How to downsize 3 Macs to one MacBook Pro?

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Level 1

8 points

How to downsize 3 Macs to one MacBook Pro?

I'm looking to retire my mid-2007 MacPro, my late-2008 iMac and my late-2011 MacBook Pro in order to move to a new MacBook Pro. Of course, each machine has some files, photos and applications I'd like to bring to the new machine. I have iPhoto Library Manager, which has done a great job with photos previously. iTunes is not a concern as I only use my current laptop for music/iPhone/iPad syncs. Same for Mail, Calendar & Contacts.

Regards the other bits, should I just pull the things of interest off Time Machine backups from each machine?

Can I pull from each of Time Machine backups to a new MacBook?

Do I just DropBox what I want to combine?

It'll probably be less than a thousand files to gather, but I'd love to hear from others for a better chance of success & sanity. Thanks.

MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2011), OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Aug 2, 2015 2:39 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 2, 2015 3:39 PM in response to whirlypig

From what you explain I would Purchase an External Hard Drive and it would of course be USB and would connect to all of your older machines and You can simply Drag and Drop all you want to keep and or move from machine to machine very easily. I have see a 3.5 terabyte External for $130.00 at Costco. It is my opinion this would be the easiest and the cheapest route for you to go.

Cheers

Don Morgan

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Answer 2

whirlypig Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 3, 2015 2:54 AM in response to Donald Morgan

Thank you, Don. I'll likely migrate the existing laptop, then your plan would serve well.

Still wondering: can I pull files from either Time Machines remaining into the new laptop?

Thanks so much for your reply. -m-

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