When I receive my new Mac this week I want to keep it as clean as possible. My old Mac is a 2007 model. All I really want from this old Mac is Aperture, Microsoft Office and iWork. I know MA will move all my Apps. Is there another way to safely move just these? Can I move them to an external hard drive and then move them to the new Mac? This way I would not have to use MA at all. I know others have been asking similar questions.
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Can I Migrate just my Apps?
- Thread starter dbalone
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I'm interested in an answer to this too. Would be nice to migrate just my steam library, saving me from redownloading GBs of games.
It depends completely on the Applications, some are standalone Applications while others install supprting files anywhere on the disk.
Example:
Adobe, if you just move over the Applications it wil not work since there are files in /Library/Application Support and fonts amongst others.
Also, if you only move the Application all preferences will be reset because those preferences are in your ~/Home/Libarary/Preferences
Apple applications most of the time also have supporting files and the best way is to, or install completely new, or use TimeMachine but then it is not clean.
When I set up my 27" iMac a few days ago, I migrated everything except my apps using Migration Assistant and a hard drive clone created with SuperDuper!. For most of my apps I just downloaded the latest versions and installed them - in many cases, I didn't even have to re-enter serial numbers because they had apparently been stored in files that had already been migrated. Re-installing apps that I purchased through the App Store was also easy.
Re-installing two Apple apps - Aperture and iWork - was more of a pain, since I hadn't bought either through the App Store. For Aperture, I think I just copied the application file over and entered my serial number. (Actually two serial numbers - the original and the latest upgrade.) For iWork, I found my original DVD, made a disk image on another Mac, copied that over to the new computer, and installed that way. IMO, it should be possible to re-install any registered Apple app through the App Store, even if you didn't buy it there.
One other bit of advice: Before I started, I created an Excel spreadsheet of all my apps and their serial numbers, along with any notes (such as apps that required registration files to run). I also eliminated many programs that I'd been keeping around but never used, including PowerPC and even Classic apps.
All-in-all, my migration was a bit more painful than prior ones in which I copied everything, but I ended up with a cleaner install and was done by the next day.
Re-installing two Apple apps - Aperture and iWork - was more of a pain, since I hadn't bought either through the App Store. For Aperture, I think I just copied the application file over and entered my serial number. (Actually two serial numbers - the original and the latest upgrade.) For iWork, I found my original DVD, made a disk image on another Mac, copied that over to the new computer, and installed that way. IMO, it should be possible to re-install any registered Apple app through the App Store, even if you didn't buy it there.
One other bit of advice: Before I started, I created an Excel spreadsheet of all my apps and their serial numbers, along with any notes (such as apps that required registration files to run). I also eliminated many programs that I'd been keeping around but never used, including PowerPC and even Classic apps.
All-in-all, my migration was a bit more painful than prior ones in which I copied everything, but I ended up with a cleaner install and was done by the next day.
Can you just rip the DVD as a dmg file now? Then you could just mount the dmg and install from there on the new iMac
You can download MS Office for Mac and then enter your product key. If you have a license for only one computer, then you need to make sure that you remove it from your previous computer as well.
https://www.microsoft.com/mac/trial
Or you can use your old iMac to create an image of your MS Office install disk, copy it across to your new iMac, install it and enter your product key once it's done.
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You can indeed using Disk Utility
I can't find my MS Office 2011 install disk right now so I can't confirm this, but it might also be possible.
Yes, good ideas. I just found my old disc too. It is 2008 version. I do still use Word everyone in a while. Looks like I may have one extra unused license too.
This may all work out. Wanted to start fresh with this new iMac. I even found old Sherlock files on the one I have now.
This may all work out. Wanted to start fresh with this new iMac. I even found old Sherlock files on the one I have now.
It depends on what version of OS X he has on the 2007 iMac. I can't remember exactly which version included this feature.
"MacOS is not like Windows, you don't need clean setup. Cloning or using time machine is just fine."
Good question in here - On my new iMac I am going to use the same Time Machine Drive. Just gonna plug it back in once I have my new iMac up. Will I be able to go to a previous back up and bring Apps back?
Good question in here - On my new iMac I am going to use the same Time Machine Drive. Just gonna plug it back in once I have my new iMac up. Will I be able to go to a previous back up and bring Apps back?
What version of OS X are you running on the old iMac? Depending on that answer, you can either do a restore from TM or run migration assistant to copy stuff like apps to your new Mac .
I'm pretty sure last time I used migration assistant it had checkboxes which allowed you to only choose applications and uncheck everything else.
Ideally you want to do it this way instead of just copying them over as many applications rely on settings and library files and god knows what else that migration assistant will hopefully take care of for you.
Ideally you want to do it this way instead of just copying them over as many applications rely on settings and library files and god knows what else that migration assistant will hopefully take care of for you.
"When I receive my new Mac this week I want to keep it as clean as possible. My old Mac is a 2007 model. All I really want from this old Mac is Aperture, Microsoft Office and iWork. I know MA will move all my Apps. Is there another way to safely move just these? Can I move them to an external hard drive and then move them to the new Mac? This way I would not have to use MA at all."
If those three apps are absolutely, positively the ONLY "old" things you want to migrate over from the old Mac to the new one, perhaps the best way to do it (presuming you still have the original installers) is to re-install "from scratch".
Only problem I can foresee is if they are on DVD and you don't have an external DVD reader. However, if you have a USB flashdrive (or any kind of USB-based external drive), you -might- be able to create disk images of the DVD's, then put the disk images on your flashdrive, then mount the images on the new Mac and install that way.
You won't be bringing over your old home folder data? There's a way to "manually copy" home folder data, withOUT migrating the entire folder, too.
If those three apps are absolutely, positively the ONLY "old" things you want to migrate over from the old Mac to the new one, perhaps the best way to do it (presuming you still have the original installers) is to re-install "from scratch".
Only problem I can foresee is if they are on DVD and you don't have an external DVD reader. However, if you have a USB flashdrive (or any kind of USB-based external drive), you -might- be able to create disk images of the DVD's, then put the disk images on your flashdrive, then mount the images on the new Mac and install that way.
You won't be bringing over your old home folder data? There's a way to "manually copy" home folder data, withOUT migrating the entire folder, too.
Good info here today -
I think I have it all figured out. Yes, when I say I want to start clean I want to start over clean. There is nothing on the old computer that I cannot go back and get one at a time if I have too.
One more question I want to make 100% certain of. I can copy my iTunes and iPhoto folders to an external drive and then from there put them on the new iMac. Correct?
I think I have it all figured out. Yes, when I say I want to start clean I want to start over clean. There is nothing on the old computer that I cannot go back and get one at a time if I have too.
One more question I want to make 100% certain of. I can copy my iTunes and iPhoto folders to an external drive and then from there put them on the new iMac. Correct?
Yes, you can just copy your iTunes folder. I am sure somebody can confirm iPhoto. I don't use it, but I do know it depends on how you're using the iPhoto library features and I don't remember if it tries to store the library in ~/Library or in ~/Pictures
Then again, I see that Aperture stores its photo library in ~/Pictures so I see no reason why iPhoto would be different.