Deavious

Q: Seagate portable drive - copy from Powerbook G4 to MacBook Pro?

Hi, I've just bought a Seagate portable drive so that I can back-up the work and literally everything from my rather old Powerbook G4 with a view to later copying everything from the drive onto my next laptop, a brand new Macbook Pro - but I'm terrified that it's going to either:

 

a) Not be able to 'see' the portable drive

or

b) Wipe it

 

Can anyone soothe my fears here?

 

- Devo x

PowerBook, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Nov 1, 2011 12:40 PM

Close

Q: Seagate portable drive - copy from Powerbook G4 to MacBook Pro?

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Braby,

    Braby Braby Nov 1, 2011 5:01 PM in response to Deavious
    Level 4 (1,795 points)
    Nov 1, 2011 5:01 PM in response to Deavious

    Is this a USB drive? If so you are probably going to need either a powered hub, a long-armed USB Y- connector

    or if it supports it, a power supply for the drive. This is because a single USB port on the PowerBook won't give enough juice for most drives. Firewire is a different matter and there should be no problem.

    That takes care of the "seeing" the drive part of your question.

    You will need to format the drive (Mac OS extended) then copy across the files and folders you want to transfer to the new machine. You would then be able to plug in the drive (probably no USB power issues with the MacBook) and drag and drop items - presuming they are readable by your new Intel MacBook - and away you go.

    Nothing will get wiped unless you do the wiping!

    (You can also use Migration Assistant http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4413

    though in my experience you tend to end up with quite a bit of irrelevant clutter that later has to be manually thrown away).

    Note that in copying "everything" from your PowerBook there would be no point in  actually making a

    clone of the drive as you can't transfer system-specific items between the two different machines, the one having a Power PC processor and the other an Intel plus even if you could you wouldn't want an old operating system like 10.4 on you nice new Mac!!