MacBook -> MacBook Air

TheXFactor · Apr 3, 2011

Hello all, just purchased a Refurbished MacBook Air 1.86/4/128 from the Apple store. I am currently using a MacBook. I have about 35 gigs on the MB. What's the best way to move all this stuff over to the new Air?

I also purchased the Iomega 320GB eGo Helium Portable Hard Drive to go along with the new Air. Is Time Machine the best way? Is this done on the initial setup of the Air? In other words is there an option to restore when the Air first boots up?

Thanks in advance.

Hellhammer · Apr 3, 2011

When you are setting up the MBA, it will ask if you want to transfer data from a Time Machine backup, so the best way is to use TM.

zub3qin · Apr 3, 2011

Hellhammer said:
When you are setting up the MBA, it will ask if you want to transfer data from a Time Machine backup, so the best way is to use TM.

Does Time Machine Restore simply mirror your entire setup on your primary computer, or do you have the option of choosing which apps/files you want to restore to the MBA?

seandavid010 · Apr 3, 2011

zub3qin said:
Does Time Machine Restore simply mirror your entire setup on your primary computer, or do you have the option of choosing which apps/files you want to restore to the MBA?

I assume we're still talking about using a Time Machine backup to move files over to a brand-new mac, and if so, this should answer any questions you have:

How to use Migration Assistant

jksu · Apr 3, 2011

TheXFactor said:
Hello all, just purchased a Refurbished MacBook Air 1.86/4/128 from the Apple store. I am currently using a MacBook. I have about 35 gigs on the MB. What's the best way to move all this stuff over to the new Air?

I also purchased the Iomega 320GB eGo Helium Portable Hard Drive to go along with the new Air. Is Time Machine the best way? Is this done on the initial setup of the Air? In other words is there an option to restore when the Air first boots up?

Thanks in advance.

i used carbon copy cloner to copy my black macbook onto an external drive volume. then used the external drive to copy onto the macbook air.

the external drives's cloned volume serves as a backup as well as volume for ripped movies/songs.

tried using time machine via airport and took way too long. the above method will take 20-40minutes depending on how large your macbook drive is.

TheXFactor · Apr 3, 2011

Ok, I'm a bit confused. I am going to be using Time Machine with the external drive I bought, is this correct? Time Machine on the first Mac, to the new drive. Is that right? Sorry, it's been a few years since I switched Macs and I use FireWire back then to connect to the 2 Macs to import all the stuff.

DaveOZ · Apr 3, 2011

You can use Migration assistant over WiFi. Read the link above.

or You can do a full Time Machine backup of you old MB using your new iOmega drive then use that to migrate your data and user accounts. Either way will work.

87am · Apr 3, 2011

jksu said:
i used carbon copy cloner to copy my black macbook onto an external drive volume. then used the external drive to copy onto the macbook air.

the external drives's cloned volume serves as a backup as well as volume for ripped movies/songs.

tried using time machine via airport and took way too long. the above method will take 20-40minutes depending on how large your macbook drive is.

Carbon copy cloner is not a good solution for transfering data between models. Some use different drivers and different builds of OSX. Using CCC in this situation may not work at all.

zub3qin · Apr 3, 2011

DaveOZ said:
You can use Migration assistant over WiFi. Read the link above.

or You can do a full Time Machine backup of you old MB using your new iOmega drive then use that to migrate your data and user accounts. Either way will work.

Will the Time Machine restore also bring over all your old apps to the new mac?
Or just the data files, media, documents, settings, etc.

87am · Apr 3, 2011

It will try. Read the link.

DaveOZ · Apr 3, 2011

zub3qin said:
Will the Time Machine restore also bring over all your old apps to the new mac?
Or just the data files, media, documents, settings, etc.

Your choice. It gives a check list to cover user accounts, apps and documents.

I agree the Cloning is a bad way to do this. It's fine for HDD upgrades of the same computer but you do not want old MB system files on your new MBAir.

TheXFactor · Apr 3, 2011

Since I don't anticipate anymore than I have on my current drive (around 35 gigs), is it advisable to run iTunes from an external drive or is it ok to load all my songs to the MB air drive?

zub3qin · Apr 3, 2011

TheXFactor said:
Since I don't anticipate anymore than I have on my current drive (around 35 gigs), is it advisable to run iTunes from an external drive or is it ok to load all my songs to the MB air drive?

If all you have on your Mac now is 35GB TOTAL of all media, files, apps, etc... it's a no brainer. Copy it all over to the 128GB MBA

stockscalper · Apr 4, 2011

I used Migration Assistant to move my stuff from MBP to Air. It got most everything, but you'll still need to dig around the preference file folder and transfer those with jump drive, unless you want to reregister and set up your software again. It moves some pref files, but skips others for some reason. But all in all it does a pretty good job of transferring files.

TheXFactor · Apr 4, 2011

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stockscalper said:
I used Migration Assistant to move my stuff from MBP to Air. It got most everything, but you'll still need to dig around the preference file folder and transfer those with jump drive, unless you want to reregister and set up your software again. It moves some pref files, but skips others for some reason. But all in all it does a pretty good job of transferring files.

Did you go wireless or cable?

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