Hrmmmm . . . a few things you can try. I would strongly suggest getting another
Ex-HD and copying over the folder "root." Why? Because if something goes wrong, you still have your data.
Possible Solution the First:
- 1. Load your OS on to your Int-HD--use the original Installation disks that came with the computer--you know, the one you use as a beer coaster?--or get Snow Leopard which is cheap last I looked.
2. Pour some coffee.
3. When done it will ask you if you want to transfer a previous account over--hook up the Ext-HD and see if it will transfer you. If it does . . . pour some beer and dance naked.
The problem with that is I am not sure how much of "you" was saved. Files like photos are small. An application has all sorts of crap all over the HD. So even though you, say, transfer over a Application icon from the Application Folder . . . that does not mean you transferred the application or your settings, of course! So as "easy" as that solution is, it may not work. They may have fully preserved "you"--which you hope--then "you" can be easily transferred. I do not know if they did or not.
Solution the Second:
- 1. Load a clean OS.
2. Hook up the Ex-HD.
3. Pour some Irish Whisky in your coffee.
4. Transfer over the simple data as you check it--photos into photos. You can transfer those files simply. Photos, documents, music are like that.
5. Grab those installation disks of all of your applications. In paranoid fear of such disasters, I save the "dmg" of Applications on an Ex-HD. Every so often, something gets corrupted, and I simply have to re-install the application.
6. Rebuild your applications.
7. Rebuilt your settings.
The last is the pain-in-the-fundament I know you wish to avoid. Sadly, that may not be possible.
"Why another
Ex-HD? What are you, a Shill for the
Ex-HD Lobby?! Why do you hate me?!"
The reason for that is you may transfer simple or hard, and everything seems fine. So now you erase/copy over your current
Ex-HD.
Then . . . one day . . . you look for that photo of you, your dog, and that Adult Gardening store . . . and you find the file is corrupt. I lost a hard-to-find piece of music and a few photos that way. They just did not "come over" properly. So UnLESS if you are willing to spend the time to check
everything--and, seriously, who wants to see those photos of your vacation to Branson?--you run the risk that you might discover something wrong a few weeks from now.
With a new
Ex-HD you can clone your
Int-HD. I recommend you get a cloning program over
Time Machine because then your
Ex-HD is "bootable." Had you been in this situation NOW, you wyou do what I did a few weeks ago, boot on your
Ex-HD, clone yourself over to your new
Int-HD while you continue to surf and annoy people on forums
You can then save the FIRST
Ex-HD and--assuming it is much bigger than 150 GB--you can keep "stuff" there like music, video, those Application installation programs I mentioned.
Hope that helps!
Well, coffee and whisky always helps. . . .
--J.D.
