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NEED ADVICE: Selling MB away from home, will time machine save me?

M

mrtravel123

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 9, 2007
198
2
OK, so I'm out of the country right now and someone is offering to buy my 9 month old MacBook for slightly less than what I paid for it (I bought it new, not refurb). Now, I could easily use this money & buy a faster/better refurb MB with a one year warranty. In many ways, this is very appealing to me. (Essentially I'd be getting a refurbished MB with a "new" 1 year warranty AND it'll be a little faster).

But...

1) I need to sell my MB within a week (before I leave). I can easily save my most current documents to a flash drive. But, will my time machine (sitting at home) save me from losing so much more? Well, I backed up my computer (with time machine) just before I left the USA. If I get a new MB, will everything (songs, 1Password information, Google Earth pins, Wi-Fi passwords, pre-loaded Apple software, Parallels w/ Windows XP installed, etc) all easily integrate (or fully restore) into my new MB?

2) Considering the above time-machine scenario, will my old iTunes PROGRAM be pulled from time machine OR will my new MB retain the "fresh" iTunes program that it was shipped with? Well, I think I'm having quirky experiences with my current iTunes... and I'd love for a new MB to solve this problem. I'm wondering if a "restore" will just bring back the old quirks? (I thought the problem was with my iPhone... but I've had this same syncing problem with 2 iPhones).

3) Is a 2.4 machine going to be noticeably faster than my 2.16 MB? Well, both would have 2GB memory.

Thank you for any thoughts on the above. Like I said, I'm needing to make this decision very soon. So, any thoughts would be helpful. Thanks!!
 
You should be able to boot up from your startup disks (that come with any Mac) and do a restore from your time machine drive. Fully restoring the last time machine backup on your new machine.
 
1) You'll be fine.

2) Use the new iTunes program, the same applies to any other dupes. The new Mac should enable you to migrate from the time machine backup easily though.
 
BUT can you restore a backup of a past MacBook to a new MacBook with different specs? i.e. difference in GHz and maybe bus speed. im not actually sure about this as ive never done it.

Time Machine is tied to your MAC (Media Access control) address. so after you have a logic board replacement you can continue backing up with Time Machine using this hint.

so i think after you get a new MacBook you could try using that hint as its essentially a new logic board. again ive never tried this though but a Time Machine restore from your previous MacBook might restore perfect on your new MacBook. also maybe you have to have the same machine name in Sharing preferences as the previous MacBook. this is shown in the next directory after Backups.backupdb on your Time Machine disk and in Sharing preferences. but this may not be necessary and if you never changed the name on your previous MacBook you probably dont have to do this.

1) after you get your new MacBook you can try a Time Machine restore from the install DVD in the utilities menu. this will restore EVERYTHING. if this works all the stuff you mentioned will be restored.

2) if you do a Time Machine restore from the install DVD everything on the new MacBook will be replaced including your "old" iTunes app which is probably a newer version that the one that will be on your refurb MacBook.

… i may be wrong about some of my assumptions and it may be easy as restoring your Time Machine backup without any modifications to the new MacBook.
 
The answer to #3 is no. You will only have a .24 increase in MHz and I don't believe you will ever see or notice that small of a difference. The graphics and power consumption use may be a little better. Just my 2 cents.
 
Thanks for all of the great input! I'll keep reading any other posts to see if I can get further thoughts to assist me as I decide. At this point I'm not seeing any reason to NOT sell my MB. Well, I'll be getting a "newer" machine that runs slightly faster. Maybe get a black one too.

It baffles me that Apple doesn't promote/market the (assumed or real) fact that Time Machine can assist people upgrading from one Mac to another. Well, isn't that a great selling point? You can basically say: "For those who worry about transferring files/customizations to their new computer... don't worry. Time Machine does it all." Well, and having the ability to opt-out of certain parts of the restore would be great. 1) Restore only data files; 2) Restore all programs; 3) Restore only Apple program modifications (custom settings in APPLE programs). Well, if it can be done... Apple could do it (within the context of their own programs especially).

Thanks again.
 
Apples selling point for Time Machine is you can restore a file if it was deleted or unwillingly modified and you can restore your all your data to a new hard disk if your hard disk dies. they didnt say anything about restoring to a new machine with different specs. this is why i had my assumptions… but i could be wrong as ive never don it so give it a go.

mrtravel123 said:
… It baffles me that Apple doesn't promote/market the (assumed or real) fact that Time Machine can assist people upgrading from one Mac to another. Well, isn't that a great selling point? …
Click to expand...

This is what Migration Assistant is for. what you could do if a complete restore from the install DVD doesnt work is use Migration Assistant to restore from a Time Machine backup in the setup. this will migrate all your files and third party apps but im not sure if it replaces or leaves the default Apple apps alone. wont it wont do is replace the whole system with your Time Machine backup like it does from the install DVD.
 
What you want to do is get the new MB and during the initial setup use Migration Assistant to migrate from your Time Machine backup to the new machine (it's one of the options). That way you'll get all your user-specific data and settings (and apps if you want) transferred but the system files etc. that came with the new machine will be untouched.

Just make sure you keep a copy of anything from your old machine that you want to keep and have added since you did your last Time Machine backup.
 
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