Transfer data from broken iMac

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Level 1

4 points

Transfer data from broken iMac

My 2010 27 inch iMac died this weekend with a fault with the OS. I have tried to reinstall on-line with no success and the only boot-up option that works is Command R where it boots to the OS X utilities screen but it will not restore from Time Machine or reinstall OS X so I decided to buy a new iMac yesterday. I would like to transfer the data from the old machine before trying to reformat the old hard drive and continuing to try and fix it. What is the best method of transferring the data to my new iMac? The old machine has a firewire but the new machine does not as it has thunderbolt, USB and ethernet. Is it possible to transfer data via the ethernet cable?

VIN,iMac (27-inch Late 2009), iOS 9.3.1

Posted on Apr 8, 2016 2:45 AM

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Answer 1

SeaPapp

Level 7

26,492 points

Apr 8, 2016 3:34 AM in response to fistral64

You said you have a Time Machine backup of the old iMac? Is it current? Easiest method is to migrate to the new iMac using the backup. Move your content to a new Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

den.thed

Level 10

92,380 points

Apr 8, 2016 10:34 AM in response to fistral64

The 2010 iMac has a Firewire 800 port and the new iMac has a Thunderbolt port.

To use > Share files between two computers with target disk mode - Apple Supportyou would need an > Apple-thunderbolt-to-firewire-adapterand a Firewire 800 cable.

Noting that, less expensive Thunderbolt to Firewire adapters and cables may also work.

FWIW recovering data from the older iMac drive in this manner, will depend on what condition it's Hard Drive and other Hardware are in.

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