hello everyone, i will be purchasing a new 13 inch mbp this weekend and i wanted to transfer my old files from my macbook to it. i will be purchasing the new laptop from the apple store. do you guys recommend i let the apple techs do it? i also have a new xp disk which online chat said they can install for me as well using boot camp. i have already setup an appointment. please let me know if you think i am better off doing it myself or if they really know what they are doing. thanks in advance.
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new 13 inch mbp and transfer of files
- Thread starter bmms8
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hey thanks for the quick reply. since i do not have a firewire cable, will they just transfer the files using their own cables or over their wifi network? there should be no charge for this service as well, correct? thanks.
I made a clone of my old MB onto an external drive and then transfered everything that way with Migration Assistant and MobileMe, everything worked pretty good except my Keychain got corrupted on both the MB and MBP from MobileMe.
hey thanks for all the input. i do not have TM but i do have MM. i might sync some of my very important documents in the cloud so i am safe even if there is a problem. i only need to transfer about 10 gigs. would it be better if i just did that all through mobileme?
One of the beauties of owning a Mac is how easy this is to do yourself. When you start up your new computer, it will ask you if you want to transfer files from your old computer, and then give you instructions on how to do it. Since your old MB doesn't have FW, I assume you can also do it via ethernet cable or even USB. I've done this several times with my Macs, and it's super easy. It will certainly take some time if you try to do it wirelessly, which you can do but just start it before you go to bed if you go that route.
Actually, it isn't free anymore. Data transfers are done at the time of purchase, and only if you're buying a One-to-One membership.
I'am shaking a stick...
I too would suggest that you let them do it, it's free. But I also would like to point out that the people doing this are not exactly Pro's, they can hold their own (softly LOL) but they are not Pro's. I only point this out so that people will realize that the data on our machines are our responsibility. So please do not assume that they can and will always do what is in your best interest. BACKUP YOUR MAC FIRST. I realize that you are going to back up to Mobile ME, thats good but, nothing can beat or replace a local backup. Although it's all weighted on how important your data is to you.
I too would suggest that you let them do it, it's free. But I also would like to point out that the people doing this are not exactly Pro's, they can hold their own (softly LOL) but they are not Pro's. I only point this out so that people will realize that the data on our machines are our responsibility. So please do not assume that they can and will always do what is in your best interest. BACKUP YOUR MAC FIRST. I realize that you are going to back up to Mobile ME, thats good but, nothing can beat or replace a local backup. Although it's all weighted on how important your data is to you.
hey thanks for the info. can someone please assure me that i can use a regular cat5 ethernet cable to connect the two macs? i can that way sync my needed docs through mobileme and do the rest through ethernet without them messing with it. thanks!
According to this article, you can use an Ethernet cable.
"You can directly connect the two Macs via an Ethernet cable if both are Ethernet capable."
hey thanks for that link. i called the apple store and they did say that it will be free only if i am a one on one member, which i am not. i have backed up my needed files and docs through mobileme. the only thing i will need to transfer via ethernet will be my iphoto library, which will hopefully not be that bad. and adding an xp partition using boot camp which seems pretty self explanatory. thanks for the help guys!
Are you sure? That's definitely new to me. So Apple advertises "easy to switch from Windows to Mac, we'll even help you get started by transferring your files for you" but they're going to charge you? Damn, though how am I not surprised Apple is charging for the little things like they have in the past.
yea it surprised me too but she said it was only for one on one members. it doesnt seem to be a big deal since i have what i need backed up in mobile me. all i need to learn is how to transfer my iphoto pics and using boot camp to install xp.
i didnt want to start a new thread just for this, but if i compress my iphoto library and put that into mobile me will i be able to unzip this in my new mbp and have everything work fine? can someone also please tell me how i would transfer my apps onto itunes on the new mbp, thanks in advance!
Your photos are in jpegs and they are already compressed, putting them in a zip file will not make them any smaller, it will just make them one file.
I agree reallynotnick, if you have 1GB of photos and then zip them you may only save 10MB maybe a little more but most of the time zipping does not compress that much. The most it will do for you is keep them neatly in a folder for transferring. As I have stated before if other forums, local is the best way to backup or transfer. Depending on how many pictures you have of course. Moving large amounts of data to Mobile ME seems like a lot of wasted time, especially when you can push the data to an external firewire drive in seconds or to an external USB drive in minutes (Thanks Apple for adding Firewire to the 13" pro's, but now fix the SATAII issues). Your best bet really is using firewire target disk mode.
As far as adding apps to iTunes? Are you talking about the apps for the iPhone? I am not familiar with the iPhone stuff and I am curious?
hey thanks for the responses.
my iphoto library is 8.65 gb. i now understand why after i compressed them it only saved .5 gb haha. i do not have a firewire cable but i am thinking i will use a cat 5 ethernet cable.
as for the itunes, yes i am talking about iphone apps. after thinking about it, i hope ill be able to just authorize my new computer using itunes, and when i sync my phone, itunes asks me if i want to transfer apps from my phone to my computer so that should be fine.
my iphoto library is 8.65 gb. i now understand why after i compressed them it only saved .5 gb haha. i do not have a firewire cable but i am thinking i will use a cat 5 ethernet cable.
as for the itunes, yes i am talking about iphone apps. after thinking about it, i hope ill be able to just authorize my new computer using itunes, and when i sync my phone, itunes asks me if i want to transfer apps from my phone to my computer so that should be fine.
Forget MobileMe
Dude, I agree with iyacyas, you need to just forget MobileMe and do it locally. It's seriously easy. I bought a new iMac recently, and when you start it up it asks you if you want to transfer from another computer. Just follow the instructions, and it will work. When I was done, everything on my new iMac was exactly the same as my old Macbook Pro. This is why you use a Mac and not a Windows computer, because Apple makes everything simple and easy (for the most part).
Another way to go about it is to make a clone (SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner) of your old HD to an external, and just restore your new HD using Disk Utility. I've done that several times and it works great too. My last option would be to use MobileMe.
Dude, I agree with iyacyas, you need to just forget MobileMe and do it locally. It's seriously easy. I bought a new iMac recently, and when you start it up it asks you if you want to transfer from another computer. Just follow the instructions, and it will work. When I was done, everything on my new iMac was exactly the same as my old Macbook Pro. This is why you use a Mac and not a Windows computer, because Apple makes everything simple and easy (for the most part).
Another way to go about it is to make a clone (SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner) of your old HD to an external, and just restore your new HD using Disk Utility. I've done that several times and it works great too. My last option would be to use MobileMe.
hello, i have transferred mostly everything from my white macbook to my new macbook pro. the only thing i cannot figure out is how to transfer the iphoto library. i turned on sharing through ethernet and i had the computers connected with file sharing on, but it greys out the iphoto library so i cannot select it, can someone please tell me how to complete this task, thanks in advance!