New iMac arrives today - best migration strategy?

[LagunaSol]

Time to retire the loyal 3-year-old 20" iMac to the kids and welcome the arrival of my 24" 2.93/4850 model.

I'd like to keep this new machine zippy fresh. I'll probably do fresh app installs rather than suck everything over from my old machine. What's the best strategy for bringing over my essential info (Mail account info, iCal events, iTunes library, iPhoto library, etc.) without bringing any old system (or app-related) cruft along with it? Is Migration Assistant good at bringing over all my user info while filtering out the system bloat I may have accumulated?

 

[Eidorian]

Migration Assistant is fine.

 

[mstam]

Migration Assistant is fine.

wouldn't use that. Just share the entire old system and copy the files over manually after all new progs have been installed. Eg iPhoto, iTunes etc you can copy the complete library over and if the programs are newer they'll automatically convert it.

 

[JustGretchen]

2 macs. 1 ethernet cable. Enable file sharing on both. they'll see eachother and then you can copy anything you want.

Don't use migration assistant if you don't want system bloat and DO want to reinstall all your apps.

 

[Willis]

As for mail/calender settings, you might have to re-enter these unless you use mobile me. I'm not sure of any other way except migration assistant that transfer data

 

[crackbookpro]

the easiest would be migration assistant, but it seems you want to do everything new, so manually doing it looks like your best bet for transfering your info.

I don't use mobile me, but maybe that could help transfer the items you want in the way you want them...

goodluck!

CrackBookPro

 

[spencecb]

Migration Assistant gives you plenty of options of what you want to bring over. I suggest using that, so all your settings stay how you like them.

Use an ethernet cable, and a router that is 1000 Base Ethernet if you have it. The defualt is to use FireWire, but unless your old iMac has FireWire 800, you're out of luck. Also, gives you the option to use wireless, but connecting through Ethernet will be much faster.

 

[chrono1081]

Migration Assistant is fine.

+1 (I think) I could be wrong but cant you select the items the OP wanted to transfer over in Migration assistant and leave the rest? To me this would be simpler.

 

[Jackintosh]

Going from a G4 iMac to a new Mac Mini, Migration Assistant went well for everything except one thing. Address Book didn't get transferred. So I exported it into vCard (.vcf) format and imported it to the Address Book on the new machine. Names, phone numbers, and addresses imported fine, but no notes from all my cards.

Any suggestions?