iMac file and software transfer question

[Crafty Amanda]

My new iMac arrives tomorrow and I will be using Time Machine to transfer all of my data, files etc from my MacBook. I KNOW that I have to install software (such as Photoshop etc) and cannot transfer those, only the files.

So my question is this:

Do I wait until after the transfer of files from Time Machine to install the software packages on the new machine? Or do I need to set up the new machine, skip the part when it asks if I want to transfer files, install software and THEN go back and transfer files?

Hope that made sense. Thanks for any help!

 

[Ice-Cube]

You should let Time Machine transfer everything during the initial setup process. I recently restored my colleague's mac from a time machine backup and photoshop works fine. All I did was to re-enter the serial and it worked. I had the impression all along you had to reinstall Adobe software but I guess that thought is now dated.

 

[Bear]

...
Do I wait until after the transfer of files from Time Machine to install the software packages on the new machine? Or do I need to set up the new machine, skip the part when it asks if I want to transfer files, install software and THEN go back and transfer files?
...

During setup, let it copy from your TM backup. If you do it any other way, it can get messy. And as was stated, all you may need to do for a couple of apps is reenter the serial number. Depending on what else you use, you may find you need to install the application again. Just handle it on a per application basis after you have the system set up.

 

[Crafty Amanda]

Oh! That's awesome news, thanks so much both of you. Can't wait to get my new machine tomorrow!

 

[tomnavratil]

You should let Time Machine transfer everything during the initial setup process. I recently restored my colleague's mac from a time machine backup and photoshop works fine. All I did was to re-enter the serial and it worked. I had the impression all along you had to reinstall Adobe software but I guess that thought is now dated.

You're right that it should work in most cases after re-activation however Adobe doesn't really recommend this method as there are many files stored all over the place plus many people use a lot of plugins, which seems to be corrupted after transfer. I had to reinstall the whole suite and works fine.

Nevertheless, it is possible to do it that way but it's still valid information that re-install is the ideal option .