Will using 'Setup Assistant' be a bad idea?

[CBGFilms]

Hey guys, planning on getting one of those tasty new iMac's when they're released and I currently have an early 2008 model.

I would like to transfer my data across using setup assistant on the first boot, but I was wondering would doing this bring lots of 'dust' files in and bring in stuff that I don't need that'll slow down the system? Not sure how to explain it, but do you understand what I mean? I think transferring a whole computer's worth of data and files on to the new system will just automatically make it really slow.

Has anyone had any experiences with setup assistant? I'll probably be transferring from a full time machine backup.

If not, would it just be better to transfer files manually, and how would the applications side of things work, if I move all of my applications folder over, will they automatically work? Or are they attached to other files elsewhere?

Thanks!

 

[RollTide]

IMO using time machine would be the best bet. Even though your 2008 mac may be slowing down, the new ones will be much faster. If you are worried about it, spend a few minutes and delete trashy files and update time machine.

 

[rkaufmann87]

Using Setup Assistant is a great idea, you have a couple of major decisions before beginning though. First is what do you want to migrate and second where do you want to migrate it from. You can migrate from:

your old iMac or a Time Machine backup or a bootable clone backup. Because all should have identical information (backup before doing the migration) it shouldn't matter which drive you use. If you decide on the old iMac you can connect via Firewire 800 which you can also do on the Time Machine or bootable volume assuming they have Firewire 800 ports too.

If you haven't already I'd recommend reading Pondini's guide on Setup Assistant, it will provide lots of useful information to make your migration smooth. http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/SetupAsst.html

Roger

 

[morty192]

will setup assistant 'copy' the info leaving me with two functioning macs as id still like to keep using my macbook 2,1 and would hate to have it wiped!

 

[Greyson76]

Migration Assistant has worked very well for me in the past with the exception of the Adobe Suite (I had a nightmare trying to get CS3 to work on the new machine last time). I recommend installing a fresh copy of those from the discs and moving over any custom settings (brushes, actions, etc.) manually.