5 install disk, it didn't. Same problem as before. But Graham's reminder of using the original multi-machine Tiger disks in target mode made me wonder. So before trying Target Disk mode I tried just restarting the machine using the Tiger DVD instead of the G5 disks -- and it booted into the installation dialogue!
I figured I'd need to reinstall 10.4 (and, if it worked, go through the whole update drag to get back to 10.4.10). Before I did that though, on a whim, I tried quitting the installer and selecting the normal G5 system as the startup disk. Restarted and voila -- there it was, all back to normal, everything sweet and no data lost!
I didn't even need to repair the disk. Disk verify shows no problems. Even repairing permissions was just a couple of minor changes. I'm amazed. And delighted.
I might be jumping the gun and there might still be a hardware problem that will repeat the original failure and I'll find all the fans going full blast and nothing working again tomorrow but, if Murphy is having time off, for the moment I'm back in business.
I would love to figure out what caused the problem in the first place. I suspect a big power surge overnight did it but I have no idea exactly what it did to cause these symptoms.
My grateful thanks guys.

Power Mac G4 1.25Dual shuts down when pressing T for target disk mode

I am hoping someone might be able to help me with this. I am trying to put my G4 dual 1.25Ghz into target disk mode to transfer my apps and settings to my new Quad G5. I start the G4, hold "t", and instead of showing me the comforting bouncing firewire symbol, the computer shuts down completely. Restarting it without holding "t" will result in normal bootup. I have tried a different keyboard and power cable to no avail. I have reset open firmware, reset the PMU all to no avail. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the response Dale. Unfortunately the computer I am putting into Target Disk Mode (The G4 1.25Dual) definitely has an ATA bus. I use target disk mode with other computers in the studio almost daily so was somewhat surprised to see that this one just shuts down instead. I am still hoping someone might have some insight.

Hard disk not recognised - will not boot from cd & No FW Target Disk mode

hi,
some help would be greatly appreciated.
Some time ago i was switching internal hard drives around and wound up with a kernel panic of some sort (see my previous posts).
following on from this I have tried FW target disk mode with no success, and it will not boot from a retail Tiger install disc (this machine has tiger installed (i think!). I can't force a boot from the optical drive and i also can't even force it to eject the disc inside to try another install DVD/CD (I have panther discs lying around also).
when i start up with the c key nothing happens, but when i start up with the alt/option key i get a closed padlock symbol, password entry field and a "right facing arrow" button.
anyone got any clues with this? i'm guessing it could either and/or be an internal hard drive ribbon failure (i have swapped internal HDs multiple times in this machine, which can't be good for it) or the familiar PRAM problem (although why would it not boot from an install DVD if this was the case?). I have changed the power supply unit in the past due to having a power cable snap off inside the original one - damage to PRAM caused by this?
help would be muchly appreciated!
Jesse

Hi, Jesse. Remove the hard drive and its cable, then see whether you can start up from a CD or DVD. If that works, replace your hard drive cable.

Won't go into Target Disk Mode

Help,
I have an iMac that is several years old, OS X v. 10.3.9, has never had any trouble. I recently bought a new MacBook Pro and have been trying to move files over from the iMac, but I cannot get the iMac to boot up in Target Disk Mode.
I reboot, hold the "T" key, etc., and the FireWire symbol comes up, but then it just slowly bounces around the screen while the machine whirs away, and I don't get any further.
Open Firmware Password is not activated; I've run software updates.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Hi,
A while back I tried what you have and also, the Panther OS G4 would not show up on the Tiger OS G4, although the Panther OS was in Target Disk Mode with the floating icon.
The connection was per instructions, both on line and step-by-step per the Tiger OS, but no disk showed up even after a few hours of wait.
What I found is that my Panther OS G4 Firewire socket was 'mushy' (it moved fairly easy from slight finger pressure on the plug-in end... it was not 'firm' like my USB socket was. So I tried a Firewire external drive I have, that did work before, and it too, did not show-up (although it did start it by being plugged in). Everything I tried with that Firewire socket on the Panther Computer was not there... although these did work on the Tiger Computer.
Since the Firewire is soldered onto the motherboard I have come to the conclusion that one or more of the connections are disconnected... perhaps not the power one, as the external items react to the plug-in, but there is no 'communication' after the fact.
Perhaps this is what has happened on the iMac end for you. And yes, I have used that Firewire plug many many times and not always with TLC in the past, as it is a laptop.
Now I use a Firewire 400 to Firewire 800 (either direction works, depending on what plug works on which item) for what I have and do... as to repair it would be more then a new computer and the Panther computer is an '05 model (but still used daily for what it does).
Maybe you can check how 'solid' your iMac feels when it is plugged in with the Firewire, compare it to other connections... do it gently though, but if it is loose you will know by the 'mushy give' it has.

No Display - Target disk mode to PC

the display went dead on my ibook. Nothing displays on an external monitor either. I don't have access to another Mac computer, only a PC. Is it possible to use target disk mode with firewire to my PC? Any ideas for getting data off my hard drive, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Some FireWire-equipped PCs support this type of connection, while others do not; if your PC does, you will need to install software such as MacDrive onto it.
(28047)

Target Disk Mode with G4 PowerBook

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