iMac G5 took a dump

We have an iMac G5 that we bought new about 6 years ago. It finally gave up the ghost over the weekend. When turned on, I get a solid LED light, no "chime", and a black screen. After a minute or two the fans kick on high. That's all it does.

We happened to be heading up to the Mall of America over the weekend so I made an appointment at the apple store up there. I believe the "genius" told me it was the logic board, a $900 fix. Obviously this old mac isn't worth that, so a new one is most likely in our future.

What I want to know, is if there is a way to remove the HD on my G5 and then transfer that information to the new mac once purchased. We have a lot of pictures, music, financial records, etc on the old one I want.

I found the insturctions on apple's support page for removing the hard drive, but from there I would have no idea how to hook this thing up to the new one and transfer data. The "genius" told me this could be done in the store for their $99 1:1 program fee.

Thank you,

JW

Jeremy W said:

What I want to know, is if there is a way to remove the HD on my G5 and then transfer that information to the new mac once purchased. We have a lot of pictures, music, financial records, etc on the old one I want.

I found the insturctions on apple's support page for removing the hard drive, but from there I would have no idea how to hook this thing up to the new one and transfer data.

Click to expand...

Most definitely you can remove the HD from your old iMac G5 (as you found out). What I would do is:

- remove the HD from your iMac
- install it in an external HD case/housing
- plug it into the 2nd computer you want to transfer the files to.
- search the old iMac's hard drive for the files, photos, movies, etc....and just "drag" them over to your new HD.

You could also just plug this old iMac HD into your new computer (or 2nd computer)...and just keep it permanently plugged in as an external drive...with your old iMac's files simply stored there rather than on the internal HD of the new computer.

HTH,

- Nick

Thanks, I like the idea of the old HD becoming our new external HD. Is there a particular case or housing that would work best? Any suggested ones?

Jeremy W said:

Thanks, I like the idea of the old HD becoming our new external HD. Is there a particular case or housing that would work best? Any suggested ones?

Click to expand...

It all depends on how much you want to spend. There are cheap ones & expensive ones...just depends on how fancy you want it to be or look.

Just be sure to get the correct type of case. Your HD is a 3.5"...and it's probably an "IDE" drive. Most cases you run into will probably be SATA (the more common type of HD sold currently).

HTH,

- Nick