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HighEndMac

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 30, 2011
229
1
I just got my rMBP and I am migrating only my picture, music and videos (Almost 200GB) and its taking 60 hours!!! 3 DAYS, REALLY!! I am doing it via WiFi and I know that’s slow but come on!

What’s the best way to do this? I just want my iTunes files, that’s it!

I’m also worried about stopping it mid-migration. I wonder if it does harm to my new computer…. (& I stopped it once at the beginning because of the 63 hour estimate, so to do it twice and having the second time being stopped even further in the migration. Than can’t be good, can it?

Any suggestions? or It is what it is… FML , it’s like torture for the 1%ers….
:p
 
Can't you connect the computers with a ethernet cord to transfer the data. I'm pretty sure that's what I did when i got my new computer and it went fairly fast
 
60 hours to copy 200GB is about 1MB/s speed. Which is indeed slow, but over wifi not totally unthinkable, as it does more than just copy continuous stream of data. If you can do it over some kind of wired connection, it would take a lot less. I was restoring 400GB of data from a very slow USB drive and it took about 3 hours.
 
Moving hundreds of gigabytes over WiFi probably isn't a good idea.

If you can get a hold of a firewire cable, put the old computer into Target Disk mode (can do this via Startup Disk control panel). Old machine's disk will show up as an external drive, and you can do a very quick transfer that way.

Wired ethernet would be a 2nd way to go, but your rMBP doesn't have a builtin wired port, so you'd need a USB or TB -> ethernet adapter.
 
Can't you connect the computers with a ethernet cord to transfer the data. I'm pretty sure that's what I did when i got my new computer and it went fairly fast

This was my original plan, however i have not received my TB to Ethernet adapter yet so....

How much faster would it be? & it never gave me a connection option using the Migration Assistant....

& would it damage the computer to stop a migration half way through?
 
WiFi...200GB. That's going to take a while to do, nothing weird about it. Also if you need to do it this way, just do three separate transfers of music, movies and photos (also, only one, maybe two of those should live in iTunes)
 
This was my original plan, however i have not received my TB to Ethernet adapter yet so....

How much faster would it be? & it never gave me a connection option using the Migration Assistant....

& would it damage the computer to stop a migration half way through?

Did you order the TB > Ethernet w/ the rMBP? - If you did, it's in the box.

It will not damage the computer, just make sure you delete whatever was partially transferred.
 
I think at this point you're either committed to letting the wireless Migration Assistant run it's course, or stopping it, deleting the new account, and going with a faster connection.

If it were mine I'd probably stop it and start from scratch. A 60 hour transfer might be kinda shaky. Why risk it?

A 250 GB's worth of accounts transferred via ethernet from my Time Capsule backup to my new rMBP took around 1.5 hours. Zero problems other than the bother of re-entering product ids and misc passwords.

Best of luck with it. Congrats on the new Mac. ;)

:apple:

----------

Did you order the TB > Ethernet w/ the rMBP? - If you did, it's in the box.

Yeah, I initially thought my connector was missing from the order until I happened to open the little black box...the one with the Apple stickers and cleaning cloth. It was under all that stuff.

No more boot discs. Their day is done. ;)

:apple:
 
Did you order the TB > Ethernet w/ the rMBP? - If you did, it's in the box.

It will not damage the computer, just make sure you delete whatever was partially transferred.

No i ordered it right after...

How do i delete whatever was partially transferred? I literally only selected to transfer pics, video, and music, thats it.

Also how do i make the decision to use Ethernet cable vs wireless?
 
No i ordered it right after...

How do i delete whatever was partially transferred? I literally only selected to transfer pics, video, and music, thats it.

Also how do i make the decision to use Ethernet cable vs wireless?

Are you still in migration assistant or are you fully booted into Lion? (As in you can see your desktop/dock and everything)
 
Are you still in migration assistant or are you fully booted into Lion? (As in you can see your desktop/dock and everything)

The Migration Assistant is all that shows on the screen of my rMBP, but if i hit one of the buttons (cant remember what its called) i can see my dock and access apps, however they run super slow.

On my 2008 MBP i can see the dock and apps also run very slow.

I also think my TB adapter came today, how can i choose to use that over wireless, i did not see the option.
 
The Migration Assistant is all that shows on the screen of my rMBP, but if i hit one of the buttons (cant remember what its called) i can see my dock and access apps, however they run super slow.

On my 2008 MBP i can see the dock and apps also run very slow.

I also think my TB adapter came today, how can i choose to use that over wireless, i did not see the option.

I would reformat the drive and reinstall Lion from your recovery partition. Hold option on boot. Use dick utility to format. Then reinstall Lion from scratch. When that's finished, you can go through the set up process again. Connect both the rMBP and old MacBook to your wired network. Turn off wireless on both machines to force them to use the wired connection. Use migration assistant to transfer the data.

This way you have a clean slate and can move the data properly. Unless you know where migration assistant moved things, you may not be able to do the most effective job at cleanup. That's why if I were in your position, I would reformat and reinstall.

Otherwise, you could find the transferred data, delete the data and start up migration assistant again - This time with wifi turned off on both MacBooks.
 
Easily: Ethernet is faster.

What's the source computer? Is it a Mac? What make/model/year?

2008 MBP -

So i stopped the migration and restored the computer to the original settings, well i think.

I will do the Ethernet connection this time. FML $4K laptop and there is not an easier faster way to do this....
 
2008 MBP -

So i stopped the migration and restored the computer to the original settings, well i think.

I will do the Ethernet connection this time. FML $4K laptop and there is not an easier faster way to do this....

Don't blame the computer. Just the nature of the game.
 
2008 MBP -

So i stopped the migration and restored the computer to the original settings, well i think.

I will do the Ethernet connection this time. FML $4K laptop and there is not an easier faster way to do this....

You know you can transfer it to an external hdd and then transfer that to the new machine, right? Just because you purchased a $4000 machine doesn't mean you can get around data transfer rate limitations.
 
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