Migration Issues. Part 3!

[Raven]

Sorry for taking up so much webspace. I'm still having issues with the transfer of files from my wife's G4, OSX10.4.11, (which was originally my Work Mac) to my wife's Mac Mini OSX10.7.4.

The problems occurred because I did not know that all the G4 partitions would not be transferred using target disk mode. I also ended up with two separate accounts on her Mac Mini, which is still confusing having to log OUT and IN to see both sides.  All this and not being comfortable with a new OS (Where is the Library folder? etc).

I have made progress over the past two weeks struggling with all this with the good advice of the TS folks, but I'm still not there. Let me ask TS for further help on one or two issues at a time...

ISSUE 1 - MS WORD
How do I install MS Word 2008 from Install CDs on a Mac Mini, so my wife can work on our accounting, etc? (EDIT - posted to a separate topic)

ISSUE 2 - MAIL
I was able to transfer my wife's email. She uses Apple Mail. But I have lost her MAILBOX folders(?). See the screen shot of Library folder...

- What is the V2 folder?
- What are the folders with the "-" sign on them? The MAILBOXES folder has many of those.
- I see 4 POP folders.
Which is the right one? Can I delete the others?
About a year ago our ISP provider changed our mail format. The current one is Pop3.live.com ( I think!)
- What else to do to clean up the MAIL folder?

[Xairbusdriver]

The easiest first. Getting the users Library visible, again, permanently:
First, change the Finder Preferences, at least temporarily so that the users home icon is displayed in the Side Bar. I don't see your wife's Home icon showing in your screen shot. If she/you don't want to see that in the Side Bar, you can change the prefs back after the instructions below.

1. Open a Finder window (in the account you want to end up being her main one, we'll worry about the others, later).
2. In the Go Menu, scroll down to "Go to Folder..." [shift-command-G]
3. In the text box, type /Users/WHATEVER-HER-USER-NAME-IS(it should be the same name showing beside the Home icon)/Library and click the "Go" button.
4. Click and hold the folder icon at the top of the Finder window that opened in step 3.
5. Drag that folder icon into the Side Bar of the other open Finder window.
6. Close the second Finder window that has the contents of the user Library.

Change Finder Prefs


Go to the users Library (~/Library)


Drag the Library icon to the
Finder Side Bar

[Xairbusdriver]

ISSUE 2: Have you tried the Import Mailboxes... menu item?
As for "What is the V2 folder?" I think you can pretty well se what's in there. Pretty much everything Mail needs to display your messages except the attachment downloads. I think that folder started back in Snow Leopard but I'm not positive.

QUOTE

I see 4 POP folders.
Which is the right one? Can I delete the others?
About a year ago our ISP provider changed our mail format. The current one is Pop3.live.com ( I think!)

Don't delete any of them! At least not in that directory. All those folders are created by Mail when you set up the app's preferences. Since you have two nearly identical accounts, you have two of many of those folders/files. You need to get rid of the extraneous account and it's log in before tackling the Mail problem, IMHO.

I've already discussed how to use two windows, one for each user, to transfer stuff between a secondary user to the primary user's Public folder. The "trick" is to be logged IN to the secondary user's account, otherwise, you cannot see what is there to transfer.

I don't have any Microsoft apps so I have no idea how to install Word. Nor do I have any interest in learning! BTW, I didn't know Word did "accounting!" Excel (horrors!) maybe, but Word?

[Raven]

XABD:
"The easiest first. Getting the users Library visible, again, permanently:"

Isn't that what I already did? Look in my first screen shot. I have the LIBRARY folder in the side bar.

[Raven]

ISSUE 1.
Sorry, I meant MS Office 2008.
My wife uses it at her office and home. It was installed on the G4 from Install Discs. Of course, the Mac Mini can't read those. How do I install that app?

ISSUE 2.
I copied Library/Mail/Mailboxes Folder from the G4 to the Public Folder on the Mac Mini.
When I tried to Import that folder, it had a ton of pictures in it... there is a Pictures.mbox, and an iTunes.mbox and videos.mbox. Doesn't look like email to me!
They each have a different icon in the column view, not a "folder".

Do I import everything in the Mailbox Folder?

[Xairbusdriver]

QUOTE

It was installed on the G4 from Install Discs. Of course, the Mac Mini can't read those. How do I install that app?

Showing my ignorance, again, but why can't the mini read/install from those? Does it not have a DVD/CD reader?

QUOTE

When I tried to Import that folder, it had a ton of pictures in it... there is a Pictures.mbox, and an iTunes.mbox and videos.mbox. Doesn't look like email to me!

They could simply be pictures, music and movies hat were sent as attachments with some message. When I can get to my grand daughters machine, I'll look at the files/folders/etc in her version of Mail and see if I can determine what's where and why. I think se's still using Snow Leopard if not Leopard, so the setup should be more like yours. Pictures at noon?

As for the user/Library (~/Library) it does appear that you've got it displaying properly. I got confused with the "All this and not being comfortable with a new OS (Where is the Library folder? etc). " in your original post (#1). My confusion, not yours!

[Xairbusdriver]

Looking at my grand daughter's MBP was not any help. Mainlky because she seldom ever uses email... texting, ya know... She's on 10.6.8, and there are no mailboxes around other than Out/Deleted/etc. and no attachments that I could see!

What I would NOT do, is 'import' by dragging any data from her old account into the new one. Simply use the "Import" function in Mail, itself, to do the importing. That way, you can expect the app to put stuff where it needs rather than hoping you have guessed correctly. Let the computer/app do the 'grunt work.'

The main thing to do is simply look through the available "mbox" offerings that you will see when you use the "Import" menu in Mail. Note that there is a rather long list of offerings to import from. The default is "Apple Mail" of course, but you might want to also check using the "Files in mbox format" radio button, that may offer you other choices that didn't appear with the default.

[Paddy]

The POP folders you're seeing are all different - look at them carefully. (different domains, for one, different users for another) Whether the mail is duplicated due to changes to your mail provider, I can't say - you'd have to import it all and then decide and possibly do some weeding of duplicates.

Apparently, in Mail 5, Apple has introduced layout for the Library folder called V2. See: http://simon.heimlicher.com/articles/2011/...identities-mail - so that's where that came from. That is no doubt the NEW account info you set up; I'm assuming here that you did that before you tried to import the old mail.

At any rate - import the old mail into Mail and see how it works. I'd suggest moving the old stuff into a folder elsewhere (on the desktop for instance) so there is NO confusion as to how it got into the Mail library folder and it goes where it belongs AND it isn't duplicated. Once it's all there and working, you can delete the stuff on the desktop.

As for the Library folder visibility, while yes, you can (and have) dragged it into the sidebar, but you can also simply download Mountain Tweaks and use that to make it visible in the Finder and do a bunch of other things that may make the transition to ML easier.

http://tweaksapp.com/app/mountain-tweaks/

[Raven]

Haven't been able to get back here to update until now...

ISSUE 1:
To XAirBusDriver - The Mac Mini has no DVD reader. How to load MS Office 2008 from the Install CDs?

ISSUE 2:
Imported the MAILBOXES folder from the G4. My wife's mail is visible. Good news is that I can SEND and RECEIVE mail.

Yet...
1. There are no folders at sidebar of Mail window which used to keep my wife's emails by topic.

2.  In LIBRARY/MAIL/MAILBOXES folder the missing mail folders mentioned in #1 from the G4 are present, but with "-" icons on them.
 
3. In LIBRARY/MAIL, two of three POP folders have a "-" sign on them. The 3rd POP folder has messages from two years ago. Would the real one stand up? ;-)

[Xairbusdriver]

ISSUE #1:

QUOTE

The Mac Mini has no DVD reader. How to load MS Office 2008 from the Install CDs?

My first idea would be to re-create then as Disk Images. Assuming you have a DVD reader in something, you can use Disk Utility to create a file that can be loaded onto the mini's HD and used as a 'virtual disk.' That's the way many apps are downloaded from a developers site, for example. You then double-click the file (which will have a ".dmg" suffix) and it 'becomes' a volume/disk with all the MS installer apps on it. Details can be discussed later... I'm about to turn in for the night.

The "-" symbols: We're still getting confused with which account we're logged in to. The "-" symbol is only on folders that the currently logged in account does not have access to, because they are owned by another account. In order to see/use/access/transfer what's in those folders, one must be logged in to the folders owner account.

Pictures tomorrow!?

[Raven]

"one must be logged in to the folders owner account."
Yes, I thought I had done that as you explained earlier. Will try that process again!

[Xairbusdriver]

Transferring stuff between two accounts/computers: I find it less confusing to have two Finder windows open when dealing with two different accounts/computers. One for the non-logged in system (it will show lots of those "-" symbols, and one for the system you have logged in to. The transfer method then is the same; you can drag items FROM the logged in account/computer into the Public folder (or any other folder you have set up as accessible in that account/computer) of the other one.

I'd suggest logging into the 'old' account so you can easily access data that you want to move to the 'new' one. It's pretty much a one-way system because you don't have permission to see/move stuff in a different owners system. There are different 'owners' for each account/computer even if you are the actual physical 'owner.' The account/computer doesn't really know who you are, it just knows that there are two different accounts/computers. You'd think the little camera would be able to see who is sitting in front of the monitor, I know. But we just aren't there yet!

On the non-optical drive problem...
Possibly a better/easier way than making a Disk Image?

I'm assuming you do now have a monitor on that mini? If so, you might try starting it up in Target mode and then use the other Mac (with the DVD/CD drive) to install the MS apps on the mini. Most installers allow you to choose a location for the install. I'm not familiar, however, with how MS does things. I also don't know, but have heard stories, about licensing difficulties with MS stuff. Hopefully, you have all that info, if you need it.

[Jack W]

Raven,

Another option is to add an external DVD/CD reader/writer.

That would allow you to load on the MS suite from the install CDs you have.

I'm hoping the MS suite will be compatible with OS X 10.7.

This one from OWC looks like a good deal that is not too expensive ($55):

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/VLU2SD24XLS/

It is USB 2 only, but OWC also has multi input external options if you would prefer firewire or whatever.

You could also use it to write DVD's of crucial info for backups.

Etc. Etc. Etc.

I have been very pleased with my purchases from OWC, and you will find many TSers that have also had good experiences with them.

FWIW

Jack

[Raven]

XABD, re ISSUE 2:
Below are the items that seem to be missing since my transfer of files from the G4 10.4.11 to the Mac Mini 10.7.4.  What exactly do I need to drag over via the Public folder to get these files working properly?...

- All my wife's emails are showing in the Apple MAIL main window. Yet, MAIL folders ("Our Trip", "Friends", etc) in the side bar are gone.

- Safari Bookmarks are gone.

- Address Book has nothing in it.

- iPhoto has all her photos, but none of the Albums in the sidebar.

- iTunes has all the music. But no Playlists that my wife used to have.

- Also, in the Mac Mini Users/Home/MUSIC folder there are two iTunes Folders. One has 5.4 gb of music. The other one from the G4 has 5.36 gb of music. How do I know which is the active folder? Do I delete the other?

[Xairbusdriver]

HELP!

OK TSers, how about some input from people who use those apps?! The only one I use is Mail! I ended up with all my mailboxes migrated into the new version of Mail when I went from Lion to Mountain Lion. But I had to move most of the old messages into the newer mailboxes manually. Likewise, my small iPhoto, iTunes and Address Book info and libraries all showed up normally. I don't use the bookmarks function in Safari since I have several thousand in URLMPro, which is not dependent on any app or which OS is in use.

I think Safari, iTunes and iPhoto can import from any library you point them to. Not sure about Contacts, but I know it can export to a file that can then be imported.
All that would absolutely require direct access to the drive/computer on which the old stuff resides. The easiest way to do that, IMOH, would be to start up the computer with the 'old' stuff in Target mode. Networking could be used but still involves ownership/permissions difficulties.

Let's start at the beginning, simple questions, simple explanations:
First, the current setup. Is the following correct?:

mini: 10.7.4
G4: 10.4.11
1. Your wife's old data is on the G4.
2. The mini's OS was upgraded from 10.4 to 10.7?

if so, are the old OS files still around (Previous OS folder) or was the mini's drive completely erased before installing 10.7?