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Model A1174 with 2 GHz Core Duo or Model A1207 with 2.16 or 2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo

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HDD Help, Can I switch between models?

Hi All,

Back in 2006 we bought the first gen Core Duo iMac. It is the 20" Model with EMC 2105. We used it for a few years, and it died on us. I finally got the HDD working, but I need a donor computer to boot it in, as I want to access my stuff, plus get a few more years out of it. (No, I do NOT want to use an adapter.) I noticed a high amount of the 17" model on ebay, plus an even higher amount of the Core 2 Duo models. Could I buy any one of these and put the HDD of the different model in and use it with little difficulty? I consider myself tech savvy, and have been in the iMac trying to get it to work before.

Thanks in Advance,

Anniemoose98

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Annie - Don't think you need to go that far with system surgery.

First find a system you like (features & price) and get it. Next see what size the system has. If the drive is larger then you can use Apple's Migration Assistant application to move your stuff over completely to the new systems HD.

OK, that sounds simple, But... Do you have a system which you can access your HD from {Mac} Then you can put the system into Disk Mode to act as an external HD and connect it to your new system via a firewire {best}, Ethernet, or USB cable between them.

What if I don't have a system to put it in. You could get an external HD case to house the HD (Firewire or USB) and use Migration Assistant that way. HEre you have a bonus as you could then use the HD as a boot disk to do house keeping tasks like checking your systems disk or defraging it. Also you can hold anything important you don't want to loose as a backup.

OK, what if my drive is larger and I want to put it in the system? Sorry to say it may not be the best idea. The newer systems have a faster I/O SATA II Vs SATA III so you will loose performance and the newest systems have a custom cable and HD setup which your HD wouldn't match up with correctly (fans go into high speed mode). Seagate has updated their firmware on the newest over the counter replacement HD's to now work correctly within the iMacs so you may find it better just to replace the current HD instead (Vs swapping it).

Lastly, you should review the iFixIt guides for the systems you are planning on opening up to get an idea on what it will take to do it.

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Thanks for the suggestion. I have a windows PC that I can connect the drive to, plus an old G5 iMac I can use. Is it possible to use Migration Assistant over the network with only a certain drive? I know that there is Migration Assistant for windows, but can you specify which drive it uses?

Thanks,

AM98

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Migration Assistant is a utility app you'll find in the utility folder on your iMac OS-X. It would be best to use your G5 iMac using a firewire cable between it and your new iMac. Here's an Apple TN that more fully explains things Migration Assistant

You can use an Ethernet cable instead of Firewire it can be more difficult to setup if you use a router between the systems.

You can't use your Windows system nor any windows apps (non-mac) to migrate your files over, as Windows has a different file system structure. But, you can move compatible data files over here's an Apple TN that more fully explains things Migrating Windows data over to a new Mac

Not sure I follow you here 'which drive it uses' can you explain what you mean here.

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I guess that you don't understand. The original drive, mentioned in the first post, came from an Intel iMac that died. The other day, I picked up an old iMac G5. I plugged the HDD into my Windows PC, via the internal SATA port. Is it possible to use Migration Assistant over the Network between the PC which is Viewing the old Mac drive as a sort of "External" drive to get the files and data from this drive to the iMac?

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I guess I missed the fact you were trying to use the Windows PC as the holder for your old HD. I had thought you had a Mac as well to hold the old HD to migrate from to a new system (other than the G5 system). - Sorry, no you can't use the Windows system to be the source (with your old HD in it) for the Apple Migration Assistant app to migrate the OS and the files. You need a mac system or you can use an external HD case to put your old HD into an do it that way.

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OK, Thanks. I am copying the ENTIRE HDD to an external HDD right now. It is going to take a god-awful amount of time to get the 60-some gigabytes of data on there, but it will be worth it to get get ALL of my data back and use it again.

Thanks for everything, I will let you know how it goes.

AM98

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