What's the best way to ship an iMac

Hello,
I'm going to be selling my iMac. I do not have the original box. What is the best way to ship it? Specifically, what kind of box, should I use bubble wrap, etc?

I just went through this and thought I'd add to this thread. An earlier post suggested going to an Apple Store and having them pack it. This did not work for me. When I called my Apple Store (Lenox in Atlanta) they first said that they had just gotten rid of all their boxes but to call back in two days. When I did that, they HUNG UP on me when I asked if they could pack my computer! I called Apple phone support to ask whether the bit posted on the online support community, about Apple Stores packing computers, was wrong. They said it depends on the store. So I called the Atlanta Perimeter location, and they were very helpful. They would have been happy to get a box for me, but my iMac is six months old so the new boxes would not fit my iMac. I ended up going to UPS to have it boxed. It cost about $25. So, if your computer is new (exact same size as new ones), I recommend calling an Apple Store but there is no guarantee they will listen to your question (in Altanta, Perimeter store = very helpful, Lenox store = hangup). If that fails, go to UPS.

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Hello quinstar,
It sounds like you would like to use either your Personal HotSpot to AirPrint from your MacBook Pro or use an Airport to do so without internet access to the home. According to the following Featured Discussion you very well may be able to use AirPrint with Personal HotSpot:
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Morning Acousticare,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Thunderbolt cables should not exceed three meters for maximum performance. The Apple Thunderbolt to Thunderbolt cable (2.0 m) is two meters in length.
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1. This procedure is a diagnostic test. It changes nothing, for better or worse, and therefore will not, in itself, solve the problem. But with the aid of the test results, the solution may take a few minutes, instead of hours or days.
2. If you don't already have a current backup, back up all data before doing anything else. The backup is necessary on general principle, not because of anything in the test procedure. Backup is always a must, and when you're having any kind of trouble with the computer, you may be at higher than usual risk of losing data, whether you follow these instructions or not.
There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional. Ask if you need guidance.
3. Below are instructions to run a UNIX shell script, a type of program. All it does is to collect information about the state of the computer. That information goes nowhere unless you choose to share it. However, you should be cautious about running any kind of program (not just a shell script) at the behest of a stranger. If you have doubts, search this site for other discussions in which this procedure has been followed without any report of ill effects. If you can't satisfy yourself that the instructions are safe, don't follow them. Ask for other options.
Here's a summary of what you need to do, if you choose to proceed:
☞ Copy a line of text in this window to the Clipboard.
☞ Paste into the window of another application.
☞ Wait for the test to run. It usually takes a few minutes.
☞ Paste the results, which will have been copied automatically, back into a reply on this page.
The sequence is: copy, paste, wait, paste again. You don't need to copy a second time. Details follow.
4. You may have started the computer in "safe" mode. Preferably, these steps should be taken in “normal” mode, under the conditions in which the problem is reproduced. If the system is now in safe mode and works well enough in normal mode to run the test, restart as usual. If you can only test in safe mode, do that.
5. If you have more than one user, and the one affected by the problem is not an administrator, then please run the test twice: once while logged in as the affected user, and once as an administrator. The results may be different. The user that is created automatically on a new computer when you start it for the first time is an administrator. If you can't log in as an administrator, test as the affected user. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this section doesn’t apply. Don't log in as root.
6. The script is a single long line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, though you may not see all of it in the browser window, and you can then copy it. If you try to select the line by dragging across the part you can see, you won't get all of it.
Triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it:
PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/libexec;clear;cd;p=(Software Hardware Memory Diagnostics Power FireWire Thunderbolt USB Fonts 51 4 1000 25 5120 KiB/s 1024 85 \\b%% 20480 1 MB/s 25000 ports 'com.autodesk.AutoCad com.evenflow.dropbox com.google.GoogleDrive' DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES\ DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH -86 ` route -n get default|awk '/e:/{print $2}' ` 25 N\\/A down up 102400 25600 recvfrom sendto CFBundleIdentifier 25 25 25 1000 MB );N5=${#p[@]};p[N5]=` networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder|awk ' NR>1 { sub(/^$[0-9]+$ /,"");n=$0;getline;} $NF=="'${p[26]}')" { sub(/.$/,"",$NF);print n;exit;} ' `;f=('\n%s: %s\n' '\n%s\n\n%s\n' '\nRAM details\n%s\n' %s\ %s '%s\n\t(%s)\n' );S0() { echo ' { q=$NF+0;$NF="";u=$(NF-1);$(NF-1)="";gsub(/^ +| +$/,"");if(q>='${p[$1]}') printf("%s (UID %s) is using %s '${p[$2]}'",$0,u,q);} ';};s=(' /^ *$|CSConfigDot/d;s/^ */ /;s/[-0-9A-Fa-f]{22,}/UUID/g;s/(ochat)\.[^.]+(\..+)/\1\2/;/Shared/!s/\/Users\/[^/]+/~/g ' ' s/^ +//;5p;6p;8p;12p;' ' {sub(/^ +/,"")};NR==6;NR==13&&$2<'${p[10]} ' 1s/://;3,6d;/[my].+:/d;s/^ {4}//;H;${ g;s/\n$//;/s: [^EO]|x([^08]|02[^F]|8[^0])/p;} ' ' 5h;6{ H;g;/P/!p;} ' ' ($1~/^Cy/&&$3>'${p[11]}')||($1~/^Cond/&&$2!~/^N/) ' ' /:$/{ N;/:.+:/d;s/ *://;b0'$'\n'' };/^ *(V.+ [0N]|Man).+ /{ s/ 0x.... //;s/[()]//g;s/(.+: )(.+)/ (\2)/;H;};$b0'$'\n'' d;:0'$'\n'' x;s/\n\n//;/Apple[ ,]|Intel|SMSC/d;s/\n.*//;/\)$/p;' ' s/^.*C/C/;H;${ g;/No th|pms/!p;} ' '/= [^GO]/p' '{$1=""};1' ' /Of/!{ s/^.+is |\.//g;p;} ' ' $0&&!/ / { n++;print;} END { if(n<200) print "com.apple.";} ' ' $3~/[0-9]:[0-9]{2}$/ { gsub(/:[0-9:a-f]{14}/,"");} { print|"tail -n'${p[12]}'";} ' ' NR==2&&$4<='${p[13]}' { print $4;} ' ' END { $2/=256;if($2>='${p[15]}') print int($2) } ' ' NR!=13{next};{sub(/[+-]$/,"",$NF)};'"`S0 21 22`" 'NR!=2{next}'"`S0 37 17`" ' NR!=5||$8!~/[RW]/{next};{ $(NF-1)=$1;$NF=int($NF/10000000);for(i=1;i<=3;i++){$i="";$(NF-1-i)="";};};'"`S0 19 20`" 's:^:/:p' '/\.kext\/(Contents\/)?Info\.plist$/p' 's/^.{52}(.+) <.+/\1/p' ' /Launch[AD].+\.plist$/ { n++;print;} END { if(n<200) print "/System/";} ' '/\.xpc\/(Contents\/)?Info\.plist$/p' ' NR>1&&!/0x|\.[0-9]+$|com\.apple\.launchctl\.(Aqua|Background|System)$/ { print $3;} ' ' /\.(framew|lproj)|\):/d;/plist:|:.+(Mach|scrip)/s/:[^:]+//p ' '/root/p' ' !/\/Contents\/.+\/Contents|Applic|Autom|Frameworks/&&/Lib.+\/Info.plist$/ { n++;print;} END { if(n<1000) print "/System/";} ' '/^\/usr\/lib\/.+dylib$/p' ' /Temp|emac/d;/(etc|Preferences)\//s/^\.\/[^/]+//p;' ' /\/(Contents\/.+\/Contents|Frameworks)\/|\.wdgt\/.+\.[bw]/d;p;' 's/\/(Contents\/)?Info.plist$//;p' ' { gsub("^| ","||kMDItem'${p[35]}'=");sub("^.."," ") };1 ' p '{print $3"\t"$1}' 's/\'$'\t''.+//p' 's/1/On/p' '/Prox.+: [^0]/p' '$2>'${p[9]}'{$2=$2-1;print}' ' BEGIN { i="'${p[26]}'";M1='${p[16]}';M2='${p[18]}';M3='${p[31]}';M4='${p[32]}';} !/^A/ { next;} /%/ { getline;if($5<M1) a="user "$2"%, system "$4"%";} /disk0/&&$4>M2 { b=$3" ops/s, "$4" blocks/s";} $2==i { if(c) { d=$3+$4+$5+$6;next;};if($4>M3||$6>M4) c=int($4/1024)" in, "int($6/1024)" out";} END { if(a) print "CPU: "a;if(b) print "I/O: "b;if(c) print "Net: "c" (KiB/s)";if(d) print "Net errors: "d" packets/s";} ' ' /r\[0\] /&&$NF!~/^1(0|72\.(1[6-9]|2[0-9]|3[0-1])|92\.168)\./ { print $NF;exit;} ' ' !/^T/ { printf "(static)";exit;} ' '/apsd|OpenD/!s/:.+//p' ' (/k:/&&$3!~/(255\.){3}0/ )||(/v6:/&&$2!~/A/ ) ' ' $1~"lR"&&$2<='${p[25]}';$1~"li"&&$3!~"wpa2";' ' BEGIN { FS=":";} { n=split($3,a,".");sub(/_2[01].+/,"",$3);print $2" "$3" "a[n]" "$1;b=b$1;} END { if(b) print("\n\t* Code injection");} ' ' NR!=4{next} {$NF/=10240} '"`S0 27 14`" ' END { if($3~/[0-9]/)print$3;} ' ' BEGIN { L='${p[36]}';} !/^[[:space:]]*(#.*)?$/ { l++;if(l<=L) f=f"\n "$0;} END { F=FILENAME;if(!F) exit;if(!f) f="\n [N/A]";"file -b "F|getline T;if(T!~/^(AS.+ (En.+ )?text$|POSIX sh.+ text ex)/) F=F" ("T")";printf("\nContents of %s\n%s\n",F,f);if(l>L) printf("\n ...and %s more line(s)\n",l-L);} ' ' BEGIN{FS="= "} /Path/{print $2} ' ' /^ +B/{ s/.+= |(-[0-9]+)?\.s.+//g;p;} ' ' END{print NR} ' ' /id: N|te: Y/{i++} END{print i} ' ' / /{$0="'"${p[28]}"'"};1;' '/ en/!s/\.//p' ' NR!=13{next};{sub(/[+-M]$/,"",$NF)};'"`S0 39 40`" ' $10~/$L/&&$9!~"localhost" { sub(/.+:/,"",$9);print $1": "$9;} ' '/^ +r/s/.+"(.+)".+/\1/p' 's/(.+\.wdgt)\/(Contents\/)?Info\.plist$/\1/p' 's/^.+\/(.+)\.wdgt$/\1/p' );c1=(system_profiler pmset\ -g nvram fdesetup find syslog df vm_stat sar ps sudo\ crontab sudo\ iotop top pkgutil PlistBuddy whoami cksum kextstat launchctl sudo\ launchctl crontab 'sudo defaults read' stat lsbom mdfind ' for i in ${p[24]};do ${c1[18]} ${c2[27]} $i;done;' defaults\ read scutil sudo\ dtrace sudo\ profiles sed\ -En awk /S*/*/P*/*/*/C*/*/airport networksetup mdutil sudo\ lsof test );c2=(com.apple.loginwindow\ LoginHook '-c Print /L*/P*/loginw*' '-c Print L*/P*/*loginit*' '-c Print L*/Saf*/*/E*.plist' '~ $TMPDIR.. \( -flags +sappnd,schg,uappnd,uchg -o ! 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B1&&C2 28;D12 15 37 25 8;A1 0 $((N1+2)) 3;C0;D13 0 $((N1+3)) 4 3;D23 0 $((N1+4)) 5 4;for i in 0 1 2;do D13 0 $((N1+5+i)) 6 $((N3+i));done;D13 1 10 7 9;D13 1 11 8 10;D22 2 12 9 11;D12 3 13 10 12;D23 4 19 44 13;D23 5 14 12 14;D22 6 36 13 15;D22 7 37 14 16;D23 8 15 38 17;D22 9 16 16 18;B1&&{ D22 11 17 17 20;for i in 0 1;do D22 28 $((N2+i)) 45 $((N4+i));done;};D22 12 44 54 45;D22 12 39 15 21;A1 13 40 18;B2 4;B3 4 0 19;A3 14 6 32 0;B4 0 5 11;A1 17 41 20;B7 5;C3 22;B4 4 6 21;A3 14 7 32 6;B4 0 7 11;B3 4 0 22;A3 14 6 32 0;B4 0 8 11;B5 7 8;B1&&{ A2 19 26 23;B7 7;C3 23;};A2 18 26 23;B7 7;C3 24;A2 4 20 21;B7 6;B2 9;A4 14 7 52 9;B2 10;B6 9 10 4;C3 25;D13 4 21 24 26;B4 4 12 26;B3 4 13 27;A1 4 22 29;B7 12;B2 14;A4 14 6 52 14;B2 15;B6 14 15 4;B3 0 0 30;C3 29;A1 4 23 27;B7 13;C3 30;D13 24 24 32 31;D13 25 37 32 33;A1 23 18 28;B2 16;A2 16 25 33;B7 16;B3 0 0 34;B2 21;A6 47 21&&C0;B1&&{ D13 21 0 32 19;D13 10 42 32 40;D22 29 35 46 39;};D23 14 1 48 42;D12 34 43 53 44;D22 0 $((N1+8)) 51 32;D13 4 8 41 6;D12 26 28 35 34;D13 27 29 36 35;A2 27 32 39&&{ B2 19;A2 33 33 40;B2 20;B6 19 20 3;};C2 36;D23 33 34 42 37;B1&&D23 35 45 55 46;D23 32 31 43 38;D12 36 47 32 48;D13 20 42 32 41;D23 14 2 48 43;D13 4 5 32 1;D22 4 4 50 0;D13 14 3 49 5;B3 4 22 57;A1 26 46 56;B7 22;B3 0 0 58;C3 47;D23 22 9 37 7;A7;C2 2;} 2>/dev/null|pbcopy;exit 2>&-
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What is the best way to upgrade my iMac (2.66GHz, early '08) for Photoshop?

I'd be grateful for some advice on the most cost-efficient way to upgrade my iMac. I had thought of replacing it this year but am hoping to stave off that decision for a while. My reason for upgrading is that I use photoshop a lot, with big files (some up to 1Gb), many layers, panorama stitching etc. My options seem to be:
- Upgrade to new iMac. I appreciate there are several advantages to this. Faster processor, faster graphics card, support for more RAM, possibility of fusion drive etc. The question is whether there are some low-cost steps I can take instead that will make a big difference.
- Upgrade RAM. This is probably a no-brainer. I only just found out that my iMac (Model 8.1, early '08, 2.66GHz) can actually take 6Gb not the 4Gb that Apple says is the maximum.
- Replace/add hard drive. I had been thinking of replacing the tiny 320Gb HDD (using iFixIt guide). However, I noticed that my external HDD on FW800 (WD) seems to run faster than the internal one, which surprised me (tested using BlackMagic - read/write speeds approx 55 on internal, 70 on external). So maybe I just need to upgrade the external drive (new HDD in same enclosure?).
- SDD. I like the idea of a small-ish SDD, on which I would put my start-up partititon, photo apps (photoshop, lightroom, photomatix etc) and probably the current project. Photoshop would be pointed towards it for the scratch file. I think even a 120Gb SDD would work well and speed things up a lot. I would probably aim to use iFixIt's enclosure for the SDD that replaces the optical drive.
So... if I replaced the RAM ($80), increased the external HDD to 3Tb ($150), and inserted a 120Gb SDD ($120), that would cost $350 and would give me the extra memory, the speed of SDD for start-up and all photo files, as well as a good size storage increase in the HDD. This compares to probably $2000 for the iMac I would purchase with RAM upgrade.
Will this give me a *big* improvement or am I mostly limited by the processor speed (can I overclock?) and video card?
Very grateful for any thoughts.

Hello,
RAM is the first...
http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.cfm?sort=pop&model=298&type=Memory
HDD, or especially an SSD would speed up things...
http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.cfm?sort=pop&model=298&type=Internal+Dr ive
Personally, I boot my iMac from FW for reliability.
You wouldn't want to overclock anything, unless you add a bunch of extra cooling.

What's the best way to connect two imac's with shared internet connection?

Hi
I plan on purchasing a new iMac (likely 2.4 GHz Intel Core Duo - 20 inch, probably will have leopard) and would like to set it up so I can share files and internet connection with my older iMac (1.25 GHz Power PC G4, 768 MB DDR SDRAM, using Tiger Version 10.4.11). I plan on using the Airport Extreme Base Station. I have a exterior cable modem for high speed internet through Shaw (internet provider) and my ethernet connection is through that.
I've heard a few things about this set up, but there are mixed reviews on everything. Would it be better to connect the Airport Base Station to my older iMac and then connect to the internet wirelessly through my new iMac or vice versa? I've heard some of the older iMac's have slow Airport Cards so thinking maybe should use my new iMac for wireless. One computer will be upstairs and the other downstairs.
There must be a few people out there who've done this, so any assistance would be great. Thanks for your help.

Would it be better to connect the Airport Base Station to my older iMac and then connect to the internet wirelessly through my new iMac...
Yes
This would allow the old iMac to use a 100 Mbps Ethernet connection while the new iMac can use a 802.11n wireless connection.
The old iMac only has 802.11g (54 Mbps) wireless capability.

What is the best way to ship a Mac Pro from Australia to New York

I am migrating from Melbourne Australia to New York next month and naturally, i want my Mac Pro to come along for the ride.
Has anyone expereienced a move like this? Who would you reccommend as a transport company?

Computers are a commodity. They have no art value. We can become very attached to them, but they are interchangeable.
I recommend you seriously consider selling your computer in Australia, and buying a new one when you get to New York. I can't see shipping 65 lb chassis halfway around the world.
The only part that is at all delicate is the Hard drives. Once the heads are parked, they are not that delicate any more. As long as you pack the rest so that it cannot rattle in the box, it will be fine.
Apple uses styrofoam as the packing material inside the corrugated box because it absorbs crushing energy by deforming. It is not an accident that it is also used inside bike and motorcycle helmets. Resilient foam (like a couch cushion) is springy, but does not absorb or dissipate the crushing energy of an accident or a fall.

What's the best way to reload my iMac?

I'm running out of hard drive space on my iMac. I haven't reloaded in 3 years. I was thinking of "nuke & paving" it and starting over.
Should I just do a Super Duper backup, then format the system, load OS X, then drag my user folder back?

Mickinator wrote:
One more last question - I promise.
That's not a problem. We're here to answer them.
My Time Machine hard drive is full. That's probably because of the Backup folder mentioned above. Is there a way that I can have it delete all backups of that folder from it's archive?
Yes. As posted earlier, see #12 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum).
I don't plan to use Backup any longer. . . Carbonite, here I come! I was trying to keep it free, but that's not going to work, apparently.
Take a long look at the alternatives in #27 of the FAQ, per my previous posts. Backing-up over the internet will be very slow, whatever app you use. Since you already have Time Machine backups, if you get a portable external HD for use with CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper, and take it off-site, you'll not have to pay a monthly fee (and wonder what happens if they go bankrupt), and you'll know where your backups are. Then you can use Backup to get some relatively-small things off to the iDisk that you've already paid for.

What is the best way to restore my iMac, when I forgot my administrator password?

I forgot my passwords and the Apple store restored it to factory settings and it was fine.
Now I did it again. What can I do besides bring it to the Apple store.

Why not just fix the password?
Forgot Your Account Password
For Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks
    Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
     When the menubar appears select Terminal from the Utilities menu.
     Enter resetpassword at the prompt and press RETURN. Follow
     instructions in the dialog window that will appear.
     Or see:
       Reset a Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Password
       OS X Mountain Lion- Reset a login password,
       OS X Mavericks- Solve password problems,
       OS X Lion- Apple ID can be used to reset your user account password.

What is the best way to keep an iMac and a MacBook Pro synchronized?

I've got an iMac and a MacBook Pro.
I need them to be synchronized daily (Data, documents, contacts, etc.) but I can NOT use the Cloud because of customer preferences.
I've recently bought a Time Capsule.
Can this device be used to keep both computers synchronized in an easy and non time consuming way?
If not, is there any App like "Beyond Compare" for Mac?
Thanks.

Morning Acousticare,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Thunderbolt cables should not exceed three meters for maximum performance. The Apple Thunderbolt to Thunderbolt cable (2.0 m) is two meters in length.
For more information on this, take a look at this article:
About Thunderbolt to Thunderbolt cable (2.0 m)
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4614
Hope this helps,
Mario

What's the best way to setup new iMac i7 coming on Monday?

So here's a question for everyone of the very smart people who monitor this thread. I have a G5 tower with Leopard on it and a Macbook Pro (1 generation ago) with Snow on it. First I was planning on starting up the iMac to see if everything worked well. Then install Nikon Scan to see if my film scanner (Nikon 9000) works with the new machine and Snow and then if all goes well migrate the Macbook to it. Or is it better to migrate from the MBP's time capsule backup. My MBP has all I need on it, more so than my G5 tower which seemed to have fallen by the wayside when I got the laptop. Thanks for all the help I've consistently gotten on here btw.

For the Migration, if the Time Machine backup is recent, then it does not matter if you migrate from the MacBook Pro or from the Time Machine backup.
Your plan to try out the new iMac +as is+ before migrating is a good one. That's how I would proceed. Apply Apple's recent updates using Software Update, but do not migrate data or install third-party software until you are satisfied that the iMac is working 100%. If you run into a problem, it will be much easier to troubleshoot.
Your comment about first installing the Nikon Scan software to make sure it works is also a smart idea. You should install that software, and then other third-party software you need, and check for any issues, before migrating your user data.
From jamesholden post:
however if you do a clean Leopard install, then install your drivers and software, then upgrade to Snow Leopard, they tend to continue working.
That would not be possible on a new iMac, since you cannot install Leopard on it.
If you do the user data transfer using Migration Assistant, I would set it to only migrate Users, not +Applications, Settings, or Other...+ That will transfer your user data, but leave other data alone.

What is the best way to backup 20 Imac's without buying 20 time machines?

I would like to use the features of time machine.
I have 20 Imacs and macbook pros on a network. Mixed OS 10.6 and .7 and .8's.
Is there a solution to be able to backup all the Mac's without having to have 20 timemachines?
Yes 90% of all files are stored on a server.
It's mainly when a HDD goes splat that a Time machine backup comes in handy. (reinstalling all the software etc).

The problem I have is that the staff work on very large graphic files before they save them on the main servers.
Space is not the issue. I was thinking of using a NAS (Iomega) 9 TB to act as a time machine, but i beleive that is fine for 1 mac but I would like all 20 odd to backup daily (incremental).
Not too sure if there is third party software out there that can do similar.

Best way to ship an imac

I'm relocating, and need to ship my imac. I have the original box. I can put it in there, and pack it nicely. Question is - what is the best way to ship it? USPS, FEDEX, or others? Thanks!

Depends on where you are located and where you are shipping to.
If you're in the states and shipping within the states then any of the major carriers will work, use what is convenient and compare prices. Just make sure you get a tracking number and insure it.
If you're overseas or shipping overseers that changes things some.

What is the best way to clean up your mac and make it faster and run to an optimum level?

Hi Everyone, Hope all is well
Iv been running my mac pro for a long time now, its a Mac pro, 2x 2.26 GHz Quad Core Intel Xeon. 12 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 Ram
Over time now it has become slower, at the moment its still running fine but im sure over time it has probabally collected unwanted data etc. i just dont want it to become a problem as its only going to be used more and more... i now notice that some of the regular programs which i open do take a little while longer to open and i sometimes see that little round Mac loading the sign (the round multicolor wheel).., is there a way to clean the mac up? so that it can run more smoothly and just a better over all feel.,,, the machine is still running beautifully but its time i give it more care and revive it a little more..
What are the best ways to do this, i dont trust any of these non apple based products which claim they can clean ur Mac etc.
Any solutaion and advice that u guys can give would be great and i would be very thankful
Thanks in advance

For immediate speed improvements, upgrade to a Solid State Drive and upgrade your conventional hard drives to new ones, because the newer ones are faster at reading and writing than the ones from 5 years ago.
By Re-installing your OS onto a solid state drive, the system will boot much faster, and your programs will launch much faster.
I use a small SSD (only 60GB) which contains only OS X and all my apps. All of my personal files are on the large mechanical hard drive. If you still use the drive that shipped with the Mac, then it might be a good idea to replace it.
Depending on what kind of work you do, then additional RAM will help. Swapping CPUs should only be done if you are really in need of the improvements they would bring.
You appear to have the 2009 dual-CPU Mac Pro, which is the most challenging model to swap CPUs into.

What's the best way to move files from my old G3 to my new Intel DuoCore?

I just received my new Intel DuoCore 17" iMac. For years I have been using a much-loved G3 500 mHz iMac. The new Intel iMac is still in the box, but I believe it shipped with OS 10.4.4. The G3 runs 10.2.6. I have a dial-up connection to the Internet; currently DSL is not available in my neighborhood. What is the best way to move my files from the G3 to the Intel dc? Can I simply connect them with an Ethernet cable and transfer files directly? Or is my best bet to simply save the files I want to transfer to a disc and do it the old-fashioned way? Please forgive me in advance for my ignorance; although I have been a Mac user and supporter for many years, I am astonishingly ignorant when it comes to the best way to using both Mac hardward and software.
iMac Intel DuoCore Mac OS X (10.4.4)

There are two issues - 1. Getting the files moved over, and 2. Being able to open them on the Intel iMac.
1. This can be technically easy if you are willing to spend the time. I moved all my stuff from my old Mac to my new one by hooking the two together with an ethernet cable, directly. You would need both machines to have appropriate IP addresses. (go to the network preferences and pull down the built-in ethernet panel.) Some addresses such as 192.168.1.100 and 192.168.1.101 would work with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0) Now go to the new iMac and make sure the finder is selected (click on the desktop) and under the "GO" menu select "Connect to Server". You will need to put in the IP address of the old machine, and later it's administrative password. Then select its hard drive from the list (possibly only one choice) and it should appear as an icon on your iMac desktop. You can open this like any other drive and just drag items to the new iMac.
2. Whether you can use all the files moved over from the old G3 is difficult to answer. You may be using Classic mode sometimes on the G3 and have some stuff created with a Classic application. You are probably aware that the new Intel iMac does not support Classic mode, so some of these files may not be useable without a bit of work (or at all, perhaps.) For instance I had to purchase Appleworks to handle some of my old Clarisworks documents because Pages couldn't understand them. Once I had them converted to Appleworks documents, I could then convert them again to Pages documents.
I had some old MacDraw Pro documents that were equally problematic.
I would advise you to get the new iMac out of the box and connected to your dialup internet connection first. Do all the software updates until running software updater says there is nothing new. Then you will be at 10.4.7 with all the latest security and fixes etc. Then disconnect from the internet and use an ethernet cable to get the stuff off the old computer.
There will be lots more to do such as moving your mail, address box entries etc. later, but this is a start.

What's the best way to ship an iMac

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