Cannot copy from external backup to HD

[Tricia]

Whoops, just tried to post this but it was rejected. This is my second attempt so I hope it works.
In brief, I have a G5 iMac running 10.4.2 with two user accounts. One account is for me, the other is for my husband. He has a 12inch Powerbook, also running 10.4.2. We share a partitioned external 120Gb hard drive in a firewire enclosure for backup purposes.
For the past 10 days my husband's powerbook has started to sound very 'loud' (as if the fans are running full bore all the time) and the PB itself is very hot in the bottom left hand corner. I asked the tech at my local Apple dealer today what the problem could be and he told me that it sounded as if the hard drive was dying!!! PANIC. I came home and backed up the PB to the external firewire drive...I then thought I would copy the files from the external drive to my husband's account on my iMac. However, when I logged into his account on my iMac and connected the external drive and started SuperDuper it won't allow me to copy from the external drive to 'Macintosh HD' - this option is dimmed. The only options that are 'active' are my clone and my husband's clone.
I know I've done something very basic incorrectly but I don't know what. Can someone please explain, in simple terms, what I should have done?

Cheers
Tricia

[dnanian]

It was rejected, Tricia? That's weird. Any error message?

In any case, SuperDuper! can't be used to copy to the drive you're booted from. It's too easy to make a mistake. But given that you're just trying to copy your husband's user files, you can simply use Finder to do it. I think that'd be the easiest thing to do!

(Alternatively, you could boot from the external drive, but since you're trying to combine a subset of files from one machine with the other, I do think using Finder is probably the best way to go.)

Hope that helps!

[Tricia Henwood]

Thank you for responding Dave. I believe that the message said I wasn't entitled/authorised to post a message (I had only just registered) so perhaps I tried to post too soon after registering - anyhow, my apologies for the second post coming up twice - I hit the button twice. So, as someone who has only a few months experience with the Mac, do I assume that by using Finder I just drag the 'Documents' folder from the clone drive on the external to the 'Documents' folder on Macintosh HD? Unfortunately, my husband uses M$Entourage for his emails and that's what I'm most concerned about getting updated. Will look at Mactopia site to see if I can find a way of quickly updating his emails.

PS While his PBook is having the new HD installed he thinks he will buy a Mac mini - how would I go about getting EVERYTHING from the clone on the external drive onto a brand new Mac mini?

Cheers
Tricia

[dnanian]

Entourage's database is in with the other files in Documents, so they should copy over.

For the Mac mini, you'd do the first boot and then use Migration Assistant to copy the files from the drive. That'll bring everything.

Hope that helps!

[Tricia Henwood]

Excellent, Dave. Many thanks for your help.

Tricia