Cabling for Target Disk Utility transfer between FireWire and Thunderbolt Macs

His newer machine is so old that it has Thunderbolt 1 ports – not modern Thunderbolt ones. He would only need a Thunderbolt to FireWire 800 adapter, and a FireWire cable, to make a FireWire connection. Unfortunately, Apple discontinued that adapter a while back and it is now impossible to find.

Given that, using a USB drive to transfer files makes more sense than trying to make a FireWire connection.

do you have a Time Machine backup of the older Mac? if you do, connect the old backup to the new Mac and use that instead of a direct connection.

the parts for a firewire to modern Thunderbolt will cost you more than US$100 for a one-off transfer.

Servant of Cats wrote:

The OP's Macs are old enough to support USB Target Disk Mode using an inexpensive and readily available USB-A to USB-A cable. The 2010 MBP's USB 2 ports would limit transfers to at most USB 2 speed.

I didn't think USB Target Disk Mode was an option with any Mac which had Firewire ports which would include the 2010 laptop. They only supported Firewire & Thunderbolt. I only ever recall seeing USB & Thunderbolt symbols when using Target Disk Mode, or Firewire & Thunderbolt symbols, or just Firewire on the really old models.

While I don't trust AI summaries, I just did not feel like combing through tons of results looking for a needle in a haystack. The AI summary mentioned USB Target Disk Mode began with the 2012 models which had USB3 ports which actually makes sense since the older USB2 ports would be prohibitively slow and it reinforces my first instinct in this regard.

There is USB Target Disk Mode (and its Apple Silicon equivalent).

Transfer files between two Mac computers using target disk mode - Apple Support

Transfer files between a Mac with Apple silicon and another Mac - Apple Support (SA)

Those are generally available if

• The Mac acting as the disk is Intel-based, and both Macs are running something earlier than Big Sur, or
• The Mac acting as the disk is Apple-Silicon-based

The OP's Macs are old enough to support USB Target Disk Mode using an inexpensive and readily available USB-A to USB-A cable. The 2010 MBP's USB 2 ports would limit transfers to at most USB 2 speed.

Doh-nuts73 wrote:

Hi, unfortunately I don’t have a Time Machine back up. The issue is that I haven’t used the MacBook Pro for a few months and it doesn’t start properly (keeps looping start sequence) according to apple (Genius Bar) the hard drive is knackered. It will start in safe mode and I’ve bought a new ssd and ram for it but need to save all the files (photos & docs mostly) to another machine/hard drive before I set it up again. Hoping that’s clear.

If the hard drive is failing, the machine might not work in Target Disk Mode, even if you could get cabling which both machines support. It might also fail during a backup operation (no matter what type of backup you were making), or while you were trying to copy files off of it using the Finder.

<< It will start in safe mode >>

Then run Disk Utility and FirstAid/RepairDisk on the drive, and see if it improves.

if it fixes anything, run again, and it may get better.

Do you have an external enclosure for that new SSD drive? if you can install a new instance of any MacOS from 10.9 Mavericks to 10.13 High Sierra on that external drive, you can BOOT your old Mac from that external drive.

Remember that it is far simpler to READ a drive than to Boot from a drive. Also, over 250,000 of the files on your old Mac are exactly invariant code of MacOS, which does not get better from being copied.

Doh-nuts73 wrote:

Hi, unfortunately I don’t have a Time Machine back up. The issue is that I haven’t used the MacBook Pro for a few months and it doesn’t start properly (keeps looping start sequence) according to apple (Genius Bar) the hard drive is knackered. It will start in safe mode and I’ve bought a new ssd and ram for it but need to save all the files (photos & docs mostly) to another machine/hard drive before I set it up again. Hoping that’s clear.

Run the third party app DriveDx (free trial period) and post the complete text report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper on the forum editing toolbar. I can examine the Hard Drive's health report to see the best option for recovering your data.

Keep in mind macOS and most utilities are not able to handle the I/O Errors produced by a failing Hard Drive. If the Hard Drive failure is not severe or is only affecting a system area of the drive, then it may be possible to retrieve some files using the Finder, or better yet using the third party app Carbon Copy Cloner (still has older versions if needed) which is able to ignore the errors a bit assuming the drive failure is not too severe. If the failure is severe, then it may be possible to still recover the data, but it would require using Linux to perform a low level block clone of the drive, or by having a professional data recovery service attempt to recover the data. However, the more you try to use this failing Hard Drive.....the worse the drive failure will get where even an expensive professional data recovery service will be unable to recover any data. So proceed with extreme caution and make good choices since you may only have one chance to recover the data.

FYI, I have been successful in performing data recovery on many failing Hard Drives over the years....most of them have required a low level block clone using Linux. I don't consider myself a professional in this regard since a professional has expensive tools & software to better safeguard the drive during the recovery process. With most of those older 2012 & earlier drives this worked well enough (later model drives less so).

Given your situation and lack of external boot drives.....I would highly recommend removing the failing Hard Drive & installing your new SSD internally. Get macOS High Sierra installed on the new SSD. Then you have a couple of options for checking the health of the bad Hard Drive using DriveDx. If you connect the bad Hard Drive externally....you will need to install a special USB driver onto the clean install of High Sierra on your new SSD. If you remove the new SSD with High Sierra & reinstall the bad Hard Drive internally, then you can boot the new SSD externally & check the health of the internal drive without needing to install the special USB driver. Either way you will need to invest in a USB to SATA Adapter, drive dock, or enclosure. This USB to SATA Adapter is a good one:

https://tripplite.eaton.com/usb-3-0-superspeed-sata-iii-adapter-cable-uasp-2-5in-3-5in-sata-white~U33806NSATAW

If the drive failure is not too severe....it may even be possible for you to create a Time Machine backup while booted into Safe Mode. That would be the ideal way to make the transfer & retain the structure of the data & settings.

First thing is to determine how severe the Hard Drive failure is and minimize the use of the Hard Drive until that is determined.

I stand corrected.

It's not too expensive, the adapters and cables are just no longer available.