Going from Macbook to RiMac - Migration

[kilofox]

New iMac on the way. I have Yosemite installed on my Macbook (via upgrade from Mavericks). I eventually plan on giving the Macbook to a family member.

I have been reading about transferring data/apps via the Migration Assistance. Since I have never done this before, I was interested in anyone else's experience.

Did you use a direct connection (network, firewire, thunderbolt) or Time Machine backup?

What was your experience?

 

[w00tini]

I suggest time machine through a USB drive. very easy. I just made the same. I've from a MacBook pro to te new imac

 

[robgendreau]

I've done them all. Basically the issue is speed. Faster connection helps, obviously. I just migrated something, and it connected via wifi, and even helpfully suggested I connect an ethernet cable to speed things up, so I knicked one off some other equipment and did so.

I'd suggest Thunderbolt, which is sorta like the old firewire target disk mode, except faster. If you're gonna have the laptop around for a while, it might come in handy for other stuff.

See here for example: http://www.theinstructional.com/guides/high-speed-data-transfers-between-macs-with-thunderbolt

Thing is those Thunderbolt cables aren't cheap.

And migration ass't is scary good. I've been doing Mac installations for decades, and it just keeps getting better. To prep for it dump some stuff you don't need off the sending Mac. Make sure your settings are OK. Repair permissions. Have serial numbers for software handy. And you'll need to check licenses; Adobe for example might require you deauthorize the old computer before you can use their software on the new one.

I recommend that you do the migration BEFORE you set up a user on the new iMac. This helps prevent user ID issues. Check pondini.org if you want to know the details.

 

[habeebhashim]

New iMac on the way. I have Yosemite installed on my Macbook (via upgrade from Mavericks). I eventually plan on giving the Macbook to a family member.

I have been reading about transferring data/apps via the Migration Assistance. Since I have never done this before, I was interested in anyone else's experience.

Did you use a direct connection (network, firewire, thunderbolt) or Time Machine backup?

What was your experience?

Migration Assistant has been very good the last few versions. Migrated my user settings from the rMBP to the 5K recently. Used a TB cable as the iMac is connected via WiFi and the rMBP does not have an ethernet port.

Over WiFi, it said 160hrs to migrate 180GB of data. With the TB cable, it took 30 mins.

Everything transferred fine. Data, settings, third party app settings, keyboard shortcuts, dashboard etc (but the notification widgets hmm...)

 

[ErikGrim]

Obviously use the fastest interface available to you. From my 2010 iMac Ethernet did the trick.

 

[scaredpoet]

Ditto on having used Migration assistant both from mac-to-mac, and from a time machine backup. It's all good either way.

If your Time Machine drive is a USB3.0 or Thunderbolt interface, it will probably be plenty fast and you should use that. If it's USB 2.0, then maybe going Mac-to-Mac might be faster.

 

[ErikGrim]

Strange caveat to migration assistant I ran into: Clear your Safari cache after. It had cached non-retina graphics on sites like Facebook and it was brought over

 

[Mydrivec]

2007 Imac to 5K Imac

I was wondering the same.

Should I use Time Machine on the new 5k to simply restore all my stuff....or should I begin fresh and new.

Some points first. All the important stuff...Pics/Music/Movies I have backed up externally in Time Machine AND just copied to a separate external (2 backups is my rule though I often do 3).

I don't buy a lot of software so I can't think of any programs I need that I can't re-download directly.

With that said, I've always thought going from a NEW clean install of the OS is the way to go and was not planning on using Time Machine.

Any pros vs. cons thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[massprince]

I tried to migrate from retina macbook to retina iMac twice and it just stalled. It worked when i used time machine and then I chose to do a fresh install instead bec Most of the apps on my macbook asked me to reactivate.