Anyone new Mac Pro users use Time Machine to transfer files/settings?

[adr1974]

If so, just wondering how the experience went? I'd imagine it would be a fairly smooth migration, but just wondering if there were any unsuspecting kinks?

Thanks!

 

[aaronw1986]

If so, just wondering how the experience went? I'd imagine it would be a fairly smooth migration, but just wondering if there were any unsuspecting kinks?

Thanks!

Confused why you are saying Time Machine, as that is for backup.

 

[adr1974]

Sorry -- I should have been clearer. With Time Machine, you can still drag and drop individual files which are being backed up -- so I was basically wondering if any new Mac Pro users who had been using Time Machine with other Macs used their existing Time Machine backup files to move their contacts, calendars, iPhoto library, iMovie library, Mail settings etc over to the new Mac, and if the process was as painless and simple as I imagine it would be.

 

[valdore]

I did a total system restore from Time Machine on my Mac Pro this week. It went remarkably well. The only problem was maybe three or four icons in my dock for programs downloaded from the Internet were replaced with question marks and I had to reinstall them. Besides that it was great.

 

[adr1974]

Good to know -- thanks!

 

[kittiyut]

I used TM to restore my MBP. Worked VERY WELL. However, I had to re-enter the license key for Aperture and a few other programs. And like valdore, I had to change some of my icons.

 

[adr1974]

Cool -- thanks. So bottom line is that it works as advertised and the surprises, if any, should be minimal.

 

[kittiyut]

Cool -- thanks. So bottom line is that it works as advertised and the surprises, if any, should be minimal.

You are correct. Actually, I was more than satisfied with its performance.
It is now so easy to do a complete clean install and use TM - very little down time.

 

[DerekS]

Here is my experience, restoring a TM backup from my old Quad to new Octo Mac Pro. I reasoned that it was worth a shot to try the TM restore, as I could always reinstall manually if I was unhappy.

• Developer tools were not restored, so the XCode icon on my doc had a question mark. Reinstalling XCode Tools resolved this.
• For some reason the picture for the second account (my wifes) on the machine was missing.
• iTunes would not open my library until I ran software update. It also needed to be authorized. This makes sense.
• QuickBooks needed to be pointed to my company file and otherwise had no ill effects. Quicken, on the other hand, worked fine.
• SlingPlayer had me enter my email to register the program, otherwise worked fine and retained the configuration settings to my Slingbox.
• I had a Subversion source control repository set up. I noticed that the actual repository database files came over, but none of the configuration to make it work had. Because this was something I had to do in the nether regions of the filesystem from a unix prompt, I had anticipated this and had a backup of the repository which was easily restored.
• After restoring from a Time Machine backup, then initiating one, I was annoyed to note that it made a new, second backup (which took forever as you'd expect.) I would have thought it would resume off the old one, but I guess that was a design decision.
• AppleTV needed to be reconfigured to point to the new machine and everything had to be re-synced.

While this sounds like a lot of stuff, it took very little time to get everything going. The main irritant was the Time Machine loss of history and time to rebuild it. I am surprised and pleased at how well it went.

 

[krye]

True, you can migrate your old Time Machine backup to a new machine using the Leopard install disk. This is handy for someone who has just bought a new machine and wants it to pick up where the old machine left off.

However, it's my understanding that even if you restore a new machine from Time Machine all the old backups are no longer accessible on the external drive because the Time Machine database is machine-specific.

Here is a way around it. Look.....

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080128003716101

 

[adr1974]

That's a great find, Kyre. Question -- I see from the article that Time Machine, when used on a new machine, will definitely not resume where it left off...but I couldn't tell if it's necessarily the case that new machines will not be able to access (and by that I mean manually open a backup to access files) the existing backup files.

Anyone have any experience with this? I don't plan on doing a total system restore, but would like to be able to access my contacts, calendars, iPhoto library, iMovie library, mail settings, etc.

Thanks!