How to migrate from 10.5.8 to Mavericks?

You would be better off just copying you User files over to a external drive from your old Mac and then copying them to your New Mac. As you have found out the Migration Asssitant system leaves something to be desired. And for the fact that most everything else on that old Mac isn't usable on your new Mac.

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See > https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5650467?answerId=24075575022#24075575022 Also, read > https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-2295

It looks like you cannot transfer files from a Mac with Mac OS X 10.5 to a Mac with OS X Mavericks. In this case, the best option would be to put the old Mac in Target Disk mode (by holding the T key while your Mac is starting up), so now you can transfer the files you want in your new Mac. You need a Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter and a FireWire 800 cable.

As you have to buy some adapters to make it work, a different thing is to make a backup of your old Mac. Then, connect the external drive with the backup to your new Mac, and use Migration Assistant to restore the files you want to. I do not recommend you to transfer applications, as it's probable that you will not be able to use them

margofromnld wrote:

Thanks for your feedback. I hoped to migrate all my preferences, bookmarks etc. What bothers me is that the notification on the Migration Assistant is simply not true. I might be expecting too much from Apple maybe...

Have a look at my reply, because you should try to restore your files to your new Mac with a backup of the old Mac

The problem is not that you are using a PowerPC-based Mac, because with OS X Mountain Lion and earlier you could use Migration Assistant to transfer files from a PowerPC Mac without any issue. The problem is that OS X Mavericks cannot transfer files from a Mac with Mac OS X 10.5.

The way to make a backup of your files with Time Machine and restore it into your new iMac is quite easy. I recommend you to give it a try

I think your problem is your old Mac is a PPC model. It is not that it is running Leopard 10.5.x but that it is so old Apple never thought anyone would still be using one that old when buying a new Mac that comes with Mavericks.

What your old mac is 8+/- years old?

You are welcome

I meant nothing derogatory in my last post. Every computer ever built can still do most of what new system can do.

I was commenting on the migration system not supporting that old of a Mac. Clearly it is not the OS X version you are running as that was used on Mac's up until August of 2009. So there are clearly much newer Mac computers that ran Leopard and have been migrated to new Macs running Lion, Mt Lion and even Mavericks.

margofromnld wrote:

You might be amazed how much you can do with my ancient computer. As Mende already wrote: it has not been a problem before Mavericks.:)

Not really sure what you last post is about.

The reason you can't use the Migration Assistant system in your new Mac is because your old Mac is a PowerPC based system. It is not because you are running Leopard. I looked at the Apple Kowledge base article on using Migration Assistant and it has no references to what older OS X versions it can or can't be used with. Leopard OS X is only 4 years old, last Point update for it was in August of 2009 and shortly after that Snow Leopard came out.

So I would think the Mavericks Migration assistant system would work with Leopard if it was installed on a Intel CPU based Mac computer but not from a PowerPC CPU based computer. Like I said your old computer is at least 8 years old.

All the best to you getting your files over to your new Mac computer.

margofromnld wrote:

I have always updated the OS. As far as I know there is no update from 10.5.8 available for a G4. In my log I can see updates until Sept. 2013 for 10.5.8. Maybe I don't understand what you mean?

This update was listed for Mountain Lion, but it might work for Mavericks, too.

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1434

Thanks Barney. That might do the trick for the OP.