Migrating user preferences when old user is gone

[Fabricius]

This might be a little different from normal situations, so I'll try to be as detailed as I can.

I have an institutional computer and, when migrating a server, the IT staff deleted my old user account from the computer. They saved all my data and created me a new user, but didn't migrated the data to the new user. And here's the tricky bit: my old user account (Fab01) was renamed to "oldFab01" and is at the User\oldFab01 where I can access my data, but the user itself was deleted (I can't see the "oldFab01" user when I go to System preferences -> Users & Groups, and I can't login to it). The new user that was created bears the same name as the one which was deleted (Fab01).

What I really want is 1) to be able to retrieve all my user preferences and information (iTunes library, Mail account, Address Book, Bookmarks, etc), and 2) to transfer all my files to the new account. As far as I know it would be possible using Migration Assistant if I still had access to my old user. Unfortunately I can't just copy and paste the data into the new user because I have 480Gb of data, and my computer has a 500Gb HD. I do use iCloud but I'm not sure to what extent it would get things back if I just set my apple ID to the new user. I am actually really worried about my iTunes library and my Mail folders because they are huge and it took me several months to get them organised.

I'm running Lion in a MacBook Pro (2.7 i7 8Gb RAM).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!!!

Fabricius

 

[maflynn]

Your settings are in \User\oldFab01\Library so navigate there and migrate stuff from Application Support, Mail and Mail Downloads. I'd poke around to see what other app specific folders are in there but I think you get the idea.

 

[Fabricius]

Thanks for the answer.

Ok, found the Library folder (was hidden so I was already scared to death, but all good now)! Any other particular folder that I should move?

I found this, that says I should move everything and then reset permissions, which sounds all right. http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20016747-263.html?tag=mncol;title
But now that I had to unhide the files on finder to find my Library I found several hidden files outside the Library that look like personal data (from applications). Should I move the hidden files as well, or may I assume that this kind of stuff will be created again when I start using the new account?