New iMac, trying to save old stuff

[hingyfan]

Well my G5 gave up ghost and I splurged on a 21" iMac. Today i somehow got the old one to start and i'm trying to recover stuff. It seems pretty stable.
Oh first of all, now that i have a temp password, how do i reset.
Ok, the old one froze and i coudnt get it to start, kept getting white screens and panic scenarios. Today i put Disk Warrior in firewire drive and tried to start from it. It booted into regular start up and seems fine. Im trying to copy stuff. might need another ext, HD cause this one has never been formatted correctly and quits copying early. .But stuff does move and the files seem fine.
If i get another ext HD, i would probably get another Buffalo. What would i first do with to make sure it is formatted correctly.
And now that i have the old iMac running, what should i do to try to fix it?
at least i can get on pay bills, well i could if i had any money left over after buying this,
Thanks

[Xairbusdriver]

It sounds like you already had an external drive. Did it not have a recent backup on it? Preferably a cloned backup. The new machine should be able to use that backup to get your new one setup, especially if it was a clone. Migration Assistant usually comes up almost as soon as you start a new Mac.

Buy a Buffalo, if you want, but you'll not know what's inside the box which, IMHO, is more important than what the box looks like. All you will know is the size and the interface that you'll use to connect to it. For close to the same price (and probably less) you should be able to buy the drive and an enclosure and get the best drive at the same time (minimum 3-YR warranty, more is better, of course). You will need to know how to use a screwdriver, however. A small phillips head, usually. If there are more than 6 screws, it will be unusual (four hold the drive to the frame, the other two hold the enclosure together). Cable should come with the enclosure, of course. Get one that is at least twice the size of the internal drive in the new Mac, BTW.

First thing to do with any new drive—format it, even if it says it already is. There may be some useless utilities on it that probably aren't worth the space they take up, anyway.
Second thing to do is set up a backup plan. The new Mac will be ready to use Time Machine, of course. You've paid for that app, might as well use it.
Third thing to do is update as many apps as possible, many may not have Lion capable versions, of course, if they need Rosetta.
Fourth thing will be to see how much of the old stuff you can get off the old machine. I'm suggesting that as the last step as it sounds like it is not too stable and you'll have enough to do without doing something frustrating or possible causing corruption on the new machine.

It might be worthwhile to take the drive out of the G5 and put it in the new enclosure to see if it works better. You might even find a $20 Seagate 'adaptor' at Best Buy that will let you simply plug in the old drive! I've been using one for over a month with not a single problem. All SATA drives simply plug into the adaptor because all drives have the I/O and power plugs in exactly the same place. They are impossible to plug in wrong, unless you have a very big sledge hammer and someone willing to hold the drive while you pound on it. It can come in handy to have another "enclosure" laying around to test a drive that you think is failing. And you can't beat $20!

[jchuzi]

Do you want to reset the password on the new iMac or the G5? This Apple search page has several relevant links.

You ask how to fix the G5 but we don't know what the problem is. Have you run any diagnostics with Disk Utility? Read Mac OS X - Using Disk Utility to Repair a Disk, especially the part about SMART status. Of course, Disk Warrior can give you that information as well but I don't know if you tried it.

Do you have the Apple Hardware Test disk or TechTool Deluxe (better yet, TechTool Pro)? They will do hardware tests that neither DU nor DW attempts.

Which OS is the G5 using?

[Xairbusdriver]

We often suggest that people 'build' their own external drives because it is so simple, use of a screwdriver being the sole requirement. However, I was sent a list of "Acts of Random Thinking" today and one got my attention since I had posted the DIY suggestion so recently. I hope this doesn't actually apply to any TSer's but...

I'm not too handy with tools. I once got my finger caught in a screwdriver.
   

[hingyfan]

I posted about this before here. I put together two enclosures myself and they both failed. I will not try again. That is the end of that story.
I cannot get the old machine to boot from Disk warrior via a Firewire dvd player/burner. I was able to in past. Holding the "C" does nothing. Holding option presents a puzzling scenario With an an arrow and and sort of like reboot sign.I tried to follow that but it still goes back into OSx. i have copied a lot of stuff out of it. Would of course not try to grab apps.
Also tried to put disk warrior in the g5's disc drive and that not work either.

[Xairbusdriver]

I assume the DW previously did boot on the G5?
How old is the PRAM battery?

BTW, some apps were Universal builds. That means they had both PPC and Intel code. So, just because they were running on a G5 doesn't mean they won't run on the new machine. They probably cannot use the 64bit mode, of course.

Two or even more failed external enclosures for one person is not a significantly valid source for decision making. It may only mean that you bought damaged equipment. It is even possible to buy drives that simply do not work in some enclosures. The point is ther's nothing electronic to assemble/solder/etc. All the electronics are already installed in the box. The "builder" does nothing more than remove/loosen some screws to open the box and use (usually) four screws to secure the drive on the box. The last step is to plug the already attached cables to the drive connectors. It is even easier than plugging in the power supply to the wall since they can only go one way. I would, therefore have to conclude that either the drive was DOA or the electronics were similarly damaged. Both those possibilities should have been verifiable by returning them to the retailer.

And the adaptor I spoke above uses absolutely NO screws!! The drive simply sits on the adaptor on the SATA plug side with the drive standing vertically on the adaptor which is marginally wider than the drive is thick. It ain't purtty but is sure is a great piece of equipment to have at your disposal!

I and many others here can counter that we have "built" several dozen enclosures without a single failure. It's your decision but I don't think you're basing it on facts. I, on the other hand, always make awl meye disicianz on factz!