Time Machine between different operating systems?

[joewhite89]

I wanted to ask if Time Machine backups are accessible between different iterations of OS X. If, for example, I back up an old Mac running Mountain Lion, and buy a new MacBook Pro (which will ship with Mavericks), will I be able to access and transfer from the Mountain Lion Time Machine using the new Mavericks Mac?

Thanks in advance for any help anyone might be able to offer!

 

[Weaselboy]

I wanted to ask if Time Machine backups are accessible between different iterations of OS X. If, for example, I back up an old Mac running Mountain Lion, and buy a new MacBook Pro (which will ship with Mavericks), will I be able to access and transfer from the Mountain Lion Time Machine using the new Mavericks Mac?

Thanks in advance for any help anyone might be able to offer!

Yes you will... during the setup of the new machine you will be asked if you want to transfer data from an old machine. Just say yes and when prompted point to the Time Machine backup disk and it will bring everything in.

 

[joewhite89]

Yes you will... during the setup of the new machine you will be asked if you want to transfer data from an old machine. Just say yes and when prompted point to the Time Machine backup disk and it will bring everything in.

Thanks - would I also be able to set up the new Mac as "new," without doing an automated migration, and instead jump into Time Machine to hand-pick files I'd like to bring over?

 

[Weaselboy]

Thanks - would I also be able to set up the new Mac as "new," without doing an automated migration, and instead jump into Time Machine to hand-pick files I'd like to bring over?

Yes, you can do that. Or you can do the Migration Assistant route and just choose to import certain things. There is a screen that comes up where you can check off what you want. So you could import everything except say the Music and Picture folders if you wanted.