Using Time Capsule to transfer data to a new machine

Question

Using Time Capsule to transfer data to a new machine

I have just taken possession of a new iMac. I need to transfer the data from my old one and wondered if Time Capsule was the most efficient way of doing this.

I understand that there is a transfer utility built into the Mac OS which allows you to transfer data from one machine to another via Firewire, but it occurred to me that my Time Machine might provide a quicker and easier way of doing it.

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

iMac G5, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Dec 29, 2009 12:55 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 29, 2009 1:39 PM in response to Sir Leicester

Sir Leicester wrote:
I have just taken possession of a new iMac. I need to transfer the data from my old one and wondered if Time Capsule was the most efficient way of doing this.

I understand that there is a transfer utility built into the Mac OS which allows you to transfer data from one machine to another via Firewire, but it occurred to me that my Time Machine might provide a quicker and easier way of doing it.

I would go with FireWire. Boot the old Mac into "target disk mode" by holding down the "T" key while it is booting. Then connect the two Macs with a FireWire cable and launch the Migration Assistant utility.

If your Time Machine backup is on your network (rather than being directly connected), transferring the data from the other computer over FireWire is probably going to be a lot faster.

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Answer 2

Tesserax

Level 10

148,441 points

Dec 29, 2009 1:27 PM in response to Sir Leicester

I understand that there is a transfer utility built into the Mac OS which allows you to transfer data from one machine to another via Firewire, but it occurred to me that my Time Machine might provide a quicker and easier way of doing it.

The same utility, Migration Assistant, can be used to restore Time Machine backups to a new device as well. Just select the option: From a Time Machine backup or other disk.

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Answer 3

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Dec 29, 2009 1:46 PM in response to Sir Leicester

It will be fastest, and easiest, if you use +Setup Assistant+ to transfer directly from your old Mac, via Firewire.

See #19 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum.

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Answer 4

Dec 29, 2009 5:25 PM in response to Pondini

Just to reaffirm what the others have said, definitely use firewire. I tried it with TC from one Macbook to another, and after 17 hours it was still nowhere near done. Firewire took about 2 hours.

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