"connect" newer imac to older mini

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hello, got a new imac this past year 10.6.7, trying to use an older macmini 10.4.11 as a backup, just reinstalled os to the mini, did a total clear out . and want to send itunes/iphoto library to mini, about 30 gigs, spent the past couple days reading other posts and experimenting connecting the 2 machines via ethernet , but cant seem to figure it out, any simple directions? i can do it with a seperate external harddrive, but should be simple enough with just the 2 computers. thanks for help
 

chscag

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I have no idea why you would even want to use the Mini to backup your newer iMac? Large external hard drives are inexpensive and easy to use with Time Machine. Besides that, they're portable.

I guess you can always try to hook the Mini to your iMac via firewire and then use Target disk mode to transfer data from the iMac to the hard drive on the Mini. See this Apple KB article.
 
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thanks for fast reply, good point, but the minis drive is big enough for me.can i not connect with the ethernet? or is firewire better?
 

chscag

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Firewire is faster, and yes, you should be able to connect them together via ethernet cable. Check out this LINK. Great info regarding connecting two Macs via ethernet. Especially take note of which Macs require the use of a crossover cable.
 
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PowerMac G5 (M9031LL/A), MacBook Pro (MA610LL), iMac 27" i5 (MC511LL/A)
Another thing to consider would be the usage of Time Machine if your computers are hooked up on a network. You can set your Mini as the target drive (if you partition using disc utility) and your iMac will back up any changes on the hour, every hour. Even with all the backups, the footprint seems to stay rather close to the actual usage on the main Mac you're backing up. It doesn't matter if your Mini is only running Tiger, as it's the slave drive. It's amazing. I back up my wife's iMac, iBook, and my MacBook Pro to a PowerMac G5 with a 1TB Slave. It's the most pain free, hassle free backup utility I've ever used.

Good Luck!
 

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