Welcome!
Does anyone know of a good and trusted source for the original install discs for this machine?
Several people here have called Apple fpr these and were told they no longer carry replacement disks for this machine. It's back to eBay or the local Mac user group. Any used Mac that does not come with the system restore disks should be considered defective and avoided, or at least heavily discounted. Can the seller find the disks for you?
Every time I try to transfer a System Folder to the machine..........
That because you need the special version of OS9 on the system disk.
I do have a 733 G4 with a valid OS 9 System Folder. Can I transfer that via target mode and expect it to boot the 1.25?
I've not tried it but, based on my experiences with my MDD and its special needs, I don't think that will work.
If you get a righteous system restore disk set, there is one more hoop: OS9 will not boot if installed on a volume larger than about 195G. I tried installing it on a 250GB drive. It installed and would work in Classic emulation, but would not boot until I wiped that drive and made a modest partition in which OS9 resides.
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As an aside, never be afraid to start a new topic in these forums. That usually will get you better help faster because some people will not read an addition to a thread that is already months old, like this one. I realize some web forums flame on people who start new threads but that is not the case around here. Tagging on to an existing thread confuses those offering help and dilutes the help that you and the original poster (OP) both deserve.
I realize that finding how to start a new thread around here is non-intuitive. This link should hep if you encounter what thousands of others have:
http://discussions.apple.com/ann.jspa?annID=650
We look forward to seeing more of you here!
PS: I love your user name! My wife thinks I should have a similar one as we have ~15 Macs in the family.