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Eves apple

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 25, 2011
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Hi I'm new and I've just bought a new iMac, I have the iMac from before the thunderbolt update but without the SSD option, this time I've opted for the full spec and I'm wondering what's the best way to transfer over from old to new but doing it to optimise the speed the SSD offers.

Have the issues been fixed with the 27" iMacs yet? (should have checked before ordering, I know :p )

I keep checking the order on the apple store and it's not moving yet, it's quite exciting :)
 
To transfer data from the old iMac to the new one will best be served via FireWire 800. The transfer rate will only be as fast as your conventional HDD. The SSD will only take the data at the speed of the HDD from the older iMac.

It will be only as fast as it's slowest link.
 
Thanks, I was actually meaning setting it up so the applications go to the SSD so they launch direct from there as opposed to from the HD, I've noticed a slow down when launching applications on my existing mac since Lion, I'm hoping using the SSD to launch applications from will cut the time.

I'm not sure if the migration assistant will know to assign the SSD for applications or if it will just use the HD and ignore the SSD, will it ask me where I want them?
 
I've never messed with an SSD & HDD combo yet, but it should be rather straightforward. I think you just need to make sure the SSD is your startup disk under System Preferences and all of your stuff will go there. You will want to be sure that the amount of data coming from your HDD is not more than the SSD can hold. If it is, you'll have to break the HDD down and separate as much of your user created data off before transferring to the SSD.

Once you get that done, you can then move any user created data to the HDD on your new iMac and let the applications reside on your SSD. Then any data from the applications that is stored on the HDD will have to have their file paths adjusted to point to where you put them.

That is how I think it works and seems logical. Any other MR member with experience can please correct any errors I stated here.
 
Eves apple said:
Hi I'm new and I've just bought a new iMac, I have the iMac from before the thunderbolt update but without the SSD option, this time I've opted for the full spec....

Have the issues been fixed with the 27" iMacs yet? (should have checked before ordering, I know :p )
Click to expand...
The 27" IMacs that had the trouble were only those with the 1T HD's -- and I don't recall whether it was just some of those. In any case, I believe Apple will replace one of those defective 1T drives until some time in summer 2012.

You say you opted for "the full spec" now. I presume this means you ordered a BTO? If you ordered a 2T HD + SSD, then that's not one of the models that had the HD problem.

Apple's managing of orders, at least for BTO, can be strange. When I ordered my maxed-out 27" iMac on June 4, it said 4-to-6 weeks time before shipping, then an estimated week or so for shipping. Lo and behold, it actually shipped June 15 and arrived 2 days later - direct from China! (Apparently there had been a temporary shortage of SSD's that was resolved more quickly than Apple had anticipated.

I guess I'd rather have overly conservative estimates of shipping/delivery times than overly optimistic ones -- even though I carefully timed my order so that the cost would not be charged to my credit card until the next cycle, only to be foiled in my careful planning by Apple's speed.
 
Thanks guys :) fingers crossed for a simple set up

I've seen stories of screen problems and a few other complaints with the 27" iMacs, I've never had a problem with mine, thought I'd ask just incase anything new had cropped up.

Spec I opted for is 27" 3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, 16GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x4GB, 2TB Serial ATA Drive + 256GB SSD,*AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2GB GDDR5, Magic trackpad, Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad and Apple care.
 
Last edited:
Quick update.

Thanks guys, I did the usual migration and only moved the important things to the SSD (Apps, and so on) then using Firewire target mode I moved the other files onto the HDD on the new machine, then as in derbothaus's link I moved the home folder over :)

Mmmm very smooth and fast :cool:
 
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