Best way to migrate from old MBP to new iMac

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Level 1

4 points

Best way to migrate from old MBP to new iMac

Hi,

I'm currently working on an old MBP (2009, 17" unibody, to be exact) running Lion.

Long story short, I decided to switch to a new iMac because it's slowly dying.

I'm currently making daily clones of my computer (using SuperDuper) but I just realized that the new computer will be running Mountain Lion.

It would seem counter-intuitive to restore my whole clone on the new computer as the OS is more recent on the new computer.

Does anyone know the best way to painlessly transfer all my files (or, preferably, my whole current working setup) to the new iMac?

The 2 ways I tought about were to upgrade my MBP to ML (though it'll cost me for ML even though I'll have it pre-installed on the new computer). The other would be to transfer my documents only and take the opportunity to do a spring cleaning in the process.

I'd really like to avoid the last idea since this is my working computer and I'd like to setup the new one as quickly as possible.

Any other suggestion is more than welcome!

Gab

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Mar 4, 2013 3:19 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Klaus1

Level 9

52,749 points

Mar 4, 2013 3:24 PM in response to GabbyJay

How to use Migration Assistant:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4413?viewlocale=en_US

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1963

Troubleshooting Firewire target disk mode:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661

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Answer 2

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Mar 4, 2013 3:37 PM in response to GabbyJay

See Pondini's Setup New Mac guide.

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Answer 3

GabbyJay Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 4, 2013 3:47 PM in response to baltwo

Thanks for the guide. This part in particular seems really helpful:

"You cannot transfer "backwards" from a newer "major" version of OSX to an earlier one (such as Mountain Lion 10.8.x to Lion 10.7.x). However, you can transfer "backwards" from a newer "minor" version to an earlier one (such as 10.8.2 to 10.8.1), but before using any Apple apps, you should upgrade to at least the same version as the original, as the older versions of the apps may not work properly with newer versions of data."

That being said, do you think it would actually apply for transferring a clone running on 10.7.5 (Lion) to the new iMac running 10.8 (Mountain Lion)? Or should I rely on the second paragraph that seems to indicate I'd be better off updating my clone (buying Mountain Lion on the macbook pro) then use the Setup Assistant to transfer my older settings.

I don't think there's only one good way to to do this. Which would you recommend?

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Answer 4

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Mar 4, 2013 4:04 PM in response to GabbyJay

GabbyJay wrote:

…do you think it would actually apply for transferring a clone running on 10.7.5 (Lion) to the new iMac running 10.8 (Mountain Lion)?

Yes, since you won't be transferring the OS. That's not an option using the Setup Assistant.

Or should I rely on the second paragraph that seems to indicate I'd be better off updating my clone (buying Mountain Lion on the macbook pro) then use the Setup Assistant to transfer my older settings.

Waste of time and money unless you want to run ML on the older machine.

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Answer 5

Mar 4, 2013 5:06 PM in response to GabbyJay

Funny I ran across this thread tonight. I just conducted a transfer or files today from my old Macbook to brand new iMac sing Migration Asst (via ethernet) and it was a breeze to do the process, but I laugh about this now. Nothing seems to have been transferred! LOL. It took abou 15 mns after following the instructions and I cant find anything new on the iMac that was on my Macbook? WTH over?

Does it have something to do with my Macbook NOT having the same OS? Do I need to select EVERY option available to transfer over (users, desktop, etc) because I just chose all files. I am still trying to figure out how to get my iTunes moved over to iMac also. Sorry to hijack your thread man!

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Answer 6

Riv413

Level 1

0 points

Mar 4, 2013 5:21 PM in response to GunnyFitz

I as well am having a similar issue. When I first booted up my new iMac, I chose to migrate later. When I did migrate I chose to migrate my user account (which I'm told included all my music, photos, etc.) and thus I now have 2 user accounts on my machine. I too wanted to use this to start as fresh as possible and bring over only the essentials to my new machine. Instead, I've been having difficulties getting my media over, syncing my iPhone with iTunes as well as some other issues. I'm considering restoring the iMac to factory settings and starting fresh but I have a few concerns some of which might've been addressed above:

I'm moving to a newer version of OS X (Lion to Mountain Lion) so I want to make sure when I migrate that I'm using the latest version. Additionally, I want to be sure I'm using the most current version of other applications like iPhoto, etc.
As a space saving measure, I deleted a lot of factory apps from my old machine: iMovie, iWeb, Garage Band, etc. Will those be there when I migrate?

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Answer 7

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Mar 5, 2013 12:27 PM in response to Riv413

For GunnyFitz and Riv413, read Pondini's Setup New Mac guide and if necessary, start over, using the Setup Manager on first boot. Should solve all your problems.

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