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Migrating EVERYTHING to new aluminum macbook

A

Aven SkyGazer

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 12, 2008
112
0
Hey there, I need some assistance.

I'm considering a new aluminum macbook and I wanted to know how it will be possible to transfer all my stuff (accounts, music, pictures, etc).

I want to transfer from my regular white macbook to a new unibody aluminum macbook.

Can anyone guide me through this thouroughly? I was told that all I will need is the ethernet cord I use to connect my current macbook to my cable modem.

Looking forward to some instructions! Thanks!
 
You can do it at home too. When you set up the new MB, Migration Assistant allows you to migrate from another mac computer. Both computers need to be on the same network, connected to the same router. Wired is faster, but wi-fi would work too.
 
If you have a firewire cable, the job will be much easier and quicker. Just start up your White Macbook as target disk mode (Power + T). Connect the firewire between 2 computers. In your Alum Macbook, you will see your Whitebook as a mounted Hard Drive. Start the Migration Assistant in your Alum Macbook. Follow the steps and when it is finished, you will endup with 2 accounts (check it in the system preference-> account). One is your existing account in the Alum Macbook and the new one is transfered from the White Macbook. Once you choice to login with the newly migrated account, all your stuffs will be there.

If you don't have a firewire, than, you must have a home network. Most likely a router for 2 connected computers. These 2 computers must be connected to the home network via cable or wifi. Than start up Migration Assistant in both computer, and set the Whitebook as "To another Mac" and the Alum Macbook as "From another Mac".
 
kennyli said:
If you have a firewire cable, the job will be much easier and quicker. Just start up your White Macbook as target disk mode (Power + T). Connect the firewire between 2 computers. In your Alum Macbook, you will see your Whitebook as a mounted Hard Drive. Start the Migration Assistant in your Alum Macbook. Follow the steps and when it is finished, you will endup with 2 accounts (check it in the system preference-> account). One is your existing account in the Alum Macbook and the new one is transfered from the White Macbook. Once you choice to login with the newly migrated account, all your stuffs will be there.

If you don't have a firewire, than, you must have a home network. Most likely a router for 2 connected computers. These 2 computers must be connected to the home network via cable or wifi. Than start up Migration Assistant in both computer, and set the Whitebook as "To another Mac" and the Alum Macbook as "From another Mac".
Click to expand...
Looks like network is the way to go, Aluminium MacBooks don't have a firewire port...
 
They also do NOT need to go through a router (or switch, or hub). Just take any Cat5 patch cable and hook 'em up. They'll auto-detect and manage everything automatically.

There's supposed to be an update to support MA through Ethernet (or support it better, as the case may be).
 
I'm going to have to do this soon as soon as I get the new MacBook. I just hope it's not as long of a process as I think it's going to be.

Just for clarification, all my files will be transfered (Documents, Movies, Music, Photos...) but I just need to reinstall the software that was on my old machine? (Photoshop, Microsoft Office) Is there anything else I'm forgetting?
 
M-5 said:
I'm going to have to do this soon as soon as I get the new MacBook. I just hope it's not as long of a process as I think it's going to be.

Just for clarification, all my files will be transfered (Documents, Movies, Music, Photos...) but I just need to reinstall the software that was on my old machine? (Photoshop, Microsoft Office) Is there anything else I'm forgetting?
Click to expand...

Using Migration Assistant, you shouldn't have to reinstall anything. It's all brought across intact and operable.
 
I just used migration assistant to move everything from my "Hard drive size and processor challenged" Macbook Air to a new 13" 2.4 Macbook (with the 250GB HD). Worked like a charm!! Passwords, Entourage, lisences, etc, - Everything! It makes me VERY happy to know that now 4 out of 5 computers in the house are Macs!
Windoze and Sony Vaios are a PITA that I will not waste more time on...
 
JohnNotBeatle said:
Using Migration Assistant, you shouldn't have to reinstall anything. It's all brought across intact and operable.
Click to expand...

Wow, that's very good to know! So there's virtually nothing else that I should have to do after connecting both Macs together and having Migration Assistant run?

Oh, and one more question: About how long should I expect migration assistant to take with 60GB of disk space used? Or does it vary greatly in consideration to the type of content being transfered?
It's too bad that the new Aluminum MacBook doesn't come equipped with a FireWire port as I've heard this is the quickest way to undertake this process.
 
I transferred about 70 GB to my new MB. Took about 4 hours via Ethernet.
 
To OP, fyi, I used the ethernet method migrating from a MBA to my current MB. Although everything worked well, my boot up time mysteriously lengthened by ~30 s. Normally it took about 12 s to see the Apple logo after pressing the power button, but mine took more than 45 s.

Eventually, I did a fresh install, and moved my documents manually, and reinstalled my apps. This corrected the problem. The problem might have been already in my MBA prior to the migration. I just want to make a point that, in my case, manually moving files turned out to be more ideal as it resulted in an error-free clean installation.
 
So, just as confirmation...

It is possible to transfer everything from my regular white macbook to my new aluminum unibody macbook? All I need is the ethernet CAT5 cable I regularly use to connect my macbook to my cable modem, correct? All while using "migration assistance" to aid the operation?
 
Aven SkyGazer said:
So, just as confirmation...

It is possible to transfer everything from my regular white macbook to my new aluminum unibody macbook? All I need is the ethernet CAT5 cable I regularly use to connect my macbook to my cable modem, correct? All while using "migration assistance" to aid the operation?
Click to expand...

Yes. I was wrong before, you don't need a router, just "computer-cable-computer" will work.
 
I actually used a Time Machine backup to move my content over using an external USB drive. Over 80 gigs took about 25 minutes. It was much faster than I thought it would be.
 
Aven SkyGazer said:
So, just as confirmation...

It is possible to transfer everything from my regular white macbook to my new aluminum unibody macbook? All I need is the ethernet CAT5 cable I regularly use to connect my macbook to my cable modem, correct? All while using "migration assistance" to aid the operation?
Click to expand...

Correct. When you're setting up the new MacBook Migration Assistant will ask you if you want to transfer your stuff from an old Mac, just hit yes, and it'll ask you to connect the 2 Macs with a regular ethernet cable. This is all done in the setup screen before you even go to your desktop on the new Mac.
 
Aven SkyGazer said:
So, just as confirmation...

It is possible to transfer everything from my regular white macbook to my new aluminum unibody macbook? All I need is the ethernet CAT5 cable I regularly use to connect my macbook to my cable modem, correct? All while using "migration assistance" to aid the operation?
Click to expand...

Correct. A note, though:

Migration Assistant lives in your utilities folder, and you run it after you've created a new account on your new MacBook. This may be an issue if your new account name is the same as your old account name.

However, if you choose to migrate your data at the first time setup screens that come up the first time you boot your new MacBook, since no account has yet been created on the machine, it will move over not only your data, but also your original account name.

Tummy said:
I actually used a Time Machine backup to move my content over using an external USB drive. Over 80 gigs took about 25 minutes. It was much faster than I thought it would be.
Click to expand...

This is another option, and you can do it both from the first time setup screen as well as from Migration Assistant, exactly the same way.
 
I had to run the ethernet cat 5 cable through my router as they wouldn't "see" each other until I did.

I was up and running fine. Everything was smooth until I tried to open a document file in finder. The beach ball spins and freezes up everything. It only happens when I open the documents file in finder and try to select a file. Anybody know what's going on?? Do I have a corrupt documents folder, and how do I solve it? Everything else seems to work fine. Thanks.
 
The problem was a corrupt, wouldn't you know it, Microsoft Office 2008 transfered file...
I'm going to try again to use iWork instead, as I don't want Microsoft software on my new Mac baby!
 
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