Lynn Jr
Level 1 (8 points)
Desktops

Q: backing up email to transfer to new iMac

I have a iMac (core 2 duo early 2008 with 6Gb of memory) running Mt Lion 10.8.5 that is failing and want to save emails and contacts to my new iMac. Is there any way to move the email to a backup drive and then to the new machine easily? The new iMac is a quad core (late 2013 with 8Gb of memory) running Yosemite 10.10.11.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

Posted on Jun 2, 2016 11:52 AM

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Lynn Jr

Q: backing up email to transfer to new iMac

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  • by Duane,

    Duane Duane Jun 2, 2016 12:47 PM in response to Lynn Jr
    Level 10 (124,018 points)
    Jun 2, 2016 12:47 PM in response to Lynn Jr

    Move your content to a new Mac - Apple Support

  • by Lynn Jr,

    Lynn Jr Lynn Jr Jun 2, 2016 1:14 PM in response to Duane
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 2, 2016 1:14 PM in response to Duane

    Duane,
    That would probably work if the old iMac would run long enough; however, that is unlikely. I managed to run backups of critical files to a couple of external drives but at this point the old guy won't run for more that 15 or twenty minutes before locking up and going all pixelly. My main concern is getting all the saved emails safely onto the new machine. I can load software manually so though time consuming it's not a problem.

  • by rkaufmann87,

    rkaufmann87 rkaufmann87 Jun 2, 2016 1:29 PM in response to Lynn Jr
    Level 9 (58,476 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jun 2, 2016 1:29 PM in response to Lynn Jr

    Lynn Jr.

     

    One thing you should seriously consider is a quality EHD (I recommend OWC Mercury Elite Pro) to use as a backup HD. You are doing yourself no favors backing up the way you are. OS X has a backup app already integrated into it sounds like you have not used called Time Machine. Time Machine works automatically and backs up ALL of you content. Another method of backing up is creating a bootable clone of your internal drive using either SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner. Many experienced users use both TM and a cloning app because backups can fail too.

     

    You can Google all of the above to find information on these backup plans. All work and all work well.

     

    In short, start using a sound backup plan, otherwise you will eventually lose very valuable information.

  • by Lynn Jr,

    Lynn Jr Lynn Jr Jun 2, 2016 2:03 PM in response to rkaufmann87
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 2, 2016 2:03 PM in response to rkaufmann87

    rkaufmann87,


    Thanks for the response. I have used Time Machine in the past on my Mac Pro but had some issues with it and went back to manual backups. I'll give it another try and set up a bootable clone as well. As to the the iMac: this is my wife's machine and her emails are the main issue for her. If I can get them transferred, life will be good. I will then set up TM and a bootable clone.