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Best way to migrate to new MBP

C

CrzyCanuck72

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 10, 2003
913
0
Here's the situation: I have a MacBook that I'm planning on replacing with a MBP next week. My MacBook has a 500GB drive that I'm planning on swapping to the MBP. It's very important that I retain all my files and settings upon moving to the MBP, but at the same time, my MacBook is 3.5 years old and has gone through several hard-drive and OS upgrades, so it has a ton of accumulated files, caches, logs etc. that, while probably harmless, I don't necessarily want on the new MBP.

What is the best way to migrate my current drive to the new MBP, retaining all my files and settings, while still doing a bit of "house cleaning" to ensure that the MBP is performing optimally and doesn't have years worth of system crap I don't need anymore?

I was planning on making a full Time Machine backup, moving the 500GB drive to the MBP, reinstalling 10.6, and migrating everything over from Time Machine - is that the best way?

TIA
 
I know about Migration Assistant - I've used it several times. Also, it's not even applicable in this situation because I'm using the same harddrive in both computers.

My concern isn't with getting the files over, it's with stripping down the OS of several years worth of accumulated junk. I don't want to move to a new computer just to be bogged down by the same outdated caches, logs, etc. that were on the old computer. Is there a way to accomplish that, or am I even overthinking their impact on the system?
 
I'm not sure the new MBP will boot up from your 500 GB HD as it is, even if it's 10.6, because it was installed to work with a different computer.

I would first use migration assistant to get all your files and settings to the new HD in the MBP. Test if that's OK, then I would do a Time Machine backup of that. Then put the 500GB HD in the new MBP, reformat and reinstall OS and get the files from the Time Machine backup.
 
molala said:
I'm not sure the new MBP will boot up from your 500 GB HD as it is, even if it's 10.6, because it was installed to work with a different computer.

I would first use migration assistant to get all your files and settings to the new HD in the MBP. Test if that's OK, then I would do a Time Machine backup of that. Then put the 500GB HD in the new MBP, reformat and reinstall OS and get the files from the Time Machine backup.
Click to expand...
I can't do this because the MBP only comes with a 250GB drive, and I have more than that on my 500GB drive.

I'm not planning on booting the MBP from the 500GB drive - I'm going to do a TM backup of the old computer, install the 500GB drive in the MBP, immediately boot from the OS X install disk and reformat the 500GB drive and reinstall OS X on it, then migrate from the TM backup.
 
for starters back up everything on a external hardrive, then delete all the bulky stuff you don't want on your new computer, then use the migration assistant under the utilities folder in your applications.

you cannot use a program to eliminate half of your stuff and clean up everything, but if you want to keep it you should have an external drive to keep it on as a neutral disk, and you should have an external drive for time machine backups anyway so its a win win
 
I've swaped hard drives from mbp to a dif mbp. I just make sure the older hard drive has snow leopard installed before putting it in the newer mbp. i've never had a problem.
 
TopHatPlus said:
for starters back up everything on a external hardrive, then delete all the bulky stuff you don't want on your new computer, then use the migration assistant under the utilities folder in your applications.

you cannot use a program to eliminate half of your stuff and clean up everything, but if you want to keep it you should have an external drive to keep it on as a neutral disk, and you should have an external drive for time machine backups anyway so its a win win
Click to expand...
I have a 1TB external drive, so everything from my old computer will be fully backed up. I just want to make sure that when I migrate the backup over to the new computer I'm not also taking with it years worth of accumulated e-junk that will bog down my new computer. Is that even a legitimate concern? Should I just let TM do its thing and not worry about it?
 
TopHatPlus said:
for starters back up everything on a external hardrive, then delete all the bulky stuff you don't want on your new computer, then use the migration assistant under the utilities folder in your applications.

you cannot use a program to eliminate half of your stuff and clean up everything, but if you want to keep it you should have an external drive to keep it on as a neutral disk, and you should have an external drive for time machine backups anyway so its a win win
Click to expand...

i got it. he is gonna make a backup of his older 500gb HD. then he will swap hard drives reformat the 500gb and install new os x. then use migration assistant to get all the stuff of the backup he made from the older mbp
i don't see any problems with that.
 
frunkis54 said:
I've swaped hard drives from mbp to a dif mbp. I just make sure the older hard drive has snow leopard installed before putting it in the newer mbp. i've never had a problem.
Click to expand...

So you could take a hard drive in a 13" mbp and put it into a new 15" i7 mbp and it will run fine? everything just like it was on the old 13" mbp? I've only done time machine restores or migration assistant transfers before, but now that I have a 1tb wd blue, I'd like to just open up the new one and install the drive.
 
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