how to store all user account info before upgrade

[Grasbak]

I am running tiger on the imac in my signature and am looking to get one of the new alu imacs after macworld. However, I have a buyer for my current machine and it is for a christmas pressie. So i will be mac-less for about a month.

I have an external HD to store my info between times - what do i need to do to make sure I have everything transferred.......? Is there anything I need to watch out for, eg what happens to music bought from iTunes?

Thanks for your help.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

This isn't too hard. The simplest way is to create an archive of your user folder (using the Finder's built-in archive function) and store this archive on a CD, DVD, iPod, or external hard drive (depending on how big it is). When it comes time to use your new Mac just extract the archive then move everything to the appropriate spot.

There are some gotchas with this approach:
Since you're going from Tiger to Leopard, a few things have changed - the most important of these is the location of iCal calendars. Fixing this isn't too hard - you just have to re-import and rename the old calendar files in iCal.
Also, make sure you deauthorize your computer in iTunes before transferring it, then authorize your new Mac. This action does NOT count against your limit of 5 Macs - all you're doing is moving the authorization from one Mac to another.

 

[Grasbak]

thats great - thanks for that.