I have a MacBook Pro and and a new MacBook Air both running Mountain Lion. I would like to move and copy some, but not all, of my applications from my MacBook Pro to the MacBook Air. How is this done?
MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)
In general, moving or copying some but not all applications is challenging for these reasons:
1. There may be parts of the application in not easily visible directories and various areas with various names.
2. There may be licensing or registration issues - are you allowed to have more than one copy, etc.?
The best way would be to use your original distribution media to load the app to the MacBook Air.
There are other options, but it really depends on the apps.
Thanks for your prompt reply.
1. Will those various parts of the application you reference show up in App Zapper and then allow me to cancel out of trashing them and allow me then to move them once identified.
2. I will either move or copy depending on my licensing.
3. I have no orginal media. The Apps I would like to move were downloaded from the Internet.
Thanks you again.
Don't use App Zapper unless there is no other option. Use the installer/uninstaller that the vendor provides.
I was not planning to actually zap the files, just use App Zapper to see where they were, then cancel and then physically drag them to my new MacBook Air. Does this sound reasonable?
That will only work reliably when App Zapper can find all of the parts to the application. It would be best to take this opportunity to collect information on all the 3rd party software you have and archive installers and uninstallers (or instructions) for each.
Maybe this thread will help:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4201407?answerId=19251820022#19251820022
Migration Assistant seems to be an all or nothing type of proposition. I just want to move or copy a few of my applications. My new Air has only 250 gigs of storage while my older MacBook Pro has 500 gigs of which I have used 400 gigs, so taking over everything is not an option.
Heeding the advice of sberman about number of legal copies and so forth, try the drag and copy method would be my next suggestion. I have two partitions on my hard drive and I was able to drag applications from one partition to the other partition and all the applications worked okay.
Certain applications may require additional files as sberman typed.
If you downloaded the applications from the Internet, you could always download them again.
Copying or Moving Applications
