New MBP, time machine selective restore.

[Calvin19]

So, got a new MBP coming in the mail, my old one trashed out. (I put 2 I/O boards, 2 inverters and replaced RAM twice, gave up on the lemonade)

Is there a way I can restore from my old hard drive and/or the time machine disk ONLY my Itunes and Iphoto library?

If I can preserve all the albums/playlists and then start from scratch everywhere else that would be awesome. I tried to talk to a genius at the retail store but they seem to be pre-programmed for only a few thousand generic answers.

thanks,
Calvin
(now)-3.06ghz 8gb 500gb 15.4"

PS-I tried searching, but it seemed everyone had a different selective restore for hard drive problems, not a new machine transfer,

 

[Calvin19]

hopeless?

 

[Ptyger]

There's a way to do it manually, i.e. not through the Time Machine interface.

Once you get your new machine, you can plug in your previous Time Machine volume and it should mount. If you are asked if you want to use it for Time Machine, select no for now.

Browse into the volume, and you should see a backups.db folder. Double click on that, and there should be a series of folders labelled with dates/times. Choose a date/time that you know your files existed, and browse into it. It should show the folders of your root volume and you can go into them, find your files, and drag them out to where you want them.

I've done this a time or two, and it seemed to work great. I hope it works for you as well.

 

[Tex-Twil]

Hi,

edit: this is for restoring from your old HD, for restoring from your TM, follow Ptyger's post.

well if your mac is in the trash it will be difficult

Is it still booting ? Or you just have the hard disk ?

If you can access the disk, just copy the itunes and iphoto directory to your new MBP, that's all.

Tex

 

[Calvin19]

Tex-Twil,

I am using the old MBP right now, so yes, it boots and partially works. just no screen, no DVD drive response, and no battery charge.

If I can do it without time machine that would work as well.

I assume just target disk this (the old) MBP and put the Itunes library folder onto the new MBP library? Wont that just bring all the songs over? I was hoping to save the itunes playlists/iphotoalbums etc.

also, what are the logistics with my iphone sync? will there be an issue with that?

 

[Tex-Twil]

ok in this case just copy your itunes folder from Music. It contains playlists, ratings, album pictures, purchases ... also iPhone apps.

As far as iPhone backups are concerned I think they are elsewhere. It's in

~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/Backup/

Edit: ah sorry I didn't read the iPhone part correctly The iTunes folder also contains an ID so your iPhone will recognize it as the one he was synced with before. So no problem here

Tex

 

[Calvin19]

Killer. thank you so much! once I get the new magic I'll do it right away.