Member Avatar for cnc jim

All my stuff is on my beige g3 hard drive, running on OS9. Can I just take it out and put it in the G4, and expect it to work?
Alternatively, what is my best way, bearing in mind The g3 has no usb or fire wire?

Thanks in advance guys.

Jim

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Short answer: you can move the drive only if the G4 can talk to the same physical interface and file system. Swapping the disk may work for data, but do not assume it will boot OS9 on the G4. The safest approach is to copy the files off the G3 drive first.

Identify the drive and options:

  • Open the G3 and note the data connector. A flat 40‑pin ribbon + 4‑pin Molex power = PATA/IDE; a thin L‑shaped pair = SATA; a multi‑pin block = SCSI. If the G4 bay uses the same interface and the jumpers are set correctly (master/slave or cable‑select), the drive can often be installed directly. If the interfaces do not match, use a powered 3.5" external enclosure or an IDE<->USB (or IDE<->FireWire) adapter so the G4 can mount the drive as an external disk. Remember 3.5" drives need their own power supply in an enclosure.

Transfer methods (practical, reliable):

  • Ethernet copy: connect both Macs to the same switch/router (or use a crossover cable if no auto‑sense). Enable file sharing on the OS9 machine and mount its share on the G4 (AFP/Samba depending on OS versions) to copy files while preserving resource forks and metadata.
  • External enclosure/adapter: plug the G3 drive into a USB/FireWire enclosure and copy directly on the G4.
  • Disk repair/backup first: run Disk First Aid (OS9) or Disk Utility (on the G4) to check/repair the partition before copying. Make a backup image or burn important files if possible.

Notes and cautions:

  • As pointed out, Target Disk Mode requires FireWire on the source Mac; that won’t help a G3 with no FireWire. : since your USB card has never worked, try reseating/testing it first, but plan for an enclosure or network transfer as a robust fallback. OS9 applications themselves may not run on a G4 depending on the OS X version (Classic support exists only up through 10.4).

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Member Avatar for ahihihi...

:|

File converter software...
:$

Member Avatar for cambridge7

All my stuff is on my beige g3 hard drive, running on OS9. Can I just take it out and put it in the G4, and expect it to work?
Alternatively, what is my best way, bearing in mind The g3 has no usb or fire wire?

Thanks in advance guys.

Jim

You could save it to CD/DVD with a G3 that have a firewire.
If you have not that second G3 you could use the Network G3 --> G4. Some take it directly some use a router.

Member Avatar for cnc jim

Thanks guys.
There is no firewire, allthough there is a usb card, it has never worked. I will look into why that is, if I can get that working, then at least I can back up. I will also look into networking the two. Did I read somewhere about restarting holding down T, for target?

Jim

Member Avatar for John A

>Did I read somewhere about restarting holding down T, for target?
Target Disk Mode is exclusive to Firewire. Networking with a Cat5 cable isn't difficult though.

Member Avatar for cnc jim

Thanks for that clarification john a.

jim

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