How to prepare for new MBA

If you can find one for a halfway decent price I'd suggest returning the hard drive you bought and picking up a Thunderbolt drive.

The speed is excellent and allows for externally stored files to be as quickly accessed as those on the internal drive.

Setting up Time Machine is as simple as plugging in the drive. The MBA will ask if you want to set it up and then it's done. If you dismiss the message, you can set it up later via Settings. Also, you may need to format the drive assuming it's pre-formatted for Windows.

For moving your iTunes library off your computer, see this article.

http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-10242259-285/how-to-move-an-itunes-library-to-an-external-drive/

I don't have a resource for doing this with iPhoto but hopefully another user does. Good luck, and you'll love the MBA!

No need to delete apps that come on it it will come with iLife and that's useful.

My suggestions if you have sensitive data.

-encrypt HD
-encrypt you backups
-Run Backup
-modify system settings to your liking
-install apps you want
-transfer any files
-Backup
-enjoy your computer.

To your 1:30 PM yesterday question - Yes, you may have more than one log in.

To your 9:30 AM today question, it should ship with ML.

dmw16 said:

If you can find one for a halfway decent price I'd suggest returning the hard drive you bought and picking up a Thunderbolt drive.

The speed is excellent and allows for externally stored files to be as quickly accessed as those on the internal drive.

Click to expand...

Actually, I bought the same drive as OP did. It was a steal at $99 for 3TB. If it really is the same, a (Backup Plus or GoFlex Drive), OP actually bought the perfect drive!

Why? Because you can get a Thunderbolt Adapter for it when you're willing to shell out the extra cash to get the extra speed and also daisy chain if you wish. The Thunderbolt adapter is about $150 on Amazon, but then you do have to get the Thunderbolt cable which is another $50. A little expensive, but they don't have to buy it immediately.

However, if you look at it this way, you're getting 3TB of Thunderbolt storage for $300. That's with an extra Thunderbolt port too if you ever wanted to expand.


Also, if they wanted to backup their 2006 drive first before getting the MBA then obviously the Thunderbolt wouldn't work on the 2006 machine. This way, they could also backup the 2006 machine, and then restore the files, etc to the new MBA. Then they could get the Thunderbolt Adapter/Cable in the future when they decided to.

Here is the link for the Thunderbolt Adapter(Assuming you bought the Seagate Backup Plus drive):

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Deskt...0&sr=8-5&keywords=thunderbolt+adapter+seagate

i-sidd said:

I read somehwere that you can also delete garage band as that frees up some space, but can't find the steps or teh trhead that discussed it.

Alos, is there a way to have two log in, one for my personal use and the other when other people are there using the MBA.

Click to expand...

To delete GarageBand, invoke Launchpad. While you're looking at your apps, press and hold the option key. Any apps that can be un-installed from here will show a little X while they jiggle, just like iOS! Click the X and delete the app, it can be re-downloaded later from the Mac App Store if you need it.

Have your guest users log into a guest account! When they're finished using your computer, anything that they've downloaded or done while in that account can be deleted upon logout, works great.

gatearray said:

To delete GarageBand, invoke Launchpad. While you're looking at your apps, press and hold the option key. Any apps that can be un-installed from here will show a little X while they jiggle, just like iOS! Click the X and delete the app, it can be re-downloaded later from the Mac App Store if you need it.

Have your guest users log into a guest account! When they're finished using your computer, anything that they've downloaded or done while in that account can be deleted upon logout, works great.

Click to expand...

Or you could just D/L app zapper and drop the the icon into the app and bam it is gone! Then just enjoy your new toy as I am with my new MBA that I picked up 5 days ago!