How did you set it up?

SOLLERBOY said:

It's been a while since I got my last last iMac (2009). back then I only had 200GB or so of data so just copied the data off my 2007 imac and moved it manually.

Now, I'm expecting my 2012 and have nearly 1TB to move. I've cleaned it up as much as I can but I know I have some stuff scattered from apps I've deleted.

What I want to know is how you set your new imac up. Did you restore from Time Machine or Use Migration Assistant? how long do each take?

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I decided to start from scratch, I copied all the data files from my 09 27inch and installed all my programs over again. I wanted to do that because I had a lot of programs I didn't use anymore on my old one, so it was easier that way instead of the cleanup.

TeeZee1000 said:

I decided to start from scratch, I copied all the data files from my 09 27inch and installed all my programs over again. I wanted to do that because I had a lot of programs I didn't use anymore on my old one, so it was easier that way instead of the cleanup.

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Would that be the same idea as some folks do with their iPhones when they upgrade? When I got the iPhone 5, I restored from backup of my 4, and I had 15GB of "Other" data, so I set up as a new phone.

I'm thinking of doing the same thing when I upgrade from my Mid-2007 iMac. But is there really any benefit of doing it? Would it really save that much space / performance?

palmerc2 said:

Would that be the same idea as some folks do with their iPhones when they upgrade? When I got the iPhone 5, I restored from backup of my 4, and I had 15GB of "Other" data, so I set up as a new phone.

I'm thinking of doing the same thing when I upgrade from my Mid-2007 iMac. But is there really any benefit of doing it? Would it really save that much space / performance?

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not sure about space, but definitely performance plus I wanted to give my fusion drive a fresh start

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SOLLERBOY said:

That is what I'm thinking of doing. There's just a lot to do, deactivate iTunes, CS5, etc.

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thats true, i started prepping my system for it last week, ex:making sure I had access to all the serial #'s, websites or .dmg install files were accessible from my thunderbolt/firewire connections. I was able to get up and running in a few hours

TeeZee1000 said:

I decided to start from scratch, I copied all the data files from my 09 27inch and installed all my programs over again. I wanted to do that because I had a lot of programs I didn't use anymore on my old one, so it was easier that way instead of the cleanup.

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Same here. Not just for the old apps but my old iMac was Leopard, Snow Leopard, Lion, all upgrades. So I'm sure there was junk somewhere. Moving data and reinstalling apps seemed like the way to go.

My plan was to setup my iMac up from scratch but in the end I just used the migration assistant and glad I did. It has just saved so much messing about with Apps, Passwords and registrations. I have a 3Tb Fusion Drive so not really bothered about saving space and my 09 iMac was running fine anyway.

Probably would have been quicker doing a time machine restore, as choosing Migration Assistant over Ethernet was a lot slower than when I restored my Hard drive, which was replaced on my iMac recently.

I used migration assistant. Only had 340GB to move from my Mini, and it took 7 hours. In retrospect, it probably would have went faster to restore from my external USB 3.0 drive with my time machine backup on it; because it only took about 3 hours to set up a new time machine backup.

TeeZee1000 said:

not sure about space, but definitely performance plus I wanted to give my fusion drive a fresh start

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thats true, i started prepping my system for it last week, ex:making sure I had access to all the serial #'s, websites or .dmg install files were accessible from my thunderbolt/firewire connections. I was able to get up and running in a few hours

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I wish it only took me that long, havent even moved my iMac into the room I want it in and had it a few days. I'm on my windows machine now sorting through tons of photos and music. It sucks but going to be all worth it.

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To be honest, I'm not sure if I should clean setup my new iMac or restore it from a TM backup of my MBA (which I sold to finance the new iMac lol ), which ran Lion and then ML. The thing is, there wasn't a lot of junk installed on my MBA. I got it in July this year, it ran Lion for two weeks, before I upgraded it to ML. What do you guys think? Also, if I decide to manually setup my new iMac, could I just copy over my documents, photos, etc., from the TM backup? I wouldn't mind reinstalling my apps, as there weren't many installed and too many license keys to remember.

MagicThief83 said:

To be honest, I'm not sure if I should clean setup my new iMac or restore it from a TM backup of my MBA (which I sold to finance the new iMac lol ), which ran Lion and then ML. The thing is, there wasn't a lot of junk installed on my MBA. I got it in July this year, it ran Lion for two weeks, before I upgraded it to ML. What do you guys think? Also, if I decide to manually setup my new iMac, could I just copy over my documents, photos, etc., from the TM backup? I wouldn't mind reinstalling my apps, as there weren't many installed and too many license keys to remember.

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From what you say, I would definitely choose the Time Machine backup. Migration Assistant took me about 4 hours for about 200GB over Ethernet. It took me a similar time to do a 600GB restore from a time machine backup when I had my hard drive replaced a month ago.

I used migration assistant from a backup of my rMBP through a USB 3.0 external HD. Couldn't be bothered by spending my entire day installing applications and waiting for things to download. In addition, since I used CCC, all of my data and settings became readily available as if I was on my rMBP. The only issues I experienced was several invalid serial numbers from Adobe CS6 Master Collection, Final Draft 8, Little Snitch, and smaller sized windows. However, I might just install everything from scratch once I receive my replacement 27" iMac (My current one has yellow tints on my middle-lower half of the screen, as well as a "Bo" engraved mark behind the front panel of the display).