Can I Clone My Current Harddrive/OS onto a New Mac?

[psound]

I have a first gen. intel iMac that has served me well for audio production. I'd like to grab a new Mac but am worried whether I'll be able to clone/transfer my old OS (10.4.11) and all my data over to the new Mac. I would use SuperDuper to accomplish this.

Will this in anyway compromise my new system?

I have searched here and elsewhere and haven't found a definitive answer. Some say yes and some no.

I've spent years getting my system to this point and don't want the hassle of upgrading everything.

 

[r.j.s]

Tiger will not have drivers for a new Mac, so you may end up breaking stuff.

I'd just use Migration Assistant to copy everything.

 

[spinnerlys]

It might work, but the new Mac will not start using the old Mac OS X version.

Better is to use the Migration Assistant to copy all your data including the applications to your new Mac.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3322

 

[flopticalcube]

No. Macs can usually only run OSs that are released at the same time or newer.

 

[Hmac]

A SuperDuper clone is a bootable clone, so yes, you ought to be able to do that just fine. My approach would be to put the clone on an attached external hard drive, boot up the new machine, and use Migration Assistant.

Alternatively, you could boot from your install disk, use Disk Utilities to reformat your main drive and then restore the Super Duper clone on the other drive to your main drive.

Now, having said that, I have to disclaim that that's how it would work under Leopard or Snow Leopard. I'm not at all sure it will work under Tiger.

 

[psound]

Thanks for the replies.

Seems to be a mixed bag again. I know it can be copied over easily enough, just want to make sure it isn't going to damage the computer in any way or behave bizarrely because the firmware (or other internal computer things I no little about) is in conflict with an old OS.