Moving to a new Mac

H

Harvey

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Hello!

Currently I use a 12" PowerBook G4, and am planning to upgrade to a black MacBook with 2 gigs of ram and 160 Gig HD. (Or, maybe the white with 2 gigs of ram and 120 gig HD. Still deciding)

Anyway, I want to know first of all what people think of this upgrade timing.

Second of all I want to know what I need to do in order to comfortably tansfer my software settings.

For example, it would be great if I didn't have to reconfigure Terminal.app to the font style and transparency and whatnot that I like. Not to mention big things like Firefox bookmarks (or maybe I'll be switching to Safari!), my Mail.app settings, and other things.

There's a lot of stuff I'm sure. Is there one particular folder I could just backup that has all of these things in it... That would be nice.

Any advice on how to make this transition as painless as possible would be appreciated!

Btw my current G4 has 10.4 and the new MacBook would have 10.5
 
I would suggest backing up all important files to CD or DVD, or an external hard drive if you have one. Then move them over to the new computer.

I've heard nothing but good things regarding 10.5.

AND

it may be worth it to get One on One from the apple store. For $99 they'll transfer all your files and train you on your new computer on any mac topic for 1 year with personal "one on one" sessions every 14 days.

It was awesome for me.
 
dave-dave said:
I would suggest backing up all important files to CD or DVD, or an external hard drive if you have one. Then move them over to the new computer.

I've heard nothing but good things regarding 10.5.

AND

it may be worth it to get One on One from the apple store. For $99 they'll transfer all your files and train you on your new computer on any mac topic for 1 year with personal "one on one" sessions every 14 days.

It was awesome for me.
Click to expand...

The problem with them copying files, they copy everything. I would just buy a firewire cable, put the powerbook in target mode and copy whatever you need.
 
icemanjc said:
The problem with them copying files, they copy everything. I would just buy a firewire cable, put the powerbook in target mode and copy whatever you need.
Click to expand...

Right! just follow the instructions when you first boot the new MacBook. Very simple, and painless....
 
I would just buy a firewire cable, put the powerbook in target mode and copy whatever you need.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Firewire target disk mode (along with Migration Assistant) is the Mac's convenience and usability guitar solo and no Mac user should be without a firewire cable for just this purpose. Smartest $5 you'll ever spend.
 
Hey guys thanks for the advice! One caveat though that I forgot to mention.

I will be trading in my Powerbook to get the new Macbook. This means I won't have them both at the same time, so I can't use the firewire option. I'm in Japan and there are lots of shops that will buy your stuff in exchange for cash, or store credit (with a bonus) on the spot. They pay good prices too!

Also, backing up to DVD/CD is something I can do. One question I have though, is how to identify which files are important? Things like my documents, my media and stuff I can identify of course, cause they're mine. But I'm not sure where to look in order to spot settings and preferences and things like that. Any help appreciated here!

Hey one more question!

I have checked here.
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/

But! I heard that Mac World is happening Jan 15th? And it would be smart to wait there, because they may announce something that could make the price of the current laptops drop? For example, if they announce the new upcoming ultralight notebook, then the current macbooks may get cheaper?

Not sure. Just rumors. But... what do you think?

Thanks all!

- Harvey
 
If you don't have a firewire external drive, it might be worth to get - you can use it for backups too.

Copy ALL of your User folder (hd/Users/User).
And if you have saved applications, installers etc outside it, those as well.
User folder contains everything, and you should be able to just copy its content back manually and easily. All contained from music to addressbook data.
 
Giaguara said:
If you don't have a firewire external drive, it might be worth to get - you can use it for backups too.

Copy ALL of your User folder (hd/Users/User).
And if you have saved applications, installers etc outside it, those as well.
User folder contains everything, and you should be able to just copy its content back manually and easily. All contained from music to addressbook data.
Click to expand...

When you re-install, don't copy all Library items as-is: you may overwrite more recent data.

A better way is to copy all your data (Document, Image, Music... folders in your user folder), and then re-install your applications one by one.
 
Hey everyone!

I finally got the giant 15" macbook pro (giant when compared to my baby 12" powerbook that is! Geesh) and am thinking about this firewire thing.

I thought the cable that came with my 2nd or 3rd gen iPod would do it, but it seems not to be doing the trick. The target computer boots into target mode, but I don't see anything on the host computer. Ah well. I think I'll go out and buy a firewire cable tomorrow.

One question though regarding the file transfer.

For example, will the settings for programs like Adium also get transfered if I just send over the /user/home folder?

How about for example, programs I have purchased like, Missing Sync for Palm OS that have registration keys and whatnot? Will that go too?

What about mundane things like bookmarks in Firefox? Are those included in that directory as well?

Thanks for the help!
 
Most of those files will be transferred over.
The only ones that won't will be for instance kernel extensions - so if you had Fusion or Parallels (well you wouldn't have had those on Powerbook, but the idea is they need kext files to add the network adapters for virtualization) they would need to be reinstalled since kernel extensions will not be moved over. Or some programs that have a separate installer may need to be installed again, but you'd usually have those files somewhere else anyway (the installer files that is).
 
I just this week got a new MBP to replace my broken one (long story--see classified section). Using Target Disk mode, absolutely everything transferred over including all preferences and settings. Roughly 60GB transferred in roughly 40 minutes (although it started out as 2 1/2 hours but went far faster than that)
 
I thought I had a firewire cable around the house from my external drive, but the cable wasn't a cable with both ends the same. Ooops.

Anyway I'm going to send stuff to the external hard drive and try to move things that way. I'm sure i have a lot of crap on my old comp i dont want to transfer anyway.
 
I'm firewire-ing away now.

I never realized how much stuff got chucked under Library. Things are copying over though and it seems easy enough! I'm really curious to see if my palm sync is going to work after all this is done.

Thanks for the help all!

- Harvey
 
Hey everyone, things didn't go exactly as it seemed.

I transfered the apps and pics over without any problem.

I also went into Library and copied over seemingly relevant things in Application Support, and Preferences. However, for example when I launch Terminal, my settings have not been transfered over.

Also, the application, The Missing Sync will not launch. My iCal information has not been transfered over either. My iTunes also did not pick up the music I transfered over automatically.

Some other apps kept their settings fine though, like rBrowser for example.

Maybe I missed a key folder? Any tips on what folders are "must copies" would be appreciated!

Thanks everyone

- Harvey
 
As for your firefox bookmarks, you can use Foxmarks (add on) and have your bookmarks available remotely. That means any comp you use away from your home comp can use your home bookmarks from firefox. Sweet!

I'd also recommend exporting your bookmarks to a file from FF, just to be safe in the move to your new computer.
 
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