HT201250: Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac

Learn about Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac
chevyjohn97424
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: I just bought this mac from my son and now I need to store his info on a disc, then wipe it clean so I can set up my own security settings.  How can I do this?

I just bought this mac from my son.  I need to store all his files and settings on a disc.  Then wipe it clean and set up my own security settings.  How do I do this?

Posted on Mar 28, 2014 11:59 AM

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chevyjohn97424

Q: I just bought this mac from my son and now I need to store his info on a disc, then wipe it clean so I can set up my own security ... more

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  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Mar 29, 2014 10:08 AM in response to chevyjohn97424
    Level 9 (54,704 points)
    Wireless
    Mar 29, 2014 10:08 AM in response to chevyjohn97424

    This is not directly related to Apple networking, but let me see if I can help you with this.

     

    One option, if you have a Time Capsule or 802.11ac AirPort Extreme base station is to use Time Machine to store a copy of your son's data. If he get's another Mac in the future, he can restore this backup to the new device.

     

    Going with this option, you can then insert a Mac OS Installation disc into the Mac and do a fresh install of the operating system.

     

    Another option would be to create a bootable disk image of your son's Mac using an application like Data Backup or Carbon Copy Cloner on to a USB hard drive. The same application would be used to restore the image to a new device. You would still do the same process for the previous option for the fresh install.

     

    Even another option would be to use OS X's Migration Assistant to copy/move the data from your son's Mac to another Mac.