Very soon we will be purchasing a new iMac. My question deals with Migration Assistant. When I use it during setup from my eMac, can I choose exactly what I want transferred? For example, I want to transfer my word and photoshop but not some of the other apps I have. Or I want to transfer my pics, music, and address book....Is there a way to do this, instead of transferring ALL apps, etc?
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Migration Assistant
- Thread starter Sean7512
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I recommend clean installing all apps. Migration Assistant isn't brilliant and so I only ever trust it with basic files (music, documents and so on). I reconfigure my settings/preferences and install the apps back from their discs. 
mad jew said:I recommend clean installing all apps. Migration Assistant isn't brilliant and so I only ever trust it with basic files (music, documents and so on). I reconfigure my settings/preferences and install the apps back from their discs.
Fair enough...So my question now is during the initial setup can I tell Migration assistant to just transfer my itunes and iphoto library and my address book?
Not sure. If it's just those three then transfer them manually. Drag the iTunes folder and the iPhoto library into their equivalent spots on the new machine (assuming iTunes is set to look after your files, which it is by default) and use Address Book's Back Up/Revert To feature in the File menu. This is much quicker and cleaner than Migration Assistant.
mad jew said:Not sure. If it's just those three then transfer them manually. Drag the iTunes folder and the iPhoto library into their equivalent spots on the new machine (assuming iTunes is set to look after your files, which it is by default) and use Address Book's Back Up/Revert To feature in the File menu. This is much quicker and cleaner than Migration Assistant.
Thanks a million! I'll just do the same for the documents I want. I'm assuming it would be A LOT faster by doing it via firewire so my eMac shows up as an external HDD rather than our 10/100 network. Thanks though....and all WITHOUT repairing permissions
Haha, yeah no need to repair permissions (but do it just for fun).
Firewire will be much faster than a regular 10/100 ethernet cable too.
Firewire will be much faster than a regular 10/100 ethernet cable too.
Crap, I do have ONE more question...Does it matter that my iPhoto library is from iPhoto 4 and the new one is iPhoto 6? I'm assuming it probably is not a problem and al lI have to do is drag the folder from the eMac to the iMac in the same place and all should be fine, right? And what the heck is the "Previos iTunes Library" folder inside my iTunes folder?
If you migrate with the old iPhoto library, it'll just update the library when you open iPhoto on the new machine for the first time. I've used migration assistant 3 times and it's always worked perfectly for me, programs, music, photos, files, settings and all.
I think it'll update to the iPhoto 6 layout even if you manually transfer the folders. I'm pretty sure mine did that. If you're worried, then it might be worthwhile installing iPhoto 6 on the old machine momentarily, just to update the library folders layouts before transferring them across.
The Previous iTunes Library folder can be deleted. It usually comes about after a crash or a major change in your library. It kinda acts like an automatic backup I guess, but never rely on it. Its creation is haphazard at best.
The Previous iTunes Library folder can be deleted. It usually comes about after a crash or a major change in your library. It kinda acts like an automatic backup I guess, but never rely on it. Its creation is haphazard at best.