Transfer iMac to MacBook Pro

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Level 1

0 points

Transfer iMac to MacBook Pro

Yesterday I purchased a new 15" Retina Macbook Pro to replace my current 27" iMac. When I asked the salesperson for the best way to transfer my info over I was told to purchase a firewire cable & use Migration Assistant. Well, I get home & open the box & my laptop doesn't have a firewire port (something I probably should have known to start, but I never really use those ports, so I didn't realize till I opened it), just usb, hdmi & thunderbolt ports.

Can someone please advise me of the best way to transfer everything over? I started to do ti wirelessly last night & it said it was going to take over 30 hours.

Thank you!

Joey

MacBook Pro with Retina display, iOS 6.1.3

Posted on Apr 19, 2013 9:46 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 19, 2013 9:49 AM in response to Joeyoey

you purchased the wrong cable - Salesperson should've know better.

in any event - you can try via ethernet but you need to purcahse a thunderbolt to ethernet adapter.

you can also follow the thread below since she's doing the same thing and might give you hints.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4980474?answerId=21825201022#21825201022

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Answer 2

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Apr 19, 2013 9:50 AM in response to Joeyoey

What you need in addition to a Firewire cable is a Thunderbolt to Firewire adaptor for the MBP. You then connect the two computers and use Target Disk Mode to transfer data from one computer to the other. Boot the iMac into TDM then boot the MBP normally. The iMac's hard drive will appear on the MBP's Desktop like any other drive.

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Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Apr 19, 2013 9:52 AM in response to Bimmer 7 Series

Wrong adaptor. Use Thunderbolt to Firewire and transfer by TDM which is much faster than either Ethernet or wireless. The iMac has a Firewire port, but the MBP does not.

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Answer 4

Eric Ross

Level 6

11,807 points

Apr 19, 2013 9:52 AM in response to Joeyoey

You can transfer the data via, Ethernet or from a Time Machine back both are faster then wireless. Take a look at this link for all the options. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4889

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