New to Macbook

[shakey55]

Good afternoon everyone. I am new to his forum and looking forward to learning from your experiences and knowledge.

In the past I have always used windows based computers.

I have just (yesterday) purchased my first MacBook Pro.

I am slowly working out some of their differences.

My first two questions are;

1. I have always backed up my windows computer to an external hard drive. Do I need to back up my MacBook Pro, how do I do it and where is the best place to back it up to ?

2. Can my back up from my previous computer (windows - which is no longer working) be transferred to my new MacBook and if so how is this done

Thanks

Shakey55

 

[s.horsfield]

Good afternoon everyone. I am new to his forum and looking forward to learning from your experiences and knowledge.

In the past I have always used windows based computers.

I have just (yesterday) purchased my first MacBook Pro.

I am slowly working out some of their differences.

My first two questions are;

1. I have always backed up my windows computer to an external hard drive. Do I need to back up my MacBook Pro, how do I do it and where is the best place to back it up to ?

2. Can my back up from my previous computer (windows - which is no longer working) be transferred to my new MacBook and if so how is this done

Thanks

Shakey55

Welcome to the forum Shakey55!

It's highly recommended you backup your MacBook Pro. OS X makes backups a breeze with Time Machine. Follow the instructions here to do so.

Secondly OS X has a built-in feature called Migration Assistant that will automatically transfer your files. You can find Migration Assistant inside Utilities in the Applications folder. Simply open Migration Assistant - either via Finder or Spotlight in the top right hand corner of your desktop - and follow the instructions.

 

[Weaselboy]

I am slowly working out some of their differences.

Apple has a good web page here that will help you with the transition.

1. I have always backed up my windows computer to an external hard drive. Do I need to back up my MacBook Pro, how do I do it and where is the best place to back it up to ?

You definitely want to backup to an external hard drive. Your Mac comes with a utility called Time Machine that will do this for you. Just buy yourself an inexpensive USB3 external drive for this.

2. Can my back up from my previous computer (windows - which is no longer working) be transferred to my new MacBook and if so how is this done

Maybe. How was this backup made?

 

[Barney63]

2. Can my back up from my previous computer (windows - which is no longer working) be transferred to my new MacBook and if so how is this done

It also depends what you are trying to restore from the backup. Windows programs aren't compatible with OS X, but the data i.e. docs and music will be, as long as you have a mac program to run them.


Barney

 

[goMac]

As mentioned, Migration Assistant can migrate your data from your Windows computer, but your Windows computer must be in a working state.