Doppleganger, Migration Assistant, or Manual Labour?

[LCPepper]

My shiny Retina MacBook Pro (or MacBook Pro with Retina Display as we're meant to call it now), is on it's way over from China at the moment (thanks to a 16GB RAM BTO).
I wanted to get opinions on how to move my data across.

I have a Mid 2012 cMBP, and three options (using my surprisingly short £25 Thunderbolt Cable):

1- Migration Assistant

2- Full on clone

3- Completely fresh, and copy the data over manually

Now, I am all for a fresh install, nothing like a good old scrub to make things run nicely. But, would Migration Assistant-esque copying also emulate this? I just don't want all my collection of hoarded data equivalent to crap coming over...

What about the clone? Ignoring the crud, would there be issues, in terms of drivers etc? Though, looking at kexts it seems that OS X just carts round all the drivers to everything all the time... But would the change be a confusion to OS X? I do have two hard drives in this MBP, so I'd have to go through and manually copy over the iTunes, DropBox folders etc... and relink them manually anyway.

I just wanted to see what other's think, and have done. This is the first time I have gone from one Mac/ computer to Mac, having decided to start computing completely afresh when I switched from the dark side of a £350 Compaq-wintel gargoyle of a laptop.

Decisions, decisions.

 

[maflynn]

When I got my rMBP (I have the 2012 model), I opted for a clean install, and I avoided using the migration assistant. I prefer setting up my laptops as new, takes a bit more work, but I think it avoids pulling the cruft that accumulates as time goes on.

 

[MCAsan]

Congrats on the new machine!!!! I agree with the fresh install.

Something that might make a manual migration easier......have your email client use IMAP, not POP3, towards the email server. That way you do not have to copy terror bytes of emails between machines. We have our own website so we can use IMAP with as much space on the server as needed for our emails. I have email folders that go back 2001 on that server (not on my rMBP). You never know when you may need to dig up what something you were told or what you said.

If for some reason your are using POP3 email protocol, consider moving to IMAP before migrating to the new rMBP.

 

[mediotanque]

Please help

Hi all, I have another question related to the topic.
Should I copy the "iTunes" folder into my new rMBP if I go for a manual install?
I want to keep all my albums artwork, loosing them is definitely not an option.

 

[LCPepper]

When I got my rMBP (I have the 2012 model), I opted for a clean install, and I avoided using the migration assistant. I prefer setting up my laptops as new, takes a bit more work, but I think it avoids pulling the cruft that accumulates as time goes on.

Yeah, that's my first instinct... I just wondered whether or not that was something left over from my Windows days, and if I didn't need to be so cautious going from one Mac to another. That said, it's supposedly being delivered on Monday and I have a couple of free days! Spend some quality time with the new dear! Haha.

Congrats on the new machine!!!! I agree with the fresh install.

Something that might make a manual migration easier......have your email client use IMAP, not POP3, towards the email server. That way you do not have to copy terror bytes of emails between machines. We have our own website so we can use IMAP with as much space on the server as needed for our emails. I have email folders that go back 2001 on that server (not on my rMBP). You never know when you may need to dig up what something you were told or what you said.

If for some reason your are using POP3 email protocol, consider moving to IMAP before migrating to the new rMBP.

That's a really valid point, and a great suggestion for anybody!

Though I have been using IMAP for a long time now, makes things so much easier, regarding not having to mark things read across several devices, same for deletion!
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I am leaning towards doing a Fresh Install!

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Hi all, I have another question related to the topic.
Should I copy the "iTunes" folder into my new rMBP if I go for a manual install?
I want to keep all my albums artwork, loosing them is definitely not an option.

As far as I know copying the entire iTunes Library folder will bring over album art without any problems!

 

[carjakester]

when i got my macbook i just transferred everything over from my pc. its harder but it gets rid of most of the junk that accumulates over time and you can see what you really need, saves space too.