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Are there any cons to Migration Assistant?

3

31rhcp

macrumors member
Original poster
May 18, 2010
73
0
Hey forum,

I am currently running an almost Snow Leopard (10.6.8) on a 5 year old MacBook (mid 2007) and it's not nearly the machine it used to be :(. I am planning on buying a new MBP/MBA based on what is or isn't released at WWDC. I hope to be running Mountain Lion on this machine.

Could someone explain any possible cons of using Setup/Migration Assistant to transfer data to the new machine? I went through a customization phase on my current MB, so I have a lot of junk on it and I wouldn't be surprised if I have some sort of malware, since the performance is flat out terrible at times. Is there any chance that any of this may carry over to the new machine? If specific problems maybe troublesome, let me know and I will list a few problems I am having.

Do licenses for software such as MS Office get transferred with Migration Assistant?

I also have a time machine backup of my current MB.

Also, would you recommend waiting for ML, or buying just before ML since Apple offered Lion to users who had bought a Mac just before Lion came out?

Thanks and hopefully none of those questions are too noobish!
 
Last edited:
U

undies1993

macrumors 6502a
Mar 10, 2011
842
6
Ann Arbor, Michigan
I am in the same situation. Though, I have a Late 2006 Macbook Running Lion. It runs well but I am worried about any bugs it might have being copied over. Is migration assistant the best option?

I would think the new MBP would ship with ML.
 
Intell

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
You don't have malware on your machine. Migration Assistant can bring over lots of old, unused junk that does nothing but take up space. It will keep your software licenses. The best way to migrate your data would be to manually move your files. This way you can move only what you recently used and know what is being moved to your new system.
 
r0k

r0k

macrumors 68040
Mar 3, 2008
3,611
75
Detroit
I've used Migration Assistant a couple of times and was happy with the results. I've also used Carbon Copy Cloner (file copy mode not block copy mode) and was happy as well.

Moving to a new Mac is very easy over the network or via a firewire cable using Migration Assistant. I won't say the pros outweigh the cons because I don't know what kind of user you are but for my purposes the pros outweigh the cons.
 
U

undies1993

macrumors 6502a
Mar 10, 2011
842
6
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Intell said:
You don't have malware on your machine. Migration Assistant can bring over lots of old, unused junk that does nothing but take up space. It will keep your software licenses. The best way to migrate your data would be to manually move your files. This way you can move only what you recently used and know what is being moved to your new system.
Click to expand...

I keep my Mac clean, occasionally with the help of CCleaner.
Can Migration Assistant be used with different versions of OS?

----------
r0k said:
I've used Migration Assistant a couple of times and was happy with the results. I've also used Carbon Copy Cloner (file copy mode not block copy mode) and was happy as well.

Moving to a new Mac is very easy over the network or via a firewire cable using Migration Assistant. I won't say the pros outweigh the cons because I don't know what kind of user you are but for my purposes the pros outweigh the cons.
Click to expand...

Great. Thanks for the help. I have upgraded my HD before. I do not remember how I did it but I moved everything to an external drive, booted from the external drive, then copied everything to the new HD.
 
Intell

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
You can migrate up OS versions, but not down. Cleaning programs will keep some parts of it clean, tend to miss other parts. Migration Assistant will migrate the bits that they miss. Still the best option is to manually migrate your data.
 
U

undies1993

macrumors 6502a
Mar 10, 2011
842
6
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Intell said:
You can migrate up OS versions, but not down. Cleaning programs will keep some parts of it clean, tend to miss other parts. Migration Assistant will migrate the bits that they miss. Still the best option is to manually migrate your data.
Click to expand...

Won't need to migrate down, so that is fine.

If I use migration, and don't manually migrate, will the bits they miss slow down the MBP at all?
 
Intell

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
A network can be slow, but mine is fast. Target Disk Mode is when you connect two Macs together with a FireWire or Tunderbolt cable and make the one become an external hard drive.
 
U

undies1993

macrumors 6502a
Mar 10, 2011
842
6
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Intell said:
A network can be slow, but mine is fast. Target Disk Mode is when you connect two Macs together with a FireWire or Tunderbolt cable and make the one become an external hard drive.
Click to expand...

My 2006 MacBook does not have Thunderbolt so that can't happen, and if the new MBP does't have a FireWire port, that can't happen either.

Thanks for your knowledge.
 
B

barredfreak

macrumors 6502
Jan 9, 2012
285
0
When I was moving from my old MBP to my new one, I didn't use Migration Assistant at all. I just used an external HDD to manually transfer all my data. It's quicker and I know exactly what's being moved, which does help to save a ton of space.
 
S

snberk103

macrumors 603
Oct 22, 2007
5,503
91
An Island in the Salish Sea
undies1993 said:
My 2006 MacBook does not have Thunderbolt so that can't happen, and if the new MBP does't have a FireWire port, that can't happen either.

Thanks for your knowledge.
Click to expand...

I think you can connect them directly together with an ethernet cable. That creates a "network" that Migration Assistant can use.

I just used MA to move my Snow Leopard to Lion... internally. I have a Mac Pro, and just popped in a new HDD, installed Lion from the App Store, booted to the Lion HDD, and fired up MA. It migrated my stuff from the other SL internal HDD and it turns out - and it's fast migrating that way.

I haven't had a chance to really test it yet, so I don't know how well it worked in moving all of my licenses over... But for the meantime I can boot back and forth if needed, between Lion and SL.
 
E

espndeportes

macrumors newbie
Jun 9, 2007
26
0
How about transferring itunes and iphoto libraries with their playlists? Is that easy to do manually?

I'm getting a new imac and wanna keep it clean, just transfer my music, photos, documents, and one program (toast).

Would migration assistant work well?
 
satcomer

satcomer

Suspended
Feb 19, 2008
9,115
1,973
The Finger Lakes Region
I suggest you don't install the network settings. The TCP/IP stack has been upgraded to a newer version so just write down you current network settings and write them into the new install manually.
 
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