Transfering to new mac without access to old one

[Yoursh]

I was checking around the forums but was unable to come up with the solution I was looking for.

I will be selling my ibook and purchasing a new macbook in a few weeks and I'm unsure of how to transfer what I need from my cuurent system to the new one. I have read about using migration asistant and target disk mode but I will most likely have to do fresh install on the ibook and have it transfered to the new owner before I purchase the macbook. Tranfering applications, photos, and music will be a simple enough of a task since I use an ipod as a portable drive but my main concern is os settings. I not sure how to transfer things like network settings, keychains, and itunes peferences like playlists/podcast subscriptions. I would rather not have to manually set all of this back up, especially the network setting/passwords. Are there files I can copy then import into the new system? Could I make a copy of the HD onto one of my blank ipods then use tagret disk mode with it?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[mad jew]

You could use Carbon Copy Cloner to create a clone of your drive on the iPod and then use Migration Assistant to get the data onto the new Mac.

 

[Yoursh]

I would have to use an ipod firewire cable correct? Not a usb one.

 

[mad jew]

Not necessarily, AFAIK.

 

[Yoursh]

Doesn't migration assistant require a firewire connection?

 

[mad jew]

I've never done it, but I assume the Firewire connection is only needed for Target Disk Mode. The iPod should be able to be recognised as another volume on the same Mac (second option at the opening page) but I may be wrong.

 

[Aurora]

Doesn't migration assistant require a firewire connection?

Migration Assistant is the devil. Please don't use it.

 

[mad jew]

Ha.

It's okay for the basic files (documents, music, videos, photos and so on) but I agree, you've gotta keep a pretty close eye on it.

 

[steve_hill4]

Migration Assistant does require FireWire.

Is there any reason you don't want to just backup onto CD/DVD? It may not help when transferring to your MacBook, (having to redo preferences etc), but gives you the opportunity to back everything up and have that backup for the future.

 

[funkychunkz]

Migration Assistant does require FireWire.

Is there any reason you don't want to just backup onto CD/DVD? It may not help when transferring to your MacBook, (having to redo preferences etc), but gives you the opportunity to back everything up and have that backup for the future.

Have you ever tried cloning a normal drive using only cd's??? Didn't think so.

 

[Yoursh]

My main goal is to make the transfer as simple as possible. I originally just planned on transfering files manually but I'm unsure of what profile folders I would need to back up. If migration assistant is a bit of a pain, I'll skip it.

 

[mad jew]

I'd just copy across your Home folder onto the iPod (and eventually the new machine) and then reinstall the apps manually from the CDs or DMGs from whence they came. It's probably 'cleaner' and easier.

 

[sunfast]

iBackup is perfect!

I used iBackup to do almost exactly this. Backed up my iMac to an external HDD using iBackup. Then plugged HDD into new MacBook and restored said backup. Worked a treat.

 

[Yoursh]

Thanks everybody for all the advice. I'll give that iBackup a try since that is sort of what I was looking for. I plan on picking a Macbook up after WWDC. I'm holding off incase of any updates.