Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Best way to backup and transfer files to new 2012 iMac?

K

Kmad86

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 11, 2009
59
19
Just got my new 27" in today.

I have a 2.2Ghz i7 17" MBP that I have been using for just a few months. I have kept it very clutter free and just with the essentials that I use and all of my mail accounts are configured correctly. I also use Parallels desktop and have it configured to my liking. Sure, I could start this new iMac fresh but would really like if I could transfer my hard drive over to the new iMac as a carbon copy. I could use Carbon Copy Cloner, but is there any con to doing that?

Did it really matter that the original computer the OS was installed on has now changed?

I just ordered my SSD today so I have a few days to think this over. If there is no downside to a carbon copy image then that's the route I figure I will go.

Thanks!
 
H

Heresiarch

macrumors member
Jun 17, 2012
77
0
Netherlands
Same here. I would like to move the things in my MBA to the iMac. I know airdrop is extremely convenient to move things around, but can you still drag & drop apps like that?
 
Razorhog

Razorhog

macrumors 65816
Sep 16, 2006
1,148
116
Arkansas
I used Migration Assistant with a cat6 cable between my old iMac and new iMac. Worked great. When it's done, the new machine will be just like the old one - all programs, settings, etc. Not sure about parallels though. I know Migration assistant won't transfer a bootcamp partition, so it might not with parallels. There is probably a way to move a VM to a new computer though.
 
rkaufmann87

rkaufmann87

macrumors 68000
Dec 17, 2009
1,760
39
Folsom, CA
Kmad86 said:
Just got my new 27" in today.

I have a 2.2Ghz i7 17" MBP that I have been using for just a few months. I have kept it very clutter free and just with the essentials that I use and all of my mail accounts are configured correctly. I also use Parallels desktop and have it configured to my liking. Sure, I could start this new iMac fresh but would really like if I could transfer my hard drive over to the new iMac as a carbon copy. I could use Carbon Copy Cloner, but is there any con to doing that?

Did it really matter that the original computer the OS was installed on has now changed?

I just ordered my SSD today so I have a few days to think this over. If there is no downside to a carbon copy image then that's the route I figure I will go.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

The best method is to use an external HD and create a bootable clone of your old computer. You will need to use either SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner. You can re-use the EHD as a backup for either the new or old machine after migrating. Then when the new machine arrives when you turn it on for the first time it automatically starts Setup Assistant. Setup Assistant will prompt you to migrate from another Mac. Pondini does and awesome job of explaining this and how to use it in:

http://pondini.org/OSX/Setup.html

Read that and use it and your migration will be extremely easy!!!

The down side is no migration will migrate MS Windows so you will need to re-install it. Parallels will migrate fine but Windows will not!
 
K

Kmad86

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 11, 2009
59
19
rkaufmann87 said:
The best method is to use an external HD and create a bootable clone of your old computer. You will need to use either SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner. You can re-use the EHD as a backup for either the new or old machine after migrating. Then when the new machine arrives when you turn it on for the first time it automatically starts Setup Assistant. Setup Assistant will prompt you to migrate from another Mac. Pondini does and awesome job of explaining this and how to use it in:

http://pondini.org/OSX/Setup.html

Read that and use it and your migration will be extremely easy!!!

The down side is no migration will migrate MS Windows so you will need to re-install it. Parallels will migrate fine but Windows will not!
Click to expand...

Any suggestion on SuperDuper or CCC being better?
 
imjoee

imjoee

macrumors 6502
Jun 12, 2012
284
0
Razorhog said:
I used Migration Assistant with a cat6 cable between my old iMac and new iMac. Worked great. When it's done, the new machine will be just like the old one - all programs, settings, etc. Not sure about parallels though. I know Migration assistant won't transfer a bootcamp partition, so it might not with parallels. There is probably a way to move a VM to a new computer though.
Click to expand...

When transferring the data, does it give you an option to select specific items/documents/apps when you transfer the data? Because I have a multi account iMac and there's about 4 accounts, is there a way to just transfer my own specific account without transferring the entire hard drive?
 
Razorhog

Razorhog

macrumors 65816
Sep 16, 2006
1,148
116
Arkansas
imjoee said:
When transferring the data, does it give you an option to select specific items/documents/apps when you transfer the data? Because I have a multi account iMac and there's about 4 accounts, is there a way to just transfer my own specific account without transferring the entire hard drive?
Click to expand...

It gives the option to choose accounts, apps, etc. I'm not sure if you can transfer just one account. I'm about to do a migration, I'll check the options.
 
Razorhog

Razorhog

macrumors 65816
Sep 16, 2006
1,148
116
Arkansas
There is only one account to transfer on the mac i'm working on. However, it looked like you could choose a particular account.
 
T

torana355

macrumors 68040
Dec 8, 2009
3,609
2,676
Sydney, Australia
rkaufmann87 said:
The best method is to use an external HD and create a bootable clone of your old computer. You will need to use either SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner. You can re-use the EHD as a backup for either the new or old machine after migrating. Then when the new machine arrives when you turn it on for the first time it automatically starts Setup Assistant. Setup Assistant will prompt you to migrate from another Mac. Pondini does and awesome job of explaining this and how to use it in:

http://pondini.org/OSX/Setup.html

Read that and use it and your migration will be extremely easy!!!

The down side is no migration will migrate MS Windows so you will need to re-install it. Parallels will migrate fine but Windows will not!
Click to expand...

You cant do this, the new iMacs run a special version OF Mountain Lion!!! My old Mountain Lion bootable backup would not boot up. You need to use migration assistant or start fresh.
 
P

pjfla

macrumors newbie
Oct 19, 2008
28
0
I had this dilemma last night. I used (and would recommend) connecting each machine via ethernet cable and sharing from one machine to the other. Works MUCH faster than air drop / dropbox / wifi. I was amazed at how fast I moved nearly 2tb of data.
 
K

Kmad86

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 11, 2009
59
19
torana355 said:
You cant do this, the new iMacs run a special version OF Mountain Lion!!! My old Mountain Lion bootable backup would not boot up. You need to use migration assistant or start fresh.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it won't boot my backup :(
 
Icaras

Icaras

macrumors 603
Mar 18, 2008
6,344
3,383
Time Capsule/Time Machine backup.

About 3 clicks and after a few hours, and done.

Couldn't be easier.
 
M

mchoffa

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2008
832
52
Asheville, NC
I used migration assistant for the first time last night going from the Time Machine backup from my old 24" model to the new 27". Blown away by it. I left everything selected and to migrate ~400GB of data over it took just over 4 hours. Then it booted up and I logged in and had all my tabs open, the same apps opened back up, etc. as if I was using the same machine (except that it logged in in about 3 seconds instead of 30)

There were a couple small apps that required me to enter serial numbers again and reset a couple settings, and CS6 required me to activate, but other than that, no work on my part. Flawless and relatively quick.

This way worked best for me because I could still use the old machine while it was migrating.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom