Parallels - moving to another machine

[bunner bob]

Here's the story:

1. Got new Mac Pro with Parallels and XP Pro preinstalled. (Disks included)

2. Installed all apps, updated everything, moved my life to this machine.

3. Discovered it was damaged in transit, so a replacement is being sent out, also with Parallels and XP Pro preinstalled.

4. They won't let me swap drives, so I think I'm going to have to clone the damaged to the new machine. After I do this I will have the "wrong" versions of Parallels and XP Pro on the new machine - in other words, I'll be replacing the preinstalled versions with those from the damaged machine.

My intention is to then uninstall XP Pro and Parallels from the new machine, and re-install them from the disks that came with the new machine, so my disks and installed versions are "in sync".

Looking at the Parallels manual, it appears that I would first delete the XP Pro virtual machine, using the Delete VM option in Parallels. Then I can uninstall Parallels itself. And then reverse the procedure using the new disks.

Any potential ills to watch out for? Or does this sound straightforward enough?

Bob

 

[CEMatt]

I would connect the two machines in Target Disk Mode and use Migration Assistant in the new machine to move everything from the old machine to the new. Wouldn't that work?

Matt

 

[bunner bob]

I haven't used Migration Assistant. But I imagine it will only copy applications and data. I've also done some system updates and have Font Agent managing system fonts, and I doubt Migration Assistant would handle those items. Since the machines are essentially identical, I wouldn't think there would be any problem just cloning the drive, using CCC or SuperDuper.

 

[Giaguara]

Migration assistant copies most applications (just not those already installed by Apple), user files etc over. It does not touch custom kernel extensions etc - this would affect Parallels since they would need to have something like vmnet kexts, however they have named them.

Since these machines should be identical - same model, same hard drive etc, CCC would probably be the best option for you.