Cannot migrate from imac to mac mini via thunderbolt/firewire

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Level 1

4 points

Cannot migrate from imac to mac mini via thunderbolt/firewire

I have a mid-2010 imac and brand new mac mini. I want to migrate from the old imac to the new mac mini.

I have connected them up using thunderbolt to firewire adapter, and mini display cable.

Instantly I connect the displays the mac mini takes over the display.

When changing the mac mini to slave mode (target) the imac says it cannot read the hard disk and will not connect - it does not show up.

When turning the imac into slave mode (target) the screen shows the firewire symbol, and I have no controls because mac mini screen is not available.

I have turned sharing on. Ethernet does not connect either.

Any ideas please?

Mac mini (Late 2014), OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Apr 22, 2015 9:33 AM

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Answer 1

lllaass

Level 10

210,417 points

Apr 22, 2015 9:37 AM in response to olai99

Just how did you connect?

You need old Mini>FW cable>FW to Thunderbolt adapter>new Mini Thunderbolt port.

Although a mini displayport plugs into a Thunderbolt port. you need a Thunderbolt cable for data

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Answer 2

olai99 Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 22, 2015 9:48 AM in response to lllaass

I am using the mini display just for the display, not for data.

For data I am using FireWire 800 to 800 9 Pin to 9 Pin (from the imac) connected to the mac mini via an Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter.

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Answer 3

lllaass

Level 10

210,417 points

Apr 22, 2015 9:51 AM in response to olai99

Did you boot the old Mini in Target Disk Mode (boot when holding the T key)?

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Answer 4

olai99 Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 22, 2015 9:58 AM in response to lllaass

No. I set the 'target disk mode' under selecting start-up disk in System Preferences. See attached screen shot. Would it make a difference?

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Answer 5

lllaass

Level 10

210,417 points

Apr 22, 2015 10:01 AM in response to olai99

Shulld not make a difference. With a screen connected to the old Mini does the screen show the FW icon?

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Answer 6

olai99 Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 22, 2015 10:29 AM in response to lllaass

I'll try again. By the way, the mac mini is brand new. It is the imac which is old. All the cables are new.

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Answer 7

olai99 Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 23, 2015 5:39 AM in response to olai99

I tried again with the new mac mini in slave mode (target) via Firewire cable. This time I got a message on my imac screen saying that in order to connect to this disk I need OS 10.7 or above (I use 10.6). I probably got this message previously but it disappears quickly so I missed it last time. Anyway, I am stuck (unless, in addition to having paid some £60 for cables, I buy OS 10.7, just to migrate to OS 10.10 and never use 10.7 again).

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Answer 8

lllaass

Level 10

210,417 points

Apr 23, 2015 7:12 AM in response to olai99

Do you have OSX 10.6.8 on the old Mac?

This

Move your content to a new Mac - Apple Support

includes

Migration Assistant in OS X Mavericks and Yosemite can transfer information from other computers that have OS X Snow Leopard v10.6.8 or later installed. If you're migrating from a computer with an earlier version of OS X, update your older computer first, or manually copy your data from one computer to another.

You can also update the old Mac to Yosemite and then migrate

http://www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade/

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Answer 9

olai99 Author

Level 1

4 points

May 10, 2015 10:49 AM in response to lllaass

The problem is solved - but not in a straightforward way.

The cable connections now work but the fundamental problem remained: When turning the imac into slave mode (target) the screen shows the firewire symbol, and I have no controls because Mac Mini screen is not available. Why buy a Mac Mini if you have no access to it because the screen is in slave mode?

I brought in a third mac and turned on screen sharing. From this third computer I could then control Mac Mini and start and monitor the migration process.

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