What type of Firewire Cable do I Need or can I use an Ethernet Cable?

Question

What type of Firewire Cable do I Need or can I use an Ethernet Cable?

I have a MacBook running Snow Leopard (10.6.8) and I want to install Snow Leopard upgrade onto a MacMini (2007 version, I believe) running 10.5.8 connecting the two with either an ethernet cable or using a firewire cable. Both computers have bad optical drives, but I have an external drive that I can use with the MacBook. I can't get the MacMini to recognize the external drive, so I can't do it that way. I have a Snow Leopard upgrade disk which was bought separately that is not for a particular Mac model, so that should not be an issue.

I have also tried to use Remote Install with no success, even though the two computers are linked to the same network (the MacMini is the host computer and the MacBook is connected to the network via AirPort)

So to the question: Can I Use an ethernet cable to do this ? If I use a firewire cable instead, I notice that there are a wide variety of types available. How do I know which type is right for this specific task ?

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Mar 18, 2015 4:58 AM

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Answer 1

sanjampet

Level 5

7,988 points

Mar 18, 2015 6:02 AM in response to HyperAppleScripter

You can use a FireWire 800 to FW 400 cable such as the following:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/HA833ZM/A/belkin-firewire-800400-9-pin6-pin-ca ble-2-m66-ft?fnode=51

If your Mac Mini is in fact a 2007, it would have a FW400. You can check this by clicking on the Apple in the menu bar in the drop down menu click About This Mac, then More info. In the following pane check the Model Identifier macmini 2,1 or below is FW400, Model Identifier macmini 3,1 or above would be FW800.

For the MBP you can do the same and check the Model Identifier and see if it is MacBook Pro 4,1 or lower would be FW400, 5,1or higher FW800.

You could use the MBP for a remote OS X installation using the Remote Install OS X.app, which can be found in your 10.6.8 Applications folder->Utilities folder.

Launch the application and follow the prompts.

Hope this helps

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Answer 2

Mar 18, 2015 7:21 AM in response to sanjampet

Thanks. I determined that I need FW400 on both ends. Just one thing I want to make sure I am clear on though, you're saying that I should run Remote Install in conjunction with a firewire connection or wirelessly ? I could not do this successfully wirelessly before because the destination computer did not show up in the choices.

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Answer 3

sanjampet

Level 5

7,988 points

Mar 18, 2015 7:49 AM in response to HyperAppleScripter

Use a cable.

If it does not "see" the mac mini you may need to start in Target Mode with the two connected via the FW cable. As I mentioned before I have not done this for quite some time, and can't really remember the details. I don't have a second computer here at the moment to do a quick test. If it does not see the mini from Remote Install, then start in target mode, and it should then see it.

OS X Yosemite: Transfer files between two computers using target disk mode

The mini drive should show up on the MBP desktop. Connect the two with the cable and start the mini holding the T key.

Ignore the Yosemite reference, it is the same procedure for SL

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