Time machine to back up data to old G4

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Level 1

45 points

Time machine to back up data to old G4

Last year I bought an iMac 21" Intel Core 2 computer and my old Imac G4 with superdrive now sits in the corner unused.

Is it possible to use the old Imac G4 as an external drive for time machine on the 21" Imac.
If so:
1. How do I hook up the two machines?
2. What leads do I need?
3. What process do I go through to achieve the back up?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

iMac5,1 intel Core 2, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Dec 31, 2010 9:00 AM

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Answer 1

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Dec 31, 2010 11:21 AM in response to Les.

Les. wrote:
. . .
Is it possible to use the old Imac G4 as an external drive for time machine on the 21" Imac.

Maybe, but I don't know if I'd want to trust my backups to anything that old. You can get a new external HD for relatively little money these days (probably under $100); that's the easiest, fastest, and most reliable way to back up.

The G4 must be running Leopard.

It must have either a separate partition on the internal HD for the backups, or an external HD for them. It should be roughly 2-3 times the size of the data it will be backing-up.

1. How do I hook up the two machines?

You could connect via WIFI, Ethernet, or FireWire.

2. What leads do I need?

See #22 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum) for setup instructions.

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Answer 2

Les. Author

Level 1

45 points

Jan 2, 2011 1:34 AM in response to Pondini

Thanks for your help it has been very useful
Les

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