Just bought a 2016 15" MBP, running High Sierra. Am moving from a 2009 17" MBP running El Capitan (can't update OS X). I don't want to have to buy cables just to migrate the old mac to the new mac. What is the best way to do it and maintain all of my "legacy" applications (like Aperture, MS Office, etc). I have used SuperDuper to make a bootable clone of my old MBP on an USB HD. I could also make a Time Machine backup on that drive, if that is the best option. Would appreciate any suggestions on the best/easiest way to migrate to a new MBP while maintaining my apps that I might not be able to re-download.
Moving to new MBP (2016): Migration Help
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"I have used SuperDuper to make a bootable clone of my old MBP on an USB HD."
You have just what you need with a SuperDuper cloned backup.
My advice on how to proceed:
1. When the new MBP arrives, take it out of the box, but DON'T turn it on yet.
2. Instead, power on the OLD MPB, hook up your SuperDuper backup, and run SD "one last time" so that everything is as "up-to-date" as it can be.
3. Power down the OLD MBP, take your SD backup and connect it to the NEW MPB.
4. Power up the NEW MBP for the first time, and begin the setup.
5. At the appropriate moment, setup assistant will ask if you wish to migrate data from and old Mac or drive.
6. "Aim" setup assistant at the SD backup drive.
7. You will be offered several options to migrate, such as applications, accounts, settings, and data.
8. I would choose everything. Then... just let setup assistant do its thing. It may take a while.
9. When done, you should be presented with a login screen, and the desktop will look just as it appeared on your old MacBook Pro.
10. You will need to "test run" all the 3rd-party apps to be sure they still work. Some may require updates. A few old apps may not work at all (them's the breaks).
11. Aperture may need to be updated to the last version (if you haven't already done so).
12. I'm not sure if the MS Office apps will "come through" without having to re-register them. Give it a try first.
Let us know how it goes.
You have just what you need with a SuperDuper cloned backup.
My advice on how to proceed:
1. When the new MBP arrives, take it out of the box, but DON'T turn it on yet.
2. Instead, power on the OLD MPB, hook up your SuperDuper backup, and run SD "one last time" so that everything is as "up-to-date" as it can be.
3. Power down the OLD MBP, take your SD backup and connect it to the NEW MPB.
4. Power up the NEW MBP for the first time, and begin the setup.
5. At the appropriate moment, setup assistant will ask if you wish to migrate data from and old Mac or drive.
6. "Aim" setup assistant at the SD backup drive.
7. You will be offered several options to migrate, such as applications, accounts, settings, and data.
8. I would choose everything. Then... just let setup assistant do its thing. It may take a while.
9. When done, you should be presented with a login screen, and the desktop will look just as it appeared on your old MacBook Pro.
10. You will need to "test run" all the 3rd-party apps to be sure they still work. Some may require updates. A few old apps may not work at all (them's the breaks).
11. Aperture may need to be updated to the last version (if you haven't already done so).
12. I'm not sure if the MS Office apps will "come through" without having to re-register them. Give it a try first.
Let us know how it goes.
In my experience, MS Office will ask for reauthorization. Have your key handy.
Also, check your Sys-Prefs Login Items for your User, for things that now longer apply. 2009 is a long time ago, and you may have accumulated some things that aren't there any more. For example, when migrating my brother's system, it was trying to load something from MS Office 2004 (like Rosetta).
Also, check your Sys-Prefs Login Items for your User, for things that now longer apply. 2009 is a long time ago, and you may have accumulated some things that aren't there any more. For example, when migrating my brother's system, it was trying to load something from MS Office 2004 (like Rosetta).
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Either one will work fine as the source of the migration. Just make sure you do the import/migration as part of system setup and before you make an account. If you complete setup with a new account, then import, it causes all sorts of permissions problems.
No matter what you do though, some app like MS Office will see you are on new hardware and make you re-register.
Consider not using Office?
Your new machine will cover Word with Pages, and Excel with Numbers (the two most folks use).
If they are not to your liking (I like them better...but then I always disliked Office, so not hard...), you can try Libre Office or Open Office. Or you can buy a new MS Office 2016 suite. I doubt 2008 would even run anyway...
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I have essentially already migrated out of MS Office to the Apple products. However, for a while anyway, I have to submit spreadsheets to a company on a regular basis for the next couple years and they require them to be Excel spreadsheets.
You can use Numbers then export/save as Excel. For most Excel spreadsheets that will work fine. If you have some sophisticated formulas in Excel though, sometimes they won't work in Numbers.
If it is just once in a while for a simple spreadsheet, it is not to bad to import/export with Numbers, but if you are doing this a lot you may want to just buy the MS Office apps.
OP wrote:
"I have essentially already migrated out of MS Office to the Apple products. However, for a while anyway, I have to submit spreadsheets to a company on a regular basis for the next couple years and they require them to be Excel spreadsheets."
LibreOffice may work for this.
Really, if you haven't yet tried LibreOffice for reading old files, do it.
The developers have really "gone the extra mile" to make LO capable of reading files from older applications!
"I have essentially already migrated out of MS Office to the Apple products. However, for a while anyway, I have to submit spreadsheets to a company on a regular basis for the next couple years and they require them to be Excel spreadsheets."
LibreOffice may work for this.
Really, if you haven't yet tried LibreOffice for reading old files, do it.
The developers have really "gone the extra mile" to make LO capable of reading files from older applications!
I was just wondering if I might be able to do that (export as xls). Thanks for the suggestion. I will give it a try as my spreadsheets are simple lists with maybe a SUM at the bottom of a column. I remember reading in the past about some people having a problem exporting to Excel, so I wasn't sure. But as you mentioned, they were probably people with more complexly formatted spreadsheets than mine.
Oh heck yeah... if that is all you are doing you can easily uses Numbers then export/import.
Job done!!! Thanks for the detailed instructions, they worked really well.
Only had one glitch during setup before transfer. Got a message that there were 2 accounts with the same name and I had to choose between replacing one and deleting a duplicate or saving both and renaming one. Tried the first and it just never worked. Just sit there and did nothing. Chose the second option and renamed the the account and name and it then setup and transfer continued normally. Luckily, I had my old MBP running and was able to search for this issue and know what to do about it. Interestingly, the article said I would then need to delete the bogus duplicate account once setup/transfer complete. But the bogus account does not appear anywhere. So I guess in never got created.
The other thing that is interesting, and unexpected, is that my transferred 2008 MS Office works fine. It has never asked me for a new key.
So thanks again to everyone for your help and suggestions. Now I just have to get used to 15" vs 17".
Good deal.
Keep an eye on Office 2008 though. It may behave strangely at times...especially if (when) you move up to 10.13. Office 2011 will be not be supported, so expect less from 2008.
Keep an eye on Office 2008 though. It may behave strangely at times...especially if (when) you move up to 10.13. Office 2011 will be not be supported, so expect less from 2008.