Need all my old contents on new macbook air

[lisamel]

Hi!

I have just bought the new macbook air and I would like to get all my files and everything else from my old mac on to this one. I tried using the migration assistant but it didnt work the way I wanted. I want my new macbook to be exactly the same, same rules, desktop photo etc.

Is there a way to do this now? I have time machine so I have a backup from yesterday that I could use? Or do I need to connect the two macs?

Thanks so much for any help!

Lisa

 

[dissolve]

Time machine doesn't backup preference files, permissions, etc. that you're looking for. The best solution will be to clone your old hard drive to the external and restore to the new machine. Unfortunately, this may cause some problems because the drivers for the two computers are different. Either way, you can look into Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! for the cloning part. But I'm not sure I'd recommend this approach. You may just need to go through and adjust applications on your own.

 

[mrbash]

If you are attempting to perform a complete restore from Time machine, you can boot from the install CD and then choose the option to restore from Time Machine.

Step 1: Remotely boot the MBA
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2129

Step 2: Complete restore from Time Machine
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/15638.html

I have not done this before on a MBA but I have on a normal MBP and step2 was all that I needed to do. It was a complete restore including a different version of the OS.

 

[dissolve]

If you are attempting to perform a complete restore from Time machine, you can boot from the install CD and then choose the option to restore from Time Machine.

Step 1: Remotely boot the MBA
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2129

Step 2: Complete restore from Time Machine
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/15638.html

I have not done this before on a MBA but I have on a normal MBP and step2 was all that I needed to do. It was a complete restore including a different version of the OS.

Did that retain permissions and other user-specific settings? That'd be great if it did. I've never had luck with TM restoring those types of preferences.