Migration Assistant - Tiger to Lion?

First, use Setup Assistant when the new Mac first starts up, not Migration Assistant later.

It will probably work from Tiger, but not via network.

You can use Target Disk Mode directly from the other Mac (but select From Time Machine or other disk), or from "clone" backups of it.

I don't have Tiger, but did test with Leopard.

See Using Setup Assistant on Lion

Help! I have a similar situation -- the machines don't have FIrewire ports and the new one has already been set up with Lion. Are you saying Migration Assistant won't work at all, and neither will an ethernet connection between the two for the transfer?

No. Migration Assistant will work via Ethernet from a fully-updated Snow Leopard Mac, but not one running Leopard or earlier.

It will also work from Time Machine or "clone" backups of the old Mac, on an external HD.

Your bet bet would have been to use Setup Asisstant, but see the green box here: Using Setup Assistant on Lion

So we're talking about TIger in this thread, and I thought Time Machine didn't start until Leopard. Is that right?

Either way, it sounds like I still have no way of connecting the 2 machines together to transfer the data. No ethernet, no network? (no firewire ports on either machine)

I read the link and the green box you referred to.

Here's the rundown, please tell me if I'm missing something:

Old machine - G4 PPC 800Mhz running 10.4.11.

New machine - Macbook running Lion. Lots of other apps installed, don't want to scrub the drive.

If I brought an External HD to the scenario, you say I can clone the old machine to that, and then have Lion grab the data from the external? I want to be clear, since I have to bring everything with me on a plane (I'm surprising mom with the new macbook).

Thanks much.

oops. was trying to reply to the first poster.

Sunshine4320 wrote:

Help! I have a similar situation -- the machines don't have FIrewire ports and the new one has already been set up with Lion. Are you saying Migration Assistant won't work at all, and neither will an ethernet connection between the two for the transfer?

What Mac that's capable of running OS X doesn't have a firewire port? I think the original MacBook Air was the only one that didn't have one. The new ones have Thunderbolt, which IS Firewire, along with a host of other things.

Sunshine4320 wrote:

So we're talking about TIger in this thread, and I thought Time Machine didn't start until Leopard. Is that right?

Correct. But the Assistants will work either via FireWire or with a "clone" on an external HD.

don't want to scrub the drive.

Nobody said anything about that.

If I brought an External HD to the scenario, you say I can clone the old machine to that, and then have Lion grab the data from the external?

Yes. See: Using Setup Assistant on Lion

But as Kilted Tim says, most Macs do have FireWire ports. Older ones have F/W 400, new ones have F/W 800, but you can get a small adapter for $10 or so, or a cable with different plugs at each end. Just so you know what they look like: See this link. There are also some cables shown there. The F/W 400 port is actually larger, sort of pointed at one end; the F/W 800 port is smaller and a rectangle.

Ugh. The 2009 Macbook does not have a Firewire port.

I'm about ready to give up, but I want to be sure I have no other option. On CarbonCopyCloner's website, it says the architectures have to be the same to restore a clone (intel vs. PPC). In this instance, they aren't, but I'm also not necessarily restoring, just migrating.

You're positive I can still migrate Tiger data to Lion with this scenario? I have to bring all the hardware on a plane, so I want to be sure.

Sunshine4320 wrote:

Ugh. The 2009 Macbook does not have a Firewire port.

I'm about ready to give up, but I want to be sure I have no other option. On CarbonCopyCloner's website, it says the architectures have to be the same to restore a clone (intel vs. PPC). In this instance, they aren't, but I'm also not necessarily restoring, just migrating.

You're positive I can still migrate Tiger data to Lion with this scenario? I have to bring all the hardware on a plane, so I want to be sure.

Yes; Setup Assistant is different from restoring an entire clone. It doesn't restore OSX; but it will bring over any apps (that don't already exist), user accounts, data, preferences, etc., per the link provided above.

Before making the clone, make sure the old Mac is is good shape; run Verify Disk on the internal HD per #6 in Using Disk Utility. Then Repair Disk Permissions, per #5 there.

After you make the clone, start up from it and use your common apps, including your browser, to make sure everything is ok.

I'm attempting to do the same thing from an iMac G4 and I can assure you it does not have a Firewire port and it does run OS X Tiger. I cannot find out how to use Migration Assistant but I can assure you that you can connect your computers via a ethernet cable. Only thing that cause me trouble was that I had to configure the Ethernet connection manually (but it defaulted to DHCP). Once I had done this I was able to share the disk on the iMac with the MacBook.

I believe all iMac G4s had firewire ports. Can you be more specific about which model you have. Use the Apple System Profiler to identify which iMac you have and report back.

Even my old 2001 iBook G3 had a firewire port.

Patricia W wrote:

I'm attempting to do the same thing from an iMac G4 and I can assure you it does not have a Firewire port and it does run OS X Tiger. I cannot find out how to use Migration Assistant but I can assure you that you can connect your computers via a ethernet cable.

As posted several times here, you cannot use Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant via network from Leopard or earlier to Lion.

But all iMac G4's came with either 1 or 2 F/W 400 ports:

iMac (Flat Panel), iMac (17-inch Flat Panel) - Technical Specifications

iMac (17-inch 1Ghz) - Technical Specifications

iMac (USB 2.0) - Technical Specifications

You'll need a F/W 400 to F/W 800 adapter, or a cable with a F/W 400 plug at one end and a F/W 800 plug at the other. Just so you know what they look like: http://www.amazon.com/elago-FireWire-400-800-Adapter/dp/B002TF0ZDQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie =UTF8&qid=1312562370&sr=8-1

Or, make a "clone" backup of the G4 on an external HD, with the Restore tab of Disk Utility (see #7 in Using Disk Utility), or CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper, then connect it to your new Mac.

My apologies, you are correct ... it is not my iMac and I did not see the Firewire ports when I looked at it.

Correction ... I did see the firewire ports on the iMac (working on too many things at the same time) - it is the MacBook that does not have Firewire (and I've verified that from the system profiler ... see http://www.macworld.com/article/136200/2008/10/macbook_firewire.html

Then your best bet is to make a "clone" of the G4 on an external HD. If you get or have a dual-interface HD, you can boot the G4 from it via Firewire to be sure everything transferred properly.

Then connect it via USB to the MacBook and transfer from that, prefereably via Setup Assistant. See: Using Setup Assistant on Lion.

Once everything is transferred, erase the external and start using it for backups of the MacBook.