G5 Drive/Transfer Help

I have a G5 that's going to die any day now and I'm just trying to last on this old setup until the new Mac Pros come out.

So I found another G5 on Craigslist that is identical to mine except for it has a smaller 250Gb HD and no WiFi.

Since my G5 has a 500Gb HD I wasn't able to transfer my files and folders when transferring data from my Time Machine backup, only the user info, network info and applications.

The problem I have is that my Final Cut software won't work on the new machine, and I can't do a fresh install of Final Cut because I don't have the install discs.

So my question is, what is the best way to get everything, including ALL my software, on my new G5?

Can I just take my old HD and put it into the new machine?

Or should I clone my HD to another internal 500Gb drive and then put that in the new machine?

Or should I put a new internal 500Gb HD in the new machine and then try a full transfer from my Time Machine backup?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If the machines are identical just transfer drives it should work.
if not then just clone your old drive and keep the clone safe till your new mac comes then do a migration from the old drive..

Is there any difference between transferring my old drive to the new machine vs cloning my old drive and then putting that cloned drive in the new machine?

Is a cloned drive really the same as the original? Or would anything be different to affect my software?

Some things may not transfer over too well. For instance MS Office and Adobe software often ask for the activation code. Suggest you move the drive in the newer G5 to bay two and your existing drive to bay one. It will need to be set as master and the other as slave of course. Manufacturer's web site will show this if you are not familiar with jumper settings.