Tags
I recently got a new iMac and used OS X’s migration assistant to move all of the applications, files, user accounts, settings, etc from my MacBook Pro to the new iMac. Getting a new computer is fun, but it can be a nightmare to get it set up the way you want. This was my first mac to mac migration, and I’m happy to say that it went really well. There was 1 rough spot, but it was my error.
I used Apple’s Time Machine continuous backup program on my laptop, backing up to an external hard disk. When I ran the migration assistant, an option was to use a Time Machine disk from the old computer as the source. You can select what you want migrated, I picked all the options since the new computer had only OS X on it. It was the kind of job one starts up and walks away from, checking back later as it is a lengthy process.
It moved all my email, applications, accounts, key chain items, encrypted disk image (an OS X way to keep a set of files, as a disk image, private), iTunes music, my calendars, all the files in all the user accounts (3 on that laptop). I did not have to install a single application on the iMac, they all came over. With each apps settings and configuration data. I expected the Apple apps like iTunes, Safari, etc to migrate but so did iBank, Firefox, Opera, Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Photoshop complained that it was not licensed, I have yet to unlicense it on the old machine and move the license to the new one.
The only problem I ran into was I created an account on the new iMac with the same name as an account on the MacBook when I initially set up the iMac. Since I was logged onto that account when I ran migration assistant, it was not able to replace this account with the one by the same name from Time Machine. OK. So I told it to skip this account. When it finished I renamed the account and ran migration assistant again, this time selecting only that account to move. Worked fine.
Both machines were running the same version of OS X, 10.8.4, I don’t know how well it works if the OS versions are different.
Julia said:
Macs seem have things sorted out before you even thought you needed something. I don’t know what I would do without my Macbook it has worked so well for so long …..
Dagny Gromer said:
It just works. That’s why we pay more for a mac than for a pc.
Pearl Blackwell said:
When you don’t transfer your stuff via Setup Assistant, but instead create a user account, it’s assigned #501. If you then use Migration Assistant to transfer the 501 account from another Mac, it cannot keep the 501 on the new Mac, so it’s assigned the next available number, usually 502. The user account name, password, data, etc., will all be identical to the old Mac, but the UID will be different. All the permissions on the files in that account are changed to correspond to the new UID.
Kathryn C. Bruce said:
Just tried Mac Migration assistant to migrate my account using firewire but no luck. I stuck at “looking for other computers” forever. I’ve tried to restart migration assistant for few times but it still the same. Finally, i found a way to solve this problem.