Migrating from an old Mac to a new one.

[jvpython]

When you have a new Mac is it a good idea to restore from a time machine backup from an old Mac (few years old) or will that slow it down and clog i up. Would it be a better idea to keep only the important files and start clean?
Thanks

 

[wessew]

Apple officially recommends using the migration utillity so that you are up and running immediately. Others suggest starting with a clean slate and reinstalling apps. I have tried both. Reinstalling all apps and important documents, files, etc. can very time consuming. But there is a lot of crud in most users system and general files. This is because most people: 1) accumulate apps they do not use and 2) delete apps by simplying trashing them leaving behind many orphan files in the system folders. There is a middle ground: get an application delete program and delete all programs you do not need or use using this program. Clean up your documents folder. Clean up your downloads folder. Consider using Xslimmer to shrink down application files. Finally, update all remaining apps that you really need and want. I have found the latter approach to work just fine and it has the benefit of getting you up and running fairly quickly.

 

[Spike88]

When I upgraded from old PC/XP to my new iMac, I copied the desired data files manually. Used a simple external HDD (My Passport drive) connected via USB port on each computer. And, copied the "kept" data files in a phased approach. re: My data files first, my wife's data files second, etc. etc. When copying "kept" files from old to new iMac, I also organized my kept files much better as well. For example, I created a DATA folder on my iMac's internal HDD. And off this new DATA folder, I created sub folders for each family member. For example, Sally, or Frank or Joe folders. My kept files go into HDD\DATA\Joe folder. My wife's kept files go into HDD/DATA/Sally folder. When searching data files, I now only need to search within HDD/DATA folder (and its sub folders). Or, when copying / backup on only data files, I only need to focus within my iMac's HDD/DATA folder. Yes, the iMac does support multiple user profiles. For simplicity, each of us log in with the same "user" ID (not master administrator id) and all our DATA files are located within the HDD/DATA folder. If wondering, I created an iMac/HDD/Data alias pointer on the iMac's desktop. For ease of dill-downs, we only need to click on this folder alias, and all user DATA files are within easy access.

Hope this helps - if wanting to create a simple DATA folder structure on your new iMac system as well…

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[jvpython]

Thanks for the replies. I don't won't to be loosing any of my "data structure" and to spend heaps of time trying to restore things manually. I think I might go with the approach: Clean up my current system and then transfer it. Hopefully I won't carry on to much junk to the new Mac...