Setting up a 2-Mac network [filesharing most important]

[kbeartx]

I'm in the process of setting up my 'new' G5 and retiring my G4.  I have quite a LOT of data [spread out on four different physical drives] on the G4 that I want the ability to copy to the G5.  

For many years, whenever I've needed to do something like this, I've removed the HD from the older Mac and installed it into the newer one.  This plan does not work in this instance, since the G5 uses SATA drives.  And since I've never before used either Firewire Target Disc mode or Migration Assistant, I have no idea what the abilities or limitations are in that scenario.

So I thought I'd just connect my Linksys router to the Cable Modem and connect the two Macs via ethernet.

One thing I DO remember from the old days is that certain aspects of networking were NOT at all intuitive.

I went into the Sharing System Preference panel on the G4 [10.3.9], hoping to setup things there before I fired up the G5 [which should be 'pristine', with a fresh install of Leopard], but I don't know if what I did will be sufficient for the two Macs to 'see' each other over the ethernet LAN.

Any personal advice, or a good tutorial to refer me to?

TIA,

KB  

[kbeartx]

OK, I've now read the Panther Help topics about filesharing and an article on Apple's site, and I keep seeing items like these:

QUOTE

Summary of File Sharing:
Mac OS X 10.0 and later allow you to share the contents of your Public folder.
Others can also copy files to your Drop Box folder located in your Public folder.

which gives me some concern, b/c I'd like to share the entire contents of all four of the HDs in my MDD, so I can 'see' all the stuff from the G5 and pick and choose what I want to copy.

Is this not possible?

KB

[krissel]

Basically you should be able to login to the other computer using the administrators' account and password for the drive you are trying to get into.

Here is some reading and a mention of a third party app that some have suggested though you really shouldn't need it.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106224

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=352612

http://www.ehmac.ca/anything-mac/52480-any...nother-mac.html


I've used Migration assistant successfully and it's quite simple, but not over a network so I can't speak for it's usage under those circumstances.

[Mayo]

Firewire Disk Mode would be a lot simpler and quicker; use Migration Assistant to move as much as possible and then drag-and-drop the rest...

Unfortunately, more than a few people are reporting problems when attempting to use MA between Macs running 10.3.9 and 10.5. (A Google search should bring up discussions at the Apple forums and other locales...) One idea is to simply upgrade the 10.3 Mac and then use MA. I didn't have time to research whether there are other fixes for the MA problem...

[antony]

QUOTE(kbeartx @ Apr 10 2008, 10:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Any personal advice, or a good tutorial to refer me to?

My approach is simple. Under System Preferences, enable File Sharing. If you have Firewall on, make sure personal file sharing is enabled.

For convenience, I would also suggest enable AppleTalk on ethernet on both Mac. This will help one Mac seeing another Mac easily.

Next from Finder, under Network (10.3.x) or under Shared (10.5.x), you simply select another Mac and log in.

[kbeartx]

One thing I thought to do last night was to make aliases of each of the MDD's HDs in my Public Folder on the MDD.

So just now from the G5 I did Finder->Go->Connect to Server->MDD.Local and Presto! there was everything, just like I pictured it!
 

[Xairbusdriver]

You can also make an alias of another computer that you have logged into and keep that on your desktop. You can then drag items directly to that alias and make a connection, if it's awake and online, even if you haven't logged on recently. You will get a "No Entry" icon when you do this. Just ignore it and drop the item on the alias. If it can't connect for some reason, you get another dialog telling you it didn't work. Then, you'll have to do the lengthy "Go to..." method again.