Data Migration from PC to Imac

[lee c]

Firstly hi to all. I am a complete noob with Mac stuff, but after numerous spyware, malware and browser redirects. (ha ha i hear you all cry). i have decided to purchase a 21" Imac after the hardware refresh hopefully in hhe very near future.

In prep for this i have done a bit of research and spoken to a pre sales Apple tech on the phone, & have done a search, but need to know.

Is there a Guide on here with regard to the migration of data from a PC to a Mac. In particular exisiting E-mail, Calendar and Contacts.

Will the mac import from a PST file?

Any migration info and links to posts would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Lee

 

[Bladerunner99]

I'm actually in the same boat as you, I'm buying a new Imac when it comes out and I think I'm going to just pay Apple the $99 and get them to transfer everything over for me. They said I would just have to leave my hard drive overnight and it would be done in 24hrs.

Too time consuming to do everything one my own.

 

[rkaufmann87]

There are numerous guides available that you can find via Google. A good place to start is:

http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/

Here are some others I found using the above that have useful information. Also if you buy from an Apple Store you can ask if they provide the service of transferring files. They used to I just don't know if they still do.

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/06/15/mac-101-moving-files-from-your-old-pc-to-your-new-mac/

http://www.myfirstmac.com/index.php/mac/categories/C7/

http://www.macworld.com/article/143519/2009/11/mac_windows_switchers_guide.html

http://www.myfirstmac.com/index.php...ry-from-pc-to-mac-and-keep-my-settings-intact

 

[Tomorrow]

Welcome to MacRumors, and congrats on your upcoming purchase!

Transferring your information over is not too tedious, depending on how you have the information organized on your PC.

If all of your documents are in My Documents, if all of your music is in My Music, etc. - then the transfer will be quite easy. If that's not the case, then the time is now to start organizing those documents.

Remember, any programs/applications you have installed won't work on your new Mac, so there's no need to back those up. Get things like word processing and text documents, media files (movies/music), photos, etc. organized before you begin. Archive your contacts from your email client or address book. If you're not using IMAP or webmail, you should also archive your email inboxes. These can all be imported to your new Mac when it arrives.

If you're not already experienced with using a Mac, you'll be pleased to learn that, by default, a Mac is already prepared to keep these documents arranged in a very similar way (Movies, Pictures, Music, Documents, etc. - it's very intuitive), so finding a new home for each of these files should be easy.

 

[talmy]

I switched, my wife switched, my daughter switched, and my father switched, and I did the data transfers for all (not at the same time!). It's pretty straightforward. Transferring mail, addresses, and calendar requires the most gymnastics if you switch applications to OS X's built-ins, but I think thats a good move because of their integration into the OS X environment.

I view switching as a golden opportunity to rearrange folder structure and clear out cruft. View it as Spring Cleaning for your computer.

 

[lee c]

Thanks for all your help guys.

I am going to the states early June, so have decided to buy out there.

I already back up my entire data drive to an ext hard drive, so not worried about that.

It's all about mail, cal and address books.

Can anyone tell me what format I should export the data out from outlook?

I will be importing the data into the apps bundled with the mac.

Thanks in advance
Lee

 

[Tomorrow]

It's all about mail, cal and address books.

Can anyone tell me what format I should export the data out from outlook?

I will be importing the data into the apps bundled with the mac.

The easiest way, in my experience, is to simply sync this information to your smartphone (if you have one) then sync the smartphone with your Mac.

I would export everything both as a table (Excel format) and as an Outlook .pst file and hope for the best. Entourage will accept the Excel format, not sure about the stock apps.

 

[lee c]

Syncing to phone, genius plan. Will have a go at that and do the other types of export just incase it won't work.

Cheers
Lee