I am about to purchase an early 2011 MacBook pro from a friend who barely uses it. Before I buy it though I've promised to help him back up his data to an external harddrive to use on his PC. What is the best way to go about doing this, to keep functionality of the drive on his PC?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Help backing up a MacBook pro
- Thread starter dreilly1982
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
If you're talking a Windows PC, you may as well just get an application to just copy the files over - you're not worried about copying system files and the like. I have Chronosync myself.
If he's getting another Mac, you're better off just using Time Machine to do a backup, that way your friend can restore the user accounts and most system files quite easily.
Just connect through a CAT 5 cable (so, connect the computer and mac to a wired network). Then just copy the files over. With a network cable I get speeds of up to 100 MB a second.