Selling iMac tomorrow morning... best way to back up my data to restore on rMBP?

[NMF]

Are my Time Machine back-ups enough, or should I also manually save some stuff? I use iPhoto to manage all of my photos... how exactly does that work? I'm hesitant to simply 'Restore' my new MBP with data from the old; I'd like to "start fresh" with the new machine. Might be a habit I'm carrying over from Windows, but I digress. Also, does anyone have experience in dealing with Adobe (I have CS5) and Microsoft (Office for Mac 2011) when switching machines? I never actually paid for those programs when I was on Windows, heh.

Any tips are appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

 

[GGJstudios]

An easy way is to use Carbon Copy Cloner to make a bootable clone of your drive. Then restore from that clone on the new Mac.

 

[zackkmac]

You can do a full restore with the Time Machine backups, where it restores all things backed up. Alternatively, you can restore the whole OS X "image" so your rMBP will look exactly like your iMac when it was last backed up.

Or, you can just set up the rMBP as new, and browse the backup disk after you've logged in and manually import whatever files/folders you select.

 

[NMF]

You can do a full restore with the Time Machine backups, where it restores all things backed up.

So if I did this would it just restore the files, or the apps too? I'm actually not sure if I want it to automatically add all the apps I currently have installed. I also don't want to make the rMBP look exactly like my current iMac. I want the new machine smell, just with all my old files! Heh.

I don't mind manually browsing my old time machine, but how easy with that on a new machine that it hasn't been backing up? I have no experience with that at all...

 

[zackkmac]

I think it will restore all apps too, but you can download something like AppCleaner to delete any unwanted apps after it finishes.

And browsing it will be just like browsing an external disk. You just open it, open the Backups folder, open the most recent backup subfolder, and it will be organized like your iMac's home folder is now.

 

[GGJstudios]

I think it will restore all apps too, but you can download something like AppCleaner to delete any unwanted apps after it finishes.

In most cases, app removal software doesn't do a thorough job of finding and removing files/folders related to deleted apps. For more information, read this and this. If you just want to delete the app, drag the .app file to the trash. No other software needed. If you want to completely remove all associated files/folders, no removal apps will do the job.

The most effective method for complete app removal is manual deletion:

Best way to FULLY DELETE a program​

 

[NMF]

I think it will restore all apps too, but you can download something like AppCleaner to delete any unwanted apps after it finishes.

And browsing it will be just like browsing an external disk. You just open it, open the Backups folder, open the most recent backup subfolder, and it will be organized like your iMac's home folder is now.

And that will have all the files? I was worried that it might not have stuff that hasn't been modified, since Time Machine says that it only saves the stuff that changes...

Sorry for the silly questions, this is my first Mac transition!

 

[zackkmac]

Those aren't silly questions, I'd be concerned too!

But Time Machine saves everything, and only updates what has been changed, therefore making the backup process quicker (rather than doing a complete backup every single time). So all your files will be there. If you want to be safe, just open Time Machine on your iMac right now and make sure the files you want are there.

 

[NMF]

Those aren't silly questions, I'd be concerned too!

But Time Machine saves everything, and only updates what has been changed, therefore making the backup process quicker (rather than doing a complete backup every single time). So all your files will be there. If you want to be safe, just open Time Machine on your iMac right now and make sure the files you want are there.

Ah, I see. I was was more asking if all the files would could be found in my most recent backup folder, since many files wouldn't have changed in months. But browsing it now it looks like they're there. That seems weird to my backups don't seem to be taking up much space. Time Machine most use symbolic links or something for files that haven't been modified.