new mbp coming in, few questions.

[Sanderr]

Hello all,

I will be ordering a new 13" base mbp this week after being in doubt to get the 15" for a long time. Figure I'd just get a iMac after that has been refreshed for the more serious stuff. Anyway, I have some questions:

What would be the best way to transfer all my data (Currently have a regular macbook on 10.5.8)? The plan is to turn the MBP into my main machine and use the macbook i have now as a back-up or as a second machine when I am performing. I'd figure to 'copy' the hard-drive to the new MBP and then erase all the stuff on my regular macbook that I don't need anymore. I was thinking the advantage would be that this way it doesn't take so much time to transfer all my libraries, applications & plugins (itunes, iphoto, ableton, adobe CS etc.) But as my macbook is now 4 years old, will there be fragmentation on the new MBP disk if I just copy all the data over? If not, that would be great but then there is another thing. I am currently running 10.5.8. Would that pose any problems when copying the data from 10.5.8 to SL? Any advice on transferring my data would be greatly appreciated!

Then another thing. I will get a 1TB external drive for storage and time machine. My current macbook has a 160gb HDD, the new MBP will have 250gb. Am I correct when saying that backing up both machines with time machine shouldn't take any more than around 400-450 gb max? And can I use the remaining space for other data or do I have to partition the disk for that to work?

Thanks in advance!

 

[rkaufmann87]

The best (and easiest) way to move your data is to use Migration Assistant. When you first turn on the new machine it will ask if you want to do this, just follow the on-screen instructions and you're set. To make things go smoothly just have a Firewire 800 cable which is the most reliable and quickest. If your old machine does not have a FW 800 connection you can get a cable like this one from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Oyen-Digital-...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1278287600&sr=8-1

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

Don't copy your HD over to your new MBP. Or use migration assistant. I would set up the machine as new. The are remnants of your old machine when using migration assistant and even more so when copying a HD over.

 

[Sanderr]

Don't copy your HD over to your new MBP. Or use migration assistant. I would set up the machine as new. The are remnants of your old machine when using migration assistant and even more so when copying a HD over.

Yes that was my main thought. But when using migration assistent, will the new mbp have a fragmented disk right from the start already?

 

[iambasil]

Don't copy your HD over to your new MBP. Or use migration assistant. I would set up the machine as new. The are remnants of your old machine when using migration assistant and even more so when copying a HD over.

I'd agree with this guy from personal experience - nice to have a fresh clean install on your new laptop.

When I got my original macbook, I transferred a PowerBook account over - very nice, quick and easy. But over 4 years God knows what changes and weird programs I've installed. On my new mac (similar to you, I have a 15" MBP arriving) I want to have a fresh install and be sure that all those changes/worthless programs/old Rosetta things etc (which are no longer needed) aren't clogging things up. Also, I've since upgraded from 10.4 to 10.6 - would be nice to have a fresh 10.6 without any of the old 10.4 ghosts about on the new hard drive. Also some things like iPhoto get corrupt and could do with a new install and tidy up. Weird things happen when you mix iLife 06 with Snow Leopard!

Regarding the Time Capsule, I've been trying to do something similar as well. Eventually I decided that TC is not for me. Not because of the 18mth lifespan, but because of the inflexibility in the way you can use it. I had hoped to partition it and use part of it for backups and the other part as a wireless hard drive, but it doesn't seem to work that way. It just keeps eating and eating the space available with historic backup versions until it runs out (and then it starts overwriting the oldest backups). All I'm saying is read up about it before you spend all that money on a TC. This is an area where the product I'm after doesn't seem to exist yet - until then I may save a load of cash with an airport extreme and a connected hard drive (which can be partitioned).

Have you also considered wirelessly synching the hard drives instead of backing them up separately?

 

[Sanderr]

I'd agree with this guy from personal experience - nice to have a fresh clean install on your new laptop.

When I got my original macbook, I transferred a PowerBook account over - very nice, quick and easy. But over 4 years God knows what changes and weird programs I've installed. On my new mac (similar to you, I have a 15" MBP arriving) I want to have a fresh install and be sure that all those changes/worthless programs/old Rosetta things etc (which are no longer needed) aren't clogging things up. Also, I've since upgraded from 10.4 to 10.6 - would be nice to have a fresh 10.6 without any of the old 10.4 ghosts about on the new hard drive. Also some things like iPhoto get corrupt and could do with a new install and tidy up. Weird things happen when you mix iLife 06 with Snow Leopard!

Regarding the Time Capsule, I've been trying to do something similar as well. Eventually I decided that TC is not for me. Not because of the 18mth lifespan, but because of the inflexibility in the way you can use it. I had hoped to partition it and use part of it for backups and the other part as a wireless hard drive, but it doesn't seem to work that way. It just keeps eating and eating the space available with historic backup versions until it runs out (and then it starts overwriting the oldest backups). All I'm saying is read up about it before you spend all that money on a TC. This is an area where the product I'm after doesn't seem to exist yet - until then I may save a load of cash with an airport extreme and a connected hard drive (which can be partitioned).

Have you also considered wirelessly synching the hard drives instead of backing them up separately?

Maybe a clean install is better indeed. Will be some long days transferring everything, guess I just have to deal with it lol.

I was not planning to buy the Time Capsule. Just a regular WD or samsung external HD. What do you mean exactly with wireless syncing? All I need (wireless not necessary) is to have one backup of my macbook, one backup of my macbook pro and some space to store movies etc.

 

[davidlv]

You do not have to worry about fragmentation. Copying fragmented data from an old disk to a new HD will actually consolidate the fragmented data, and OSX works well to un-fragment smaller files anyway. It is not worth even thinking about in your case (maybe that is why nobody took the time to answer that question?).
The newer machines, running SL, will work much better with a clean install rather than a cloned HD (which won't work at all if you clone Leopard!).
You should be able to use Migration Assistant to copy your data and settings but beware of the copy protection aspect. The MA app will copy your user preferences folder too you know, which may contain something that will interfere with a new install of Photoshop or the like. I would definitely be wary of copying the applications over too. Any experts may chime in here, I don't know much about that aspect, just that it can be problematic.
Good luck with the new machine.

 

[zorahk]

I've never had any problems with time machine or migration assistant, but I have only used them between minor refreshes with little hardware difference.

 

[iambasil]

I was not planning to buy the Time Capsule. Just a regular WD or samsung external HD. What do you mean exactly with wireless syncing? All I need (wireless not necessary) is to have one backup of my macbook, one backup of my macbook pro and some space to store movies etc.

Sorry, mis-read Time Machine for Time Capsule.

External HD should allow you to partition as you described so that you can have a 'back-up partition'. This is a neat and simple way. Regarding how much space you need - it depends how much data you have. Looking around the net there is a lot of opinion that 1.5X original HDD is a sensible size. In my logic it depends on how much of your original HDD you are likely to use and how much back-up history you actually need.

By partitioning, you can fix an amount of size for your backups (if you expect to fill up your HDDs, then 1.5x would be fine) and TM will delete the oldest files when it hits the capacity limit. You can use the other partition as you described (if you use Windows as well, you could even go FAT32 on this one - but keep in mind the 4GB filesize limit).

What I was referring to with synching is that you could get the two macbooks to sync to each other - so essentially they back each other up. There are various ways of doing this. MobileMe can sync some of your data, whilst something like ChronoSync can sync everything. Basically, when you make changes to one machine, ChronoSync will copy those changes across to the other. The disadvantage here over TM backups is if you make a mistake and then sync before you realise... but I thought it was worth mentioning as it might help you with your general file management, or to negate the need of backing up both macbooks. If it sounds like something that might be good for you, search around on the topic - there are people far more knowledgeable on it than me (I'm considering it myself but still unsure on the best way to manage my files - as I said before, the product I need doesn't seem to exist yet).

 

[Sanderr]

Sorry, mis-read Time Machine for Time Capsule.

External HD should allow you to partition as you described so that you can have a 'back-up partition'. This is a neat and simple way. Regarding how much space you need - it depends how much data you have. Looking around the net there is a lot of opinion that 1.5X original HDD is a sensible size. In my logic it depends on how much of your original HDD you are likely to use and how much back-up history you actually need.

By partitioning, you can fix an amount of size for your backups (if you expect to fill up your HDDs, then 1.5x would be fine) and TM will delete the oldest files when it hits the capacity limit. You can use the other partition as you described (if you use Windows as well, you could even go FAT32 on this one - but keep in mind the 4GB filesize limit).

What I was referring to with synching is that you could get the two macbooks to sync to each other - so essentially they back each other up. There are various ways of doing this. MobileMe can sync some of your data, whilst something like ChronoSync can sync everything. Basically, when you make changes to one machine, ChronoSync will copy those changes across to the other. The disadvantage here over TM backups is if you make a mistake and then sync before you realise... but I thought it was worth mentioning as it might help you with your general file management, or to negate the need of backing up both macbooks. If it sounds like something that might be good for you, search around on the topic - there are people far more knowledgeable on it than me (I'm considering it myself but still unsure on the best way to manage my files - as I said before, the product I need doesn't seem to exist yet).

Nice to hear that it works with a single external HD. Saves me a lot of trouble.

With chronosync, is it like having 2 identical machines? Or does it only copy your documents and not application settings etc.?

 

[iambasil]

Nice to hear that it works with a single external HD. Saves me a lot of trouble.

With chronosync, is it like having 2 identical machines? Or does it only copy your documents and not application settings etc.?

It copies files (but that will include contact files etc too). Having a bit of a read on their site, as you might expect, it can't sync applications or system files. I don't know how deep they go in reference to 'system files' (eg is all of Library out of scope?).

If it is something that might be of use, have a read around - as I said, I'm no expert. You can always try it out (from a few different sources). Won't cost you anything but some time. Would be good to know what set up you end up with and how it works out for you. Good luck and enjoy!

 

[Sanderr]

I think I'll just go with Time Machine and do the syncing myself. Won't be very much anyway.

Another thing I didn't know for sure: Can I use the install dvd that comes with the new mbp to upgrade to SL on my old macbook? Or is it prohibited to use the dvd for a computer other than the one it shipped with?

 

[EspressoLove]

Another thing I didn't know for sure: Can I use the install dvd that comes with the new mbp to upgrade to SL on my old macbook? Or is it prohibited to use the dvd for a computer other than the one it shipped with?

IDK if it's prohibited or not (legalities).
But it won't let you do it, as it's physically blocks itself from being run on machines of different ... generations.