Migration of Old Computer to new Mini

[swandrix]

Hello,

I should be receiving my 2.6 i7 mini today or tomorrow and I need some advice on how to migrate my current computer to the mini. I currently have the following (with only one monitor):

Dual 2 GHz PowerPC G5
OS 10.5.8

I have an external firewire hard drive that would be my preference (because of the one monitor) for the migration. However, I was wondering, does EVERYTHING get migrated over or just specified stuff (photos, music, documents, profile)? Is there a way to select what gets migrated and what doesn't?

I believe that I can hook up the external and update the new mini based on the most recent time machine backup. Please confirm!

Thanks, and let me know if I'm leaving something critical out of the picture.

 

[xlii]

I used my time machine backup to transfer my data to my new Mac Mini and it couldn't have been easier. You want to boot up the new mini and follow the instructions to restore data from time machine backup. Others might tell you that you need to do a clean install (or you'll have issues) but I have found that to not be the case. However the fact that you are on 10.5.8 means that any programs (power pc) that you have on the machine that uses Rosetta will not work on the new machine which will be at 10.8.1 (or 10.8.2) as Rosetta is not supported on 10.7 or 10.8 machines.

Good Luck.

 

[Weaselboy]

Fastest would be to just use the FW Time Machine backup along with Migration Assistant. Once the new machine starts it will launch Migration Assistant and you can just point it to the FW drive. Select from the screen below what you want to bring over, and let it run.

 

[Mojo1]

The only thing that I would move to the new Mini is your Home folder. You can use MA or simply transfer the data via wireless (a slow process if you have a lot of data...) or Firewire.

Migrating from a 10.5.8 Mac to a Mac running 10.8 is asking for trouble and a lot of work. As someone previously mentioned, most if not all of your apps will not work on the new Mac.

I faced a similar situation when I upgraded from an iMac running Snow Leopard to Lion. I decided to bite the bullet and start with a fresh Mac, installing only software that is compatible with the OS. In your situation it could require less time than using MA and then cleaning up the mess...

I'm glad I went that route... The MBP ran flawlessly. When I got a new Mini I used MA because the move from Lion to Mountain Lion is a lot less problematic. Even so, I had to upgrade some apps that could not be updated on the Lion Mac prior to using MA.