Clone MacBook Pro hard drive to new Macbook

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Clone MacBook Pro hard drive to new Macbook

Just bought a new Macbook yesterday (new but one of those remaining (10.5.7) models that came out a few months ago-and yes they gave me a good deal ). I have an older MacBook Pro and need to "clone" or create a mirror image on my new laptop. This includes all my hundreds of bookmarks, etc. too. I tried migration assistant but it didn't transfer my library and certainly didn't setup my desktop, etc. just like my old Pro. I used an ethernet cable/and airport since the new Mac doesn't have firewire (not happy about that but the price was too good to pass up.) I'd appreciate any advice on how to do this quickly and whether I have to purchase a program in order to accomplish this. I have to get this done before Wednesday. :))

Macbook Pro/MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Jun 14, 2009 11:55 AM

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Answer 1

V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

Jun 14, 2009 12:10 PM in response to NBCT

you have to use Migration Assistant. yours just didn't work correctly and you should retry it. You should NOT clone the whole hard drive from the old mac to the new one. doing so will result in a malfunctioning system which might not even boot because the install on your old computer lacks the necessary drivers needed for the hardware on the new mac.

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Answer 2

NBCT Author

Level 1

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Jun 14, 2009 1:00 PM in response to V.K.

Thanks for replying so quickly. Should I just follow the steps again to transfer my files? I noticed that when it showed me a window of the things that would transfer, the library was not highlighted. I couldn't checkmark/select it either. Any suggestions on what else I could try? I have about 120GB of information to transfer. If this works correctly, should I see an absolute duplicate of my desktop on my new MacBook or would I still have to go into the hard drive and pull things out? Would all my bookmarks appear in my web browser too?

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Answer 3

V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

Jun 14, 2009 1:29 PM in response to NBCT

SmartboardTeacher wrote:
Thanks for replying so quickly. Should I just follow the steps again to transfer my files? I noticed that when it showed me a window of the things that would transfer, the library was not highlighted. I couldn't checkmark/select it either.

this is normal. leave it be.

Any suggestions on what else I could try? I have about 120GB of information to transfer. If this works correctly, should I see an absolute duplicate of my desktop on my new MacBook or would I still have to go into the hard drive and pull things out? Would all my bookmarks appear in my web browser too?

yes, in the migrated account. you should delete the account that migrated improperly (that's done in system preferences->accounts) and try migration again.
BTW, you do realize that user settings are migrating in a new account not into the one you are running MA from, right?

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