Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Restore superduper backup image to a new mac

cool11

cool11

macrumors 68000
Original poster
I take total bootable backups of my macbook pro with superduper application, to an external hard disk.

In a few months I plan to buy a new mbp, and I would like to know if it is possible to 'copy' my whole osx system environment(applications, data, everything) to the new machine, using this superduper backup, with the appropriate restoration process.

Can I boot the mac from the external hard disk, then run superduper, and use 'copy' option of superduper to copy the osx environment from external hard disk to internal hard disk?

I think that everything should work fine but I do not know if it will appear any new hardware/configuration problem.
So anybody that has already done this procedure, please tell me about this process.
 
You could, but you shouldn't. You're moving between Mac models, different hardware, and so drivers etc.

You really ought to (and indeed might need to) go the route of a fresh install.
 
my 2 cents

I agree with the previous post.... do a fresh install of the OS on the new Mac, install all applications from their install disks, check for updates on the apps, then use migration assistant to move over your user account to your new Mac. You can restore this user account from your SuperDuper backup.

edit: you are getting a brand new Mac, so just run the software update to get the latest OS updates, then install third party apps, etc...
 
Migration assistant how could help me?
What should I expect to be migrated from my older system?
 
cool11 said:
In a few months I plan to buy a new mbp
Click to expand...
Cool. With any luck, it'll have Snow Leopard on it for the OS! : )

cool11 said:
Migration assistant how could help me?
What should I expect to be migrated from my older system?
Click to expand...
The screenshot attached shows what all it can move over. It's fairly smart about moving, too (i.e. if the backup has an older version of an app and the new Mac has a newer version, it won't overwrite the newer version)
 

Attachments

  • Picture 1.png
    Picture 1.png
    104.9 KB · Views: 397
maccompaq said:
He is buying a new Mac. Why would you suggest a fresh Install?
Click to expand...

Right, missed the new and was mislead by the superduper thing.

The migration assistant can be started from the configuration wizard that is loaded at the first start and will transfer applications, files, configurations, ... Basically everything. I read there may be some problems with a couple applications that need to be registered again but never had that problem myself.
 
Aperture was the only one I had to re-type in the serial number (after having done a recent Migration Assistant move).

Coming from the Windows world, that's one kick-ass feature! 🙂
 
So, superduper and migration assistant do the job and they are both reliable?

Any osx user can use migration assistant with ease, and superduper users additionally could also use superduper?
 
cool11 said:
So, superduper and migration assistant do the job and they are both reliable?

Any osx user can use migration assistant with ease, and superduper users additionally could also use superduper?
Click to expand...

I think that Superduper (and the free Carbon Copy Cloner) are very good for backup purpose (build a clone of the entire drive) and for replacing the internal hard drive with a bigger one (plus other countless situations). Only problem there could be is when you are using the clone on a machine with a different hardware. This is especially true when buying a new mac, that may have hardware components with "drivers" that were not included in previous OS X versions (thus you may be using a clone that doesn't have the correct drivers).

Usually it's good to use Migration Assistant and check that everything is working on the new mac before doing anything to the older one.
 
cool11 said:
So, superduper and migration assistant do the job and they are both reliable?

Any osx user can use migration assistant with ease, and superduper users additionally could also use superduper?
Click to expand...
If you don't have an external backup of a Mac, Migration Assistant will also work if you can directly connect your old Mac to your new Mac (either via firewire or ethernet).

Personally, I don't need a bootable backup, so I use Time Machine to backup my Mac instead of SuperDuper (I like how it keeps multiple backups, instead of just my latest backup). Migration Assistant works with Time Machine backups, too (to restore data to a new Mac).
 
I used a combination of Migration Assistant and Time Machine to migrate from a Mac Mini to an iMac. No problem at all, had to do a Permission Repair afterwards to correct a couple of problems, but that's all.
 
Migration assistant: when the migration finish, I will almost have my old setup-ed system, transferred in the new osx environment?
Shared computers, network settings, everything from dock customization to internet connection settings, backdrop, system preferences settings, will all be there ready and familiar for me?
 
cool11 said:
Migration assistant: when the migration finish, I will almost have my old setup-ed system, transferred in the new osx environment?
Shared computers, network settings, everything from dock customization to internet connection settings, backdrop, system preferences settings, will all be there ready and familiar for me?
Click to expand...

Correct, that's the experience I had.
 
Can move from old mac to new

I just did this. I had the 2007 2.2ghz dual core running snow leopard and moved to a nwe 17inch i5. I made a bootable copy of my OSX from my old machine, mounted on the new one when the machine booted up and then backed-up from USB to HD on the new mac. Worked fine.
 
axwack said:
I just did this. I had the 2007 2.2ghz dual core running snow leopard and moved to a nwe 17inch i5. I made a bootable copy of my OSX from my old machine, mounted on the new one when the machine booted up and then backed-up from USB to HD on the new mac. Worked fine.
Click to expand...

Did you use superduper or other app to do this backup and restore?
 
aristobrat said:
If you don't have an external backup of a Mac, Migration Assistant will also work if you can directly connect your old Mac to your new Mac (either via firewire or ethernet).
Click to expand...

When you say 'directly', can I suppose that the job could be done if both computers are on the same hub?
I mean my home lan. I have a router with 4 ethernet ports, from time to time I connect several computers and they can see one another.

If I have both macs on the router/hub, is it ok for using Migration assistant?
 
cool11 said:
When you say 'directly', can I suppose that the job could be done if both computers are on the same hub?
I mean my home lan. I have a router with 4 ethernet ports, from time to time I connect several computers and they can see one another.

If I have both macs on the router/hub, is it ok for using Migration assistant?
Click to expand...

Yes. But haven't you migrated already?
 
In a few day I will have my hands in my new mbp.
I think of using migration assistant.

As you said above, I wait all my settings (& files?) to be transferred to my new mbp.

I want to ask here, what should I expect as far as it concerns the osx itself.
I mean that I have 10.6.7 in my current-old mac, and the new one will have the 10.6.6, because that's the osx apple used in mbp when the machine was shipped.

But, I want to ask about what happens to osx version itself. I want to mention 2 things:

- The 10.6.6 of new mbp has some 'internal' settings that support 'trim' for ssd disks. The 'other systems' 10.6.6 do not have it. Even 10.6.7 does not contain these settings. I think I read these things in appleinsider.

- A few days ago apple gave as 10.6.7. There are two versions of 10.6.7: one for all macs, and one for the new mbp's with thunderbolt.

So, what happens to osx established system of the new machine, when migration assistant transfers all these things from a machine with 'newer' osx version?

Will I lose the 10.6.6 system shipped with my mac that recognizes 'trimm' support for ssd disks?

Does the osx version of the target machine remains as is?

What do I have to expect? What I should do?
 
Please, take a look and help me!
As you can read here
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/03/21/apple_releases_mac_os_x_10_6_7.html
apple released 2 versions of 10.6.7! (I don't know if this ever happened before)
One for all macs, and one especially for new mbp.

My current mac has 10.6.7, the 'simple'(one for all) one.
My new mbp will come with 10.6.6.

When I will restore my superduper image to my new mbp, the mbp will obtain among others the new 10.6.7 version, but not the 'new mbp-10.6.7' specific one!

Will I be able to update the new mbp with 10.6.7-generic to 10.6.7-new-mbp-specific one? Will osx let me do it? I 've downloaded the update file to do the installation offline, If I can.

This is a critical question. I do not want my new machine to be poorly utilized because of the generic version of 10.6.7. It would be unfair!

Can you please tell me?
 
Oh boy, I feel like I 'm going to do something unique!
Nobody ever tried something like that or nobody knows?
 
When the new MBP arrives and you still have the old MBP or the cloned copy of the old MBP's HDD' content, then either use Target Disk Mode to connect both Macs and boot from the old MBP or connect the old HDD via USB and boot from that.
If that works, you should be good to go.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back