Migrating a MB to MBP

[saccento]

Hey guys need some help I'm getting a MBP in a couple days and I set up Time Machine through an external hard drive. Is there anything I need to do to keep transfer my applications and stuff or will I be able to easily migrate from MacBook time machine backup?

Thanks in advance!

 

[calaverasgrande]

It depends. What I have always done is use the new mac to rip an image of the old mac using disk utility. Then I erase the new macs drive and "burn" the image to that drive. This takes a while but it effectively clones the exact same setup on your current system onto the new system. Some apps like Logic and Final cut can tell when they have been cloned (or when another mac is on the same network running that application). So it's best if you delete them from the old machine to be safe licensing-wise. Last time I did this I migrated from a Mac mini to a late 2010 Macbook pro 15". The only hitch I encountered was Logic needed to be re-authed.
I suppose you could copy your user profile over to the new machine and then use the "Users" preference pane to add it (add a user with the same exact username and password and you will be prompted to use the profile you dragged over).
But then migrating apps is a bit more involved than simply dragging the Applications folder across. There are numerous files and folders in the Library directory structure (and other places!) that would need to be replicated, exactly.
I personally would either use firewire target mode to migrate the old system image to the new one, or re-install everything from scratch to have a clean start.

 

[saccento]

It depends. What I have always done is use the new mac to rip an image of the old mac using disk utility. Then I erase the new macs drive and "burn" the image to that drive. This takes a while but it effectively clones the exact same setup on your current system onto the new system. Some apps like Logic and Final cut can tell when they have been cloned (or when another mac is on the same network running that application). So it's best if you delete them from the old machine to be safe licensing-wise. Last time I did this I migrated from a Mac mini to a late 2010 Macbook pro 15". The only hitch I encountered was Logic needed to be re-authed.
I suppose you could copy your user profile over to the new machine and then use the "Users" preference pane to add it (add a user with the same exact username and password and you will be prompted to use the profile you dragged over).
But then migrating apps is a bit more involved than simply dragging the Applications folder across. There are numerous files and folders in the Library directory structure (and other places!) that would need to be replicated, exactly.
I personally would either use firewire target mode to migrate the old system image to the new one, or re-install everything from scratch to have a clean start.

thanks for the info.. the only thing I'm really worried about is iTunes and my music since I sync it with my iPhone.. as well as some other software I have installed previously. I don't really mind anything else like configuration wise.

In my case do you suggest just "migrating" using time machine and just transfer applications and music/photos?

 

[xMBPx]

thanks for the info.. the only thing I'm really worried about is iTunes and my music since I sync it with my iPhone.. as well as some other software I have installed previously. I don't really mind anything else like configuration wise.

In my case do you suggest just "migrating" using time machine and just transfer applications and music/photos?

Just migrated all my info/settings from a MB that was 4-5 years old to my new MBP. Everything transferred, from my internet history, to the music in my itunes. No worries . All I did was migrate according to the instructions.

 

[saccento]

Just migrated all my info/settings from a MB that was 4-5 years old to my new MBP. Everything transferred, from my internet history, to the music in my itunes. No worries . All I did was migrate according to the instructions.

when you purchased the mbp you followed the instructions of migrating, correct? like migrate through time machine and then pick what you want to migrate?

 

[xMBPx]

when you purchased the mbp you followed the instructions of migrating, correct? like migrate through time machine and then pick what you want to migrate?

I turned on the MBP for the first time and followed the instruction until it got to migration. Then I followed those steps but I didn't use time machine, I transferred from mac to mac over the wireless network. If I remember correctly it asks to do it over firewire first or you can click a button on the bottom left of the window to choose a different method. The next method is over ethernet but I didn't have one so I had to click the button twice then it took me to do it over wireless network.

You're given 4 options of things you can transfer, I checked them all and it transferred everything onto my MBP. I was even using Mac OSX Leopard before and it upgraded to Snow Leopard with no problems.

 

[saccento]

I turned on the MBP for the first time and followed the instruction until it got to migration. Then I followed those steps but I didn't use time machine, I transferred from mac to mac over the wireless network. If I remember correctly it asks to do it over firewire first or you can click a button on the bottom left of the window to choose a different method. The next method is over ethernet but I didn't have one so I had to click the button twice then it took me to do it over wireless network.

You're given 4 options of things you can transfer, I checked them all and it transferred everything onto my MBP. I was even using Mac OSX Leopard before and it upgraded to Snow Leopard with no problems.

oh thanks for the info man! I'll have to do the same thing but check the migrate from time machine option and chose the volume in which time machine was set up. I was watching the little tutorial video on apple's website about time machine.. obviously i've never done this before so I just wanted to make sure I didn't lose anything. I appreciate it!