Migrating Time Machine Back up different Mac

[BigRedMachine89]

So, I have a 2008 MBP that has pretty much become inoperative. I have a time machine back up that is extremely recent and would like to know what my options are for Migrating this back up to my wife's MBP. Both Macs are/were running the most current version of Mavericks.

I am pretty sure the solution below would work:

- The HD on the MBP needs to be partioned in order for my Mac data to be migrated onto the functioning Mac. (However, this would mean that reboot would be necessary to switch over from one state to the other, correct?)

However, is there a way to create two Users and then dump my Data into that new user account without creating two partitions on the HD? How would this affect iTunes library and syncs?

Any advice on this subject would be extremely helpful.

 

[r0k]

So, I have a 2008 MBP that has pretty much become inoperative. I have a time machine back up that is extremely recent and would like to know what my options are for Migrating this back up to my wife's MBP. Both Macs are/were running the most current version of Mavericks.

I am pretty sure the solution below would work:

- The HD on the MBP needs to be partioned in order for my Mac data to be migrated onto the functioning Mac. (However, this would mean that reboot would be necessary to switch over from one state to the other, correct?)

However, is there a way to create two Users and then dump my Data into that new user account without creating two partitions on the HD? How would this affect iTunes library and syncs?

Any advice on this subject would be extremely helpful.

I would never trust a TM backup for migration, especially if it is to a network drive. I have successfully used TM backups for migration, but only under very specific circumstances. Before beginning migration, I created a brand new TM backup to a local disk connected either by Firewire or USB. Once that backup completed, I migrated from it.

More often than not, I migrate from one Mac to the next using target disk mode. I boot the old Mac into target disk mode, then when the new Mac asks me where to get the migration data, the old Mac shows up as if it were simply a Firewire drive. I pick it and I'm good to go. I used this for my first migration from a 2007 Macbook to a 2008 Macbook and my most recent migration from a 2008 Macbook to a late 2011 Macbook Pro.

Now for your situation...

Since your 2008 Mac is inop, I suggest you first try to migrate from your TM backup. If that fails, all is not lost. Simply whip out a quarter and take out your battery, then take out 4 screws to access your hard drive. Connect it to your new Mac via a USB to SATA cable and you should be able to migrate from your old Macbook's HDD even if the old Mac won't boot up. (Of course this assumes the reason it won't boot up is not the HDD itself ).

I'm not sure why you're talking about partitioning. Partitioning is not something you should have to worry about. If you decide later you want two partitions, there's nothing stopping you from opening disk utility and dynamically resizing Macintosh HD so you can have another disk partition to use for some other purpose. You can create the second partition and format it HFS+ journaled and even install a separate version of OSX on the thing. This is the method I used for testing developer previews of ML and Mavericks before I decided to simply use a leftover 2.5 inch drive with a USB/SATA cable.

Hope this helps...

 

[BigRedMachine89]

Thanks for the reply r0k.

The time machine back up is local, and the issue with my unusable MBP is not an HDD issue, so your advice is helpful if all else fails.

I guess my new question is, can I migrate my Time Machine back up to the different MBP by just creating a New User on it, and then proceed with migration? Is this done through Migration Assistant?

 

[benji888]

Thanks for the reply r0k.

The time machine back up is local, and the issue with my unusable MBP is not an HDD issue, so your advice is helpful if all else fails.

I guess my new question is, can I migrate my Time Machine back up to the different MBP by just creating a New User on it, and then proceed with migration? Is this done through Migration Assistant?

I literally just glanced at this, which seems to apply to your situation: http://www.macworld.com/article/2066996/how-to-transfer-backups-from-time-machine-to-a-new-mac.html

I have had a hard drive crap out on me, and successfully got back to where it was with a new hard drive and using the restore function to restore it from TM backup. (restart, hold cmd-r).

 

[Weaselboy]

Thanks for the reply r0k.

The time machine back up is local, and the issue with my unusable MBP is not an HDD issue, so your advice is helpful if all else fails.

I guess my new question is, can I migrate my Time Machine back up to the different MBP by just creating a New User on it, and then proceed with migration? Is this done through Migration Assistant?

You don't even need to do that. If your wife's account is an admin account, just login to her account and run Migration Assistant from there. That will bring in your account and your data in that account.