Need help Migrating Apps & Settings from old iMac to new iMac

[capecod5947]

Im new to this great forum, and already have learned a lot.

My question is that I am giving my 27 inch iMac to my grandson and I am buying a new one for myself. I need to keep most all of my programs on the Mac for him to use, but want/need to delete all my banking, tax, and that kind of stuff. Also probably should delete all my iTunes and iPhoto stuff, plus all the extra stuff that he would not want or need.

Is there a way to set up a user account for him and delete my own without losing all my programs?

I know that I should clone my entire hard drive so that I can put all my stuff onto the new computer, but I am not sure of how to go about that.
I also realize that I will have to de-authorize Photoshop, some other programs and wondering if I have to do that with my iTunes account also, as he has his own account.

Should I post this as a separate thread, as Im needing the basic instructions at the moment.
Thank you all!
Jane

 

[satcomer]

So you are going to a new Mac and giving/selling your current Mac, do I have that straight?

1. Do you have any backups? Like Time Machine or a clone?

2. When you get the new Mac try to put both computers on your local network at the same time. Then log into both and on the new Mac run /Applications/Utilities/Migration Assistant.app and transfer your saved Documents and modern non-Apple applications like third party applications making sure you update those applications for the new OS X. Please don't transfer network settings because IMHO the IP stack changes slightly form different versions of OS X, just manually rejoin you new network on your new Mac.

3. On your old Mac follow the Apple Document What to do before selling or giving away your Mac. Plus Make sure with the old Mac to give away the disks that came with the old Mac.

 

[Fishrrman]

My suggestion:

1. Have both iMacs side-by-side.

2. Use Migration Assistant to move your old account from the OLD iMac to the NEW one.

3. Check the NEW iMac to be sure that everything you want has been "migrated over".

4. Go to the OLD iMac and create a new account for your grandson (you are really just creating an "empty" account for now, so that he can be logged in and ready to go). You can go two ways:
You didn't say hold old your grandson is, but do you want him to have full "administrative privileges" on the old iMac?

5a. If he is to have administrative priviliges -- create a new account with administrative privileges. You should ask him beforehand what he wishes the name of the account to be. You will have to choose a temporary password for him, it will be easy for him to change it later on. Then, log into the new account, and DELETE your old one (you want to choose the option to erase the account info).

Now, the old iMac will be set up for him to use. You might consider whether you wish to remove some of the old applications you're currently using.

5b. If he is NOT to have administrative privilieges -- create a new account withOUT administrative privileges. Again, ask him about the username, and assign a temporary password.

BUT ALSO CREATE A THIRD ACCOUNT for administrative purposes only. Give it whatever username and password you wish (you can give this info to his parents).

At this point, log into the temp. administrative account, and delete your old account, adjust applications, etc.

 

[cofl]

I recently purchased a 27" to replace my late 2006 24" which was running very slow.
I used migration assistant to do the full transfer between the two.
It took everything across including apps.
Now i have a brand new 27" iMac running as slow as my old iMac...

My advice, think very carefully before using this method !

Now i am stuck trying to restore my new Imac back to factory settings, which using the Command R at start up doesn't do.
It leaves all the apps on !

So if anyone has on advice on getting back to a clean install i would be most grateful.

 

[Weaselboy]

I recently purchased a 27" to replace my late 2006 24" which was running very slow.
I used migration assistant to do the full transfer between the two.
It took everything across including apps.
Now i have a brand new 27" iMac running as slow as my old iMac...

My advice, think very carefully before using this method !

Now i am stuck trying to restore my new Imac back to factory settings, which using the Command R at start up doesn't do.
It leaves all the apps on !

So if anyone has on advice on getting back to a clean install i would be most grateful.

Try command-option-r (all three together) at boot to get to Internet recovery. From there use Disk Utility to erase Macintosh HD then reinstall the OS. Make sure you have a backup first because this will wipe all your data.