Clone Old HDD to New MacBook's HDD

you unquestionably do NOT want to clone that old HD and its dated contents onto your new MBP.

Copy or migrate over only personal files, photos, etc, but not a CLONE. 😊

Im sure you were up to date on the OSX on the older macbook Pro..., but not driver and parameter files, the list is rather long.

Mac OS X v10.6: How to use Migration Assistant to transfer files from another Mac

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4413

Connect the two using a Firewire cable. Boot the new computer into Target Disk Mode.

Clone Lion/Mountain Lion using Restore Option of Disk Utility

Boot to the Recovery HD:

Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.

1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu then press the Continue

button.

2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.

3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.

4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it

to the Destination entry field.

5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to

the Source entry field.

6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.

Destination means the new computer's volume. Source means the internal startup volume.

Im sure the computer shop was inferring in general of cloning the contents over, not the entire HD and its 2010 macbook specific files as superimposed on your new 2012/2013 MBP.

You can easily use carbon copy cloner to copy over the windows partition, assuming the Win version you have on it is compatible with your new Pro.

carbon copy cloner
http://www.bombich.com/

To be honest, it's much better to make a clean install and then restore the data you want, but the clone also works.

As you have a new Mac, the easiest thing you can do is to get a FireWire cable, put your old MacBook Pro in Target Disk mode (hold the T key while your Mac is starting), and then use Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant on your new MacBook to transfer your files. There's no need to clone, being this a "cleaner" (only a bit) option than the clone, because you can choose what you want to transfer.

If you use Migration Assistant, it will create a new user with the transferred files

I'm not aware that CCC can clone a Windows partition. Are you quite sure about this? Even Disk Utility doesn't clone Windows partitions.

Astronomical Mike wrote:

When you say not the entire HD what would be left out?

And would I do the Migration Assitant then the CCC?

Migration Assistant lets you choose what you want to transfer. Also, it's a waste of time to do Migration Assistant and then Carbon Copy Cloner, as you have already transferred your files.

Respecting to cloning a Windows partition, you will have to use an app like Winclone. You can't use Carbon Copy Cloner, Time Machine...

Not to make s squabble of this:

you unquestionably do NOT want to clone that old HD and its dated contents onto your new MBP.

but this is clearly not correct in many cases. The content of an older computer could easily be as up to date as that on a new one. Much depends on what OS version is involved. Furthermore, a user's data could hardly be deemed at "dated." In fact if the two hard drives are similar one could easily swap them.

Now, to be fair, there may be situations when cloning an old drive to a new one is not a good idea, but you cannot state that is always the case. It depends on the situation.

Setup Assistant. It will transfer your old user account as-is with no changes. It would be only a little easier to use than Migration Assistant by skipping over the need to create an initial user account.

copy.

The question wasn't his HD or his data & APPS but a clean installation.

I have flashbacks of too many people who copied "dirty to clean" and a mountian of conflicts ensued. I stand corrected 😊 I always err on the side of excessive safety "if you dont have to, then dont" philosophy. 😍

You can only get Setup Assistant if you haven't set up your new MacBook Pro yet. If this is the case, your Mac will ask you to restore a backup, and there will be only one user in your Mac.

Use Setup Assistant always you can, because Migration Assistant sometimes gives problems

Unrelated to this situation. Unrelated in many situations where there isn't a "dirty to clean" issue. If we follow your safety rule we would never make any change or do anything. 🙂