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How do I transfer documents to a new computer?

A

Anthony T

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 10, 2008
1,021
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This might be a dumb question, but I will be selling my current 13" 2.4 GHz MacBook for the new 13" MBP. How can I transfer all of my pictures onto the new computer? Do I need an external hard drive or something, since I will be selling this computer?

Also, all of my iTunes stuff won't get deleted, will it?
 
I'd grab an external harddrive and backup onto it using Time Machine. Do a clean install of OS X, sell the MacBook, grab the new one, and use time machine to restore from your old machine (I forgot what this was called).
 
Time Machine+Migration Assistant will do it all.

If the iTunes music is purchased, it'll carry over so long as you sign in with the same user ID on the new computer.
 
Anthony T said:
How can I transfer all of my pictures onto the new computer?
Click to expand...
What's wrong with that superdrive of yours? Get a 10 pack of DVD+R disks (about $10) and burn 'em. Each DVD will hold about 4.3GB of data.

P.S. You do know it's foolish not to have some kind of routine backup solution, right? Your music library can be replaced but not those pics.
 
Richard1028 said:
What's wrong with that superdrive of yours? Get a 10 pack of DVD+R disks (about $10) and burn 'em. Each DVD will hold about 4.3GB of data.

P.S. You do know it's foolish not to have some kind of routine backup solution, right? Your music library can be replaced but not those pics.
Click to expand...

Oh, true, I didn't think about burning them onto CDs.
 
The easiest and cheapest way is to buy a $10 memory stick, one that you plug into the USB port on the side. Stick it in the port and you will see a new folder pop up onto your screen. That new folder is where you put stuff to put it onto the memory stick. So you can just drag any files you want into that folder and it will be copied onto the stick. Pictures should be located in your home directory (you should be able to find them using Finder). Drag the entire Pictures folder onto the memory stick. Then unplug the stick nicely by pressing the eject button from Finder. Then pop it into your new computer. Once you see the memory stick folder on your screen, look into the Pictures folder you placed into it. Drag all files from it either onto your Desktop (to place them there) or into your new computer's Pictures folder (in Finder). It's pretty simple. Memory sticks (or flashdrives) are by far the easiest way to do it. The Time Machine they are talking about above is ok if you want to back up tons of files located in tons of different directories. But if you are just talking about one folder, do a memory stick backup.
 
Your Music folder in your home directory has all your iTunes music. You can do the same type of thing with the flashdrive. But if you have lots of other stuff you are worried about, then perhaps messing around with the Time Machine is the way to go.
 
time machine does everything for you, and you can pick up external drives very cheap these days
 
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