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How to transfer stuff from one mac to another

A

alexxk

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 29, 2010
425
118
I have a macbook pro with lots of music, photos e other files and I'm buying today a new iMac and I would like to know if there's a way to transfer all data that I have on my macbook to my iMac.... i'm not willing to pay for programs and I don't have time capsule or any other external drive...

Thanks
 
I'm no expert but if I had to move data files from one machine to another, I would use a USB stick or external USB connected Hard disk. Currently, I have a few 8 GB sticks laying around. Would use it.

But if more then 30 Gigs of data, I would buy an external Hard disk. After moving the files over to the new Mac (via USB connection), I would then configure that USB external Hard Disk to be a backup storage device. Using Time Machine, I would backup up the data files I wanted. Thus, win-win in the long run.

Buying an external Hard Disk is expensive (re: $100 or so) but in the long run (as an attached backup storage device), its well worth it...

Good luck

.
 
alexxk said:
Thanks...

I'll try that....
Click to expand...

I used it from my old G4 tower to my new Intel MacBook, and it was really smooth. But it takes a lot of time. Getting the right Firewire cable could be a bit of a problem--I found a very reasonably priced one at Target with a selection of adapters for various kinds of Firewire ports.
 
Its been a while since I've done this.... but I'm pretty sure you can use time machine backups on your old computer, and itll transfer all your programs and everything.

I'll be doing this same thing from one of my computers into my i7 soon. :)
 
yzc717 said:
is a firewire 800 cable does any good? mbp ->imac
Click to expand...

Yep, it should work! Plug your MBP into the iMac using the FW800 cable, power up the MBP whilst holding down the 'T' key until the drive of your MBP appears on the desktop of your iMac. You can then open that drive in finder and drag files across to your iMac drive as appropriate.

I personally won't be using the magration assistant when my new iMac arrives as I find stupid things happen like files open to fit the screen of the system you're backing up from. Also, it's a great time to have a good clear out and get rid of all those files you don't need!
 
I just switched from a MacBook Pro to a new iMac and used my Time Capsule to get all of my files on the new machine. Assuming you don't have one, buying an external hard drive will make the transfer fast and easy while also giving you a way to continuously back up via Time Machine.
 
I just switched from a MacBook Pro to a new iMac and used my Time Capsule to get all of my files on the new machine. Assuming you don't have one, buying an external hard drive will make the transfer fast and easy while also giving you a way to continuously back up via Time Machine.
 
Just made the transition myself. You're prompted to transfer the information as part of the iMac setup process. The three options I remember are over the network (horribly slow), via a Firewire cable (which I didn't have), or from a Time Machine backup.

All files, programs, and settings from my old Mac were copied over, though I still had to make several adjustments to the preferences in many programs. iTunes must be authorized for the new Mac. You'll need to deactivate and reactivate any Adobe software you own. Other minor burps will need to be addressed.

Enjoy your new iMac! I'm enjoying mine.
 
I just got a new MBP and wanted to transfer all of my music and photos over from my iMac (~ 150 GB). Anyway, I used Migration Assistant and followed the on-screen steps. The only part that I was unsure about was the pop-up that alerted me that the 2 user names involved were the same. Not really knowing what to do, I made up a name for the iMac, selected what I wanted to migrate, and waited a few hours while it all went to my MacBook Pro.

Fast forward to the present moment ... The files have migrated. I can tell because 1) the huge drop in open HD space and 2) I can locate the files. The problem is that they are under the user name I created for my iMac, not the user name for my MacBook Pro. Also, I can't access the files as I don't have permission.

What do I do? How do I get them to my user name?
 
81Tiger04 said:
IThe only part that I was unsure about was the pop-up that alerted me that the 2 user names involved were the same. Not really knowing what to do, I made up a name for the iMac ....
Click to expand...

I'm no expert on thiese kinds of things but I'm guessing this is where you went wrong. I think that's only a warning in case you didn't intend the user names to be the same.

I believe you should have kept the same name on the new mchine as what you had on the old.

Where you go from here, I'm not sure, but perhaps a clean install and try again with the same name, maybe?
 
Migration Assistant

+1 for the hard drive option. I personally found Migration Assistant to be a pain to use, and it left me with a small boatload of tweaks and issues to deal with. Admittedly, my configuration is not typical, but I do wish I'd popped for an external hard drive rather than using MA...would have saved me time (money) overall.
 
For a power user the best way is to move the files yourself. Strange things happen when you use automated/automatic solutions that annoy me.
 
Used migration assistant last night. Although it took pretty much all night to transfer. Everything seems to be working very well.
 
hey, i have a separate question. but similar in that its about information transfers. i hope someone here can help me. i want to use my external hard drive to transfer some stuff, videos and various other large file-size projects, from my computer to another persons mac.

i have been using a 500G external drive with my imac. but i've partitioned the drive so that i can use it for both storage and for my macs time machine feature. since it is assigned to my mac's time machine will there be any problems if/when i plug it into someone else's mac to use the storage part of the drive? would it overwrite any of their information? would their computer overwrite the stuff on my drive? would it just not show up? i haven't tried yet, and i'm nervous about it because i don't want to make a mistake and lose everything i have saved.
 
timkingkraw said:
will there be any problems if/when i plug it into someone else's mac to use the storage part of the drive? would it overwrite any of their information? would their computer overwrite the stuff on my drive? would it just not show up? i haven't tried yet, and i'm nervous about it because i don't want to make a mistake and lose everything i have saved.
Click to expand...

There won't be a problem. The TimeMachine backups are keyed to the specific computer so will be safe. The other computer may ask if you want to use your drive for TimeMachine (if TimeMachine isn't running already) -- just say "No".

I'd suggest having two externals, with TimeMachine using a dedicated drive. Just to avoid confusion.
 
My advice, boot the computer initially and go through the setup process. Skip the data transfer part and just get to the desktop. Then insert the install disk and restart the computer while holding "c". Open disk utility in the utilities menu. Delete the partition you created on initial start-up. Reinstall osx. On start-up this time, perform the data transfer. Once complete, you'll boot directly to the same desktop as your previous Mac. Then, run software update. Then install the applications from the applications install disk that came with your Mac. Now your done, and all your data will always transfer well if you do it this way. Sometimes migration assistant fails due to differences in software versions in iLife, and this prevents that from happening.
 
Sorry to hijack the thread, i have a similar small question.

Just got my new mbp, and looking to transfer 'files' (not apps, and other left over junk accumulated) from my old macbook via Time Machine on external hard drive with Migration Assistant.
1.I want to keep the same username, so i should create the same name on my new mbp and then use Migration assistant which would copy files over?
2.Does this copy over profiles e.g. keychain access, safari/firefox bookmarks, iPhone backups. if not - how?
 
mojohojo said:
1.I want to keep the same username, so i should create the same name on my new mbp and then use Migration assistant which would copy files over?
Click to expand...

I'd suggest having the initial account on the new MBP be a recovery account -- one you can log into if your main account gets corrupted. Then use Migration Assistant to copy over your account from the old system -- it will have the same name on the new system.

2.Does this copy over profiles e.g. keychain access, safari/firefox bookmarks, iPhone backups. if not - how?
Click to expand...

Yes.
 
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