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Best way to migrate from MBP to iMac

wacomme said:
Is there any disadvantage to using Migration Assistant or Time Machine? I have an old G5 PowerPC. Wanting to purge unneeded files, programs, etc. I thought it would be best to do a clean install of all the programs/files I need instead of using either of these two apps. Thoughts?
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I've seen some good and bad reports on these forums re: using migration assistant going from PowerPC to Intel.
Here's one thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/208148/
Newer versions of Migration Assistant may be fixed any issues though.
If you are only interested in moving over a small subset of data, it might be easier just to drag and drop between the two machines over the LAN.
 
Not to hijack this thread but I tried migrating via time capsule last night and it finished over night. I woke up this morning and it was successful but I can't find any of anything that was migrated. The apps were on the apps folder, but I can't find my music, pictures, files etc. I know they migrated to the imac because 250gb chunk worth was deducted from the imac harddrive. WHat did I do wrong? Can you guys help me with the next step or do I just have to start all over?

Thanks in advance.
 
RSNL said:
Not to hijack this thread but I tried migrating via time capsule last night and it finished over night. I woke up this morning and it was successful but I can't find any of anything that was migrated. The apps were on the apps folder, but I can't find my music, pictures, files etc. I know they migrated to the imac because 250gb chunk worth was deducted from the imac harddrive. WHat did I do wrong? Can you guys help me with the next step or do I just have to start all over?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I have a theory, but it's just a theory. Were you trying to migrate to a machine that already had a user account with the exact name as your account on the old machine? If so, Migration assistant won't let you do that. It will instead ask if you want to create a new account with a different name on the new machine and copy the user's contents to that account instead. It's possible you agreed to that without realizing what it was going to do.

In my case, I didn't go straight into migration assistant when setting up my new iMac and instead set up the same user account name as on my old machine. When told later by MA that I couldn't move my account from the old machine to an account of the same name on the new machine, I created a 2nd admin account on new machine, logged in as that user, deleted the account that shared it's name with account on the old machine, then ran MA which re-created the account I wanted as it transferred everything.

So... you might check to see if there's an additional account set up on your new machine that has all your stuff in it.
 
rufhausen said:
I have a theory, but it's just a theory. Were you trying to migrate to a machine that already had a user account with the exact name as your account on the old machine? If so, Migration assistant won't let you do that. It will instead ask if you want to create a new account with a different name on the new machine and copy the user's contents to that account instead. It's possible you agreed to that without realizing what it was going to do.

In my case, I didn't go straight into migration assistant when setting up my new iMac and instead set up the same user account name as on my old machine. When told later by MA that I couldn't move my account from the old machine to an account of the same name on the new machine, I created a 2nd admin account on new machine, logged in as that user, deleted the account that shared it's name with account on the old machine, then ran MA which re-created the account I wanted as it transferred everything.

So... you might check to see if there's an additional account set up on your new machine that has all your stuff in it.
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YES!! That is exactly what I did. I didn't really know what was going to happen so I just changed the name to continue the Migration. What do you suggest I do now? Should I restore the iMac and then try again and then do what you did? Thanks for the help !
 
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RSNL said:
YES!! That is exactly what I did. I didn't really know what was going to happen so I just changed the name to continue the Migration. What do you suggest I do now? Should I restore the iMac and then try again and then do what you did? Thanks for the help !
Click to expand...

At this point, I would consider creating a 3rd account (I just called mine "transfer") that has admin access, then delete both the other accounts. Then I'd just re-start the migration again while logged in as the 3rd account. This time, since you don't already have account with the same name as the migrating account, you should be fine. After everything is migrated and looks good, you can delete the "3rd" account.
 
All is migrated and up and running. Logic and Final Cut required serial numbers and now my Sounds are all listed under GarageBand as one package rather than identifying the different Jam Packs - wish there was a way to fix this!

However, on the root of Macintosh HD, I now have a file with just a "~" for a name. Can I delete this thing? It was definitely added during the migration process - about the time the process began!
 
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I'm waiting for my iMac with SSD, so decided I'd do a dress rehearsal "migration" on my MBP.

Went the Time Machine route.

  1. Did a final TM backup
  2. Erased a 500GB hard drive
  3. Removed the drive from the MBP and popped the erased drive in
  4. Booted from the Snow Leopard DVD
  5. Started installation
  6. Connected the TM backup disk via USB
  7. Told it to migrate everything off the TM backup when asked
  8. Rebooted and all was there, but needed a couple of cycles through Software Update to make it modern.

Very few glitches. Adobe Photoshop lost its license, so I reinstalled it. No other software has complained.

The MBP is now running somewhat faster, which is nice and I now know how to migrate when the iMac arrives next month. If it had failed, I still had the original system disk, and the TM backup. (And a couple of CrashPlan backups)
 
johnfkitchen said:
I'm waiting for my iMac with SSD, so decided I'd do a dress rehearsal "migration" on my MBP.

Went the Time Machine route.
.

The MBP is now running somewhat faster, which is nice and I now know how to migrate when the iMac arrives next month. If it had failed, I still had the original system disk, and the TM backup. (And a couple of CrashPlan backups)
Click to expand...

Can you read my earlier post and luck for the ~ file?
 
12 years a Mac user I have always consistently wiped a new Mac, installed OS X fresh and removed several languages and printer drivers. I've then done all the software updates before finally migrating folder by folder the things I want from my previous Mac or OS version. I liked that "clean" feel.

Last week marked the first time I haven't done that. And I was extremely surprised. Here's what I did:

  1. Running my MacBook as normal, did a final time machine back up
  2. Turned MacBook off. Goodbye.
  3. Set up iMac on desk. Pretty.
  4. Turned on, set up assistant ran
  5. Chose the option: Migrate from Time Machine backup
  6. 20 minute wait as things move over
  7. Gasped in amazement. Wow.

I say "Wow" because I cannot believe how efficient and effective this way of migrating is. I sat in front of my iMac as if I were sitting in front of my 4 year old MacBook. All my prefs, all my software, all my photos and iTunes, everything just the way I like it. Except a Quad core iMac with 12GB of ram. Very very happy.
 
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