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Did you use the Migration Assistant to transfer files and settings to your new MBP?

noah82

noah82

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 16, 2008
785
170
San Diego, CA
Yup, the title pretty much sums it up. I am receiving my new MBP within the next 2 days, and I wanted to plan out my transition.

I currently have a 2.12GHz MBP and I have a few problems with it, the most annoying of them is that about 25% of the time the laptop does not go into standby when I close the lid. I want to try to avoid copying over problems, so I am debating whether I want to use the migration assistant to migrate to the new MBP.

I would like to know what most people who migrated from an older mac did, whether they used the migration assistant or started fresh. Also it would be helpful to know if using the migration assistant could potentially copy some of the problems that I have been having.

Thank you in advance for your comments!
 
Get your self a fire wire 800 cable, I used ethernet and it took just over 6 hours to transfer 166gb of data. Firewire less then 2 hours. Or use time machine back up if you can.
 
What I'm wondering is if the Tool moves EVERYTHING over, not just files. I have a lot of custom apps installed and configured (using Macports or compiled from source) and I'd love to not have to do that all again.
 
I belive it copies the items in the Applications folder and the preference files, though I'm not sure how it handles the items in the Application Support folder.
 
You have a choice, of user account, settings, application documents movies etc. At the beginning of the migration assistant.
 
Interesting note about ethernet vs. FW800

shoppy said:
Get your self a fire wire 800 cable, I used ethernet and it took just over 6 hours to transfer 166gb of data. Firewire less then 2 hours. Or use time machine back up if you can.
Click to expand...

This is an interesting point. I came here specifically to find out if folks had found the converse to be true. Were you using a fully rated CAT5e or CAT6 cable that could actually handle 1000mbps?
 
and another (annoying) thing

why can't osx time how long a transfer is gonna take? i've noticed it before when using finder to copy/move files ... where it keeps radically changing the estimate. having used the migration assistant twice in 2 weeks I can say it does the same thing ... it claimed "less than a minute" for at least 10 minutes. weaksauce.
 
I just got home and plugged in my HDD by usb caddy into my new 2.53 and it suck across 210GB data in under 2 hours.
 
Banacek said:
What I'm wondering is if the Tool moves EVERYTHING over, not just files. I have a lot of custom apps installed and configured (using Macports or compiled from source) and I'd love to not have to do that all again.
Click to expand...

I can't say that I've tried... but my best guess, is that anything like MacPorts will not be moved over by the Migration Assistent. Hope you've had better luck, but for me, if I breathe wrong MacPorts seems to go haywire.
 
I never used migration assistant before, or had any real idea of what to expect, but it moved my apps, settings and just about everything else to my new MBP in about 2hrs (about 85GB of data). However, the transfer did stall near the very end, and I had to eventually cancel the operation! But so far, it seems that everything was copied just fine. I did the transfer over ethernet.
 
well, you need a cable, which will cost you a few bucks... it will copy all the settings and what not over. so it's a bit easier. i do things the easier way -- copying everything onto a hard drive and then paste it in the new location. or sometimes over wi-fi.

i'm also moving my files from my macbook to a new macbook soon since i'm selling my current one to my friend. the problem is that i'm selling it before i'll be buying a new one.

theres also quite a few problems with itunes+iphone, and font book. i've isolated the problems to my current user. so i actually will not use migration assistant, but rather start a fresh user. just make sure you've got all the install files and... 1 tip for firefox:

just go to your user's library and copy-paste the user folder (I think under mozilla or firefox), and paste it in the same location in the new computer. there's also a folder somewhere (under system's library) for firefox with all the plugins and extensions. copy that too. this ensures that FF is ported to the new machine and it also works between different OSes. I ported my settings from windows after i switched :)
 
What about virtualization software and other OS's installed?

I have VMware Fusion with Windows Vista and Office installed in my MBP.

If I were to use the Migration Assistant to move all the files to my new MBP, do I lose these and reinstall Windows and Office?

I am asking this because there might be an issue with the registration key...

Thanks.
 
lakerfreak said:
What about virtualization software and other OS's installed?

I have VMware Fusion with Windows Vista and Office installed in my MBP.

If I were to use the Migration Assistant to move all the files to my new MBP, do I lose these and reinstall Windows and Office?

I am asking this because there might be an issue with the registration key...

Thanks.
Click to expand...

No. When we moved a fusion VM to a new computer (using MA or not), when you first start up, it will ask if it was copied or moved. Just choose move and you will not have to reactivate. If you choose copy, everything will move fine but windows will ask you to reactivate. Parallels does not do this and there is no issue moving a VM from one machine to another.

Note: Make sure your VM is shutdown and not left suspended. I originally had mine suspended and moving to a new machine with diff specs cause a windows blue screen that I could not repair. I might also edit your VM now if you are moving to a machine with less memory than you currently have allocated to the VM.
 
effer said:
I never used migration assistant before, or had any real idea of what to expect, but it moved my apps, settings and just about everything else to my new MBP in about 2hrs (about 85GB of data). However, the transfer did stall near the very end, and I had to eventually cancel the operation! But so far, it seems that everything was copied just fine. I did the transfer over ethernet.
Click to expand...

It stalls several times near the end, when it's moving the applications and then the application support files.
 
jasonrm said:
I can't say that I've tried... but my best guess, is that anything like MacPorts will not be moved over by the Migration Assistent. Hope you've had better luck, but for me, if I breathe wrong MacPorts seems to go haywire.
Click to expand...

I figured as much. I'm really not looking forward to having to reinstall everything and reconfiguring my work environment.

steve31 said:
I used Time Machine back up. Works great.:D
Click to expand...

Hmm, I didn't realize that Time Machine worked cross machine like that. I'll have to try that.
 
here is what i did thinking it is the most logical choice:

backed up music, movies, documents etc to an external hd then transfered them in the same places i had them on my new machine. Also just looked at my bookmarks and added them.

For the settings i went to each one individually and matched them up.

This way i got everything the same in my new machine as it was in the old. This entire process took around an hour or so.
 
bryan1884 said:
here is what i did thinking it is the most logical choice:

backed up music, movies, documents etc to an external hd then transfered them in the same places i had them on my new machine. Also just looked at my bookmarks and added them.

For the settings i went to each one individually and matched them up.

This way i got everything the same in my new machine as it was in the old. This entire process took around an hour or so.
Click to expand...

Why wouldn't you use a tool? For what you did it sounds like the migration tool would have done everything for you.
 
I used firewire to migrate everything from my iMac to my new MBP today and it worked great. Took about 90 minutes to transfer 150 gig. No problems at all. It copied all my apps and settings, but I did have to install several updates (itunes refused to open until I updated). Of course I had to authorize the MBP for my itunes account, but other settings like mail and contacts were all there.

Three important points...

1. I can't believe how well migration assistant worked.
2. I can't believe how much I like this MBP (multi touch trackpad is unbelievably cool!).
3. I can't believe it took me so long to dump Microsoft.
 
Banacek said:
Why wouldn't you use a tool? For what you did it sounds like the migration tool would have done everything for you.
Click to expand...

believe it or not this was the way to go, the only large amount of files was the music, pics, documents which was backed up very easy and overall took only 20 minutes to do which is very fast.

The thing that took longer was all my settings. I was going from tiger to leopard so i thought some things might vary so i wanted to make sure i went through them all and got them exactly how i wanted.
 
bryan1884 said:
believe it or not this was the way to go, the only large amount of files was the music, pics, documents which was backed up very easy and overall took only 20 minutes to do which is very fast.

The thing that took longer was all my settings. I was going from tiger to leopard so i thought some things might vary so i wanted to make sure i went through them all and got them exactly how i wanted.
Click to expand...

I guess I didn't think that the Migration Assistant would talk longer to copy music and pictures then a normal data transfer would. Good point. I still think I have to try the Time Capsule way though, because I doubt anything else will work with the custom environment I have on my Macbook.
 
Banacek said:
I guess I didn't think that the Migration Assistant would talk longer to copy music and pictures then a normal data transfer would. Good point. I still think I have to try the Time Capsule way though, because I doubt anything else will work with the custom environment I have on my Macbook.
Click to expand...

Yes the best way to do music is to put the itunes music folder on an external drive, it keeps all of your playlists as well. The actual upload from the external hd to my new mbp was about 2 minutes for around 8 gigs of music, the part that took the longest was the upload to the external hd form the old machine which took around 8 or so. Very fast.
 
shoppy said:
Get your self a fire wire 800 cable, I used ethernet and it took just over 6 hours to transfer 166gb of data. Firewire less then 2 hours. Or use time machine back up if you can.
Click to expand...

Ethernet is faster than fw800 (isn't it?). Sure you didn't have your network settings still using the Airport during your data transfer? Seems like a really long time to be dragging out a transfer via ethernet to me.
 
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