Firewire Question

The hub of Aura activity, the cortex that binds the forum together.
Post Reply
User avatar
Xanien
Not-A-Deserter
Posts: 932
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2004 4:28 am
Location: Working part time in Japan

Post by Xanien » Sun Sep 30, 2007 2:57 am

Well, considering I did the entire conversation in Japanese with the dude at the store, I picked up a firewire cord and I'm hoping that I'll be able to move all my settings and stuff from my iBook into my new iMac which I just bought. But has anybody ever done something like this before with their computers? Anything I should know about before I try it? I just want to copy the data, and not so much as move it all and leave nothing there (in the iBook).

I'm guessing I'll have to reinstall things such as Microsoft office, but for the most part is it an easy process? Let me know what steps I should take if you can help.
User avatar
Chewi
Anti-Hero
Posts: 3521
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2004 3:51 pm
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

Post by Chewi » Sun Sep 30, 2007 10:37 am

I did point you to a useful page once. The link is buried somewhere in the forums. As I said back then, your data will be fine, programs will probably need to be reinstalled and settings can probably be transferred if you find the right folder. Question. Are you moving from a PPC Mac to an Intel Mac? That seems quite likely. If that is the case then most of the programs would need to be reinstalled anyway because the processors can't run each other's code, unless it's one of those special universal binaries they have on the Mac. I digress. As for FireWire, there's nothing particularly special about it. It's slightly slower than USB2 and it's gradually being phased out, even by Apple, who initially put a lot of weight behind it.
User avatar
Xanien
Not-A-Deserter
Posts: 932
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2004 4:28 am
Location: Working part time in Japan

Post by Xanien » Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:02 am

I thought that the Firewire was faster than the USB2.0. I know that the firewire from my iPod to my Laptop was faster than the new USB2.0 it uses now. Well, maybe twice as fast. But considering I just want to transfer things such as my files and music along with settings from my iBook, I think the Firewire will do just fine. Plus if I get something like a DV camcorder in the future, there is a good chance it will have a firewire port which I can use the cord again with.

The only things I'll have to reinstall will be MS Office and things like VLC. Hope I can get bittorrent and everything else to work too. By the way, I was thinking of buying Microsoft XP and installing it on my new Mac in order to play games and such, but can you even buy it anymore? Vista sucks compared to the Mac OSX I've been using.
User avatar
Chewi
Anti-Hero
Posts: 3521
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2004 3:51 pm
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

Post by Chewi » Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:34 am

Just looked it up. Traditionally FireWire was 400Mbps. USB2 is 480Mbps. However newer versions of FireWire work at 800Mbps so maybe that's what you have. The cables are different. I haven't heard of it until now but apparently USB3 will be around 4.8Gbps. That's pretty damn fast.

You're in luck. Microsoft officially announced that they would be extending XP's shelf life by 6 months just the other day.
Last edited by Chewi on Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Mik
Born under a bad sign
Posts: 3394
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2004 8:44 am
Location: Beyond your borders
Contact:

Post by Mik » Mon Oct 01, 2007 1:07 pm

Prolly due to pressure from the community, most users have refused to jump ship from XP, expecting the usual shit from MS like dodgy patches and massive security issues and are giving it a while to sort it self out.

I think if I got a new PC (which I'm thinking about) I'd get vista, might as well tbh, eventually they will drop XP.
User avatar
Xanien
Not-A-Deserter
Posts: 932
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2004 4:28 am
Location: Working part time in Japan

Post by Xanien » Mon Oct 01, 2007 1:37 pm

Ughh, I just bought a generic 400 Mbps Firewire cable. Haven't opened it yet, but might as well upgrade to a USB2.0 then, eh? Then again, it was only $10 and should get the job done that I need it to do.
Post Reply