Cloning my old mbp to my new mbp

[blodger]

Hi,
New to the board and I have searched for an answer but couldn't find one, certainly not one I could understand. I will buy a new MBP retina when the new os comes already installed.
I run Parallels in order to comply with some work software.
Question:
Is there a simple way, for the uneducated, to clone the old to the new?
Will my Time machine back ups be accessible from the new machine?

Thanks

blodger

 

[GGJstudios]

Hi,
New to the board and I have searched for an answer but couldn't find one, certainly not one I could understand. I will buy a new MBP retina when the new os comes already installed.
I run Parallels in order to comply with some work software.
Question:
Is there a simple way, for the uneducated, to clone the old to the new?
Will my Time machine back ups be accessible from the new machine?

Thanks

blodger

Yes, you can access TM backups from the new machine but TM cannot make a bootable clone. Carbon Copy Cloner can make a bootable clone of your system.

 

[blodger]

Yes, you can access TM backups from the new machine but TM cannot make a bootable clone. Carbon Copy Cloner can make a bootable clone of your system.

Thanks GGJ I'll have a look at Copy Cloner.

blodger

 

[doh123]

You don't need any extra software...

When you turn on your new Mac it will run Migration Assistant, and it can set up your new machine from your Time Machine backup so it'll be just like your old machine.

 

[steve-p]

Yes, you can access TM backups from the new machine but TM cannot make a bootable clone. Carbon Copy Cloner can make a bootable clone of your system.

A bootable clone won't be bootable anyway though because the new MBP most likely uses a different OS X build to the old one. Migration Assistant is probably the way to go in this case.

 

[GGJstudios]

A bootable clone won't be bootable anyway though because the new MBP most likely uses a different OS X build to the old one. Migration Assistant is probably the way to go in this case.

Yes, it would still be bootable. You may need to run Software Update after booting in the new Mac, but it will work.

 

[steve-p]

Yes, it would still be bootable. You may need to run Software Update after booting in the new Mac, but it will work.

I went from a 2009 MBP to 2011 MBP last week and the CCC clone was not bootable.

 

[GGJstudios]

I went from a 2009 MBP to 2011 MBP last week and the CCC clone was not bootable.

Something was wrong with your specific situation. In the vast majority of cases, it works fine. That's how many have migrated from one Mac to another for years.

 

[steve-p]

Something was wrong with your specific situation. In the vast majority of cases, it works fine. That's how many have migrated from one Mac to another for years.

Maybe, but I found a few places on the Internet saying the same thing, and even some people on here. The consensus is that recent MBPs have used custom builds of Lion which will not work if you just do a full restore from a previous machine. I ended up using Migration Assistant to get the old data working on a running system on the new MBP, then I put the SSD into an external enclosure and used CCC to clone the new MBP onto the SSD. Then I put the SSD into the new MBP.