consolidate 2 macs to 1

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consolidate 2 macs to 1

Hi,

I have an iMac, and my wife has a Mac Mini. We both used our seperate computers for a long time, about 3 years each, and now we are wanting to consolidate to a new MacBook Pro and get rid of the other two machines. I have several questions that I could not find in my search.

Both old machines have MS Office for Mac. My wife's old machine has Quickbooks as well.

My thought is that I can get the new MacBook Pro set up, create two accounts on it, and use the migration assistant to move the user data and applications from the existing macs to the new individual accounts on the new machine.

For instance, I would start my old iMac, and start the new MacBook Pro and log in to my user account on the new machine, and start the migration assistant.

I would then do the same thing with the mini and logging in to the new machine with my wifes account and transfer her info via migration assistant.

Questions:

Is this a sensible way to go?

When I use Migration assistant, will the software that gets transferred be available for use on both accounts?

I was thinking that, if so, I should transfer wife's first because she has the extra Quickbooks software (otherwise they are both the same), along with all her data and stuff, then use migration assistant on mine and just transfer data and settings. Does that seem like a good plan?

Does anyone have experience consolidating like this? What was your experience?

Thank you all for your help!

-Don

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012)

Posted on Jun 13, 2013 3:17 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 13, 2013 4:15 PM in response to DonHyde

First of all, you do not need two sets of Applications, because everything in the Applications folder is available to all users. So you only need to transfer applications from your wife's computer.

When you first set up the new Mac, it will ask you if you want to bring in data from another computer. Do it this way, rather than with Migration Assistant. So set it up for your wife's account first, do the transfer and verify it is all working before you do anything else.

You can then set up your own account and bring in whatever data you want from your computer.

Of course, for any transfer the computers have to be connected. I recommend you avoid wireless, it takes for ever. If ethernet is available use it, but your new MBP probably will not have ethernet. Consult your Apple store when you buy the MBP about an adapter for a fast connection,

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Answer 2

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jun 13, 2013 5:00 PM in response to DonHyde

I'd recommend starting as Eustace says, but using Migration Assistant to bring over the second account (don't create it first).

If you have apps in the top level Applications folder on the second Mac that you want to transfer, you can. It will only transfer apps that don't exist in exactly the same place with exactly the same name, so it won't overlay anything already there.

If either account has apps in an Applications folder in their home folders, they'll still be avaialble only to that user.

See Using Setup Assistant on Mountain Lion or Lion and Using Migration Assistant on Mountain Lion or Lion for the gory details.

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Answer 3

Jun 13, 2013 7:46 PM in response to DonHyde

One thing to watch out for is whether your older applications will work with the new MacBook Pro. It will probably come with OS 10.8 Mountain Lion.

As for third party programs see this list for compatibility with 10.8 http://roaringapps.com/apps:table

Also Mountain Lion doesn't run any Power PC programs like Office for Mac 2004. To see if you have any Power PC programs go to the Apple in the upper left corner and select About This Mac, then click on More Info. When System Profiler comes up select Applications under Software. Then look under Kind to see if any of your applications are listed as Power PC. Universal and Intel will run under Mountain Lion.

Before Mac switched to Intel processors in 2006 they used Power PC processors from 1994 to 2005. Power PC 601 through 604, G3, G4 and G5. Applications written for the Power PC processors need the application called Rosetta to run on Intel processors. This was part of the Operating System in 10.4 and 10.5 but was an optional install in 10.6. With 10.7 Lion Apple dropped all support for Power PC applications.

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