Backing up and transferring to a new machine

Sorry, forgot to add iPhoto to that! Mail, iTunes and iPhoto are the big ones.

Fantastic! I'd never actually heard of that, but I was hoping something like that existed.

Without wanting to sound like a shill, it's this sort of thing that makes me happy I live in an all-Apple household.

Thanks!

New computer arrived, and much rejoicing was heard in the land.

Problem is when I came to use Migration: the old computer keeps timing out! It asks for the code displayed on the screen of the newer computer. I type that in, it does a search, then asks for it again. After I type it in a second time, it says it's searching for computers (even though it already confirmed it located the new one), and spins around for a bit until it times out.

I've tried it on Wireless and with a network cable connecting them, but nothing changes. Any suggestions?

Already switched off energy saver, just in case. It's timing out after a couple of minutes of searching, even though it already found it. Very frustrating!

All good up until the FireWire cable -- the firewire port in the new laptop is a new and scary shape. (I'm guessing it's the new version of the firewire cable) I don't actually have a cable that fits it.

While I might be able to go out and get on in the coming days, I was hoping to find a network solution to this. I've tried both wireless and with an ethernet cable, and both have the same effect.

Getting a new firewire is certainly possible, I was just hoping someone else had experienced this problem and knew of a direct solution to it. (But I do appreciate your response!)

Yup. It just times out.

And it's weird, 'cos it asks for the code on the new computer, and I enter it, and it searches for a while, then FINDS the computer... then asks for the code again, then starts searching all over again.

The weird thing is, after about five minutes of this, the new computer gives up, says it can't find anything, and changes the code... at which point, the old computer instantly says "The code is wrong!".

So they're obviously speaking on some level, but the actual transferring of the files just isn't kicking off. In fact, I believe there's a screen I'm supposed to see before the transfer begins (where it asks which files I want to transfer, or something similar).

It's very perplexing. I'm stopping by a friend's place in the morning, who has one of those strange-to-me firewire cables, so I'll give that a go and report back!

Well, it all worked in the end!

(Btw, the firewire cable I needed was 400 to 800. I'd always assumed the 400 cable was an 800, and that those small firewires that plug into the backs of digital cameras were 400s. Anyway, borrowed one from my friend, and will pick up one from a store soon.)

I was able to use my old computer as an external hard drive, but the Migrate transfer itself didn't work. It would freeze at the end, after hours of what seemed like successful transfers. So I ended up pulling everything off manually, which worked fine in the end. I figured out how to transfer the settings and history for iTunes and Mail, so that all worked a treat.

I have a feeling that the problems all occurred due to the computer being very, very old and hardly working at all. (It would often take multiple attempts to successfully reboot it.)

I've said it many times before, but thank you very much for all your helpful advice! I definitely could not have done it without you.