Stupid Time Machine transfer question

You have a couple choices. You could fully restore the Time Machine backup to have an identical copy of your machine but doing so runs the risk of not having the new MBP work correctly due to old system files and/or a lack of special files needed by the new hardware.

My suggestion is to use your Time Machine backup with Migration Assistance (run as part of the first boot of the new machine - you tell it you have a Mac your want to transfer stuff from) and just move the Applications and user data. IMHO it's safer that way.

 

Yep, if you move user data and programs you'll get photoshop and parallels. Assuming your Windows 7 is a Parallels virtual machine and it's using a .pvm file and not a disk partition it will move over to the new MacBook Pro too.

 

When a brand new computer is turned on, the OS asks if you are moving form an old computer. Is this the time to say yes? Alternatively, is it better to say no, finish the registration, make the settings and wait for the system to load completely. Then, run TM with the Migration Assistance.

 

Yes, when the brand new Mac is turned on for the first time and it asks you if you're moving from an old Mac that's the time to say "yes". You can certainly say "no", configure and register the machine, and then run Applications/Utilities/Migration Assistant but why do that?

 

Easy, it's faster and you can ensure your new machine is running OK before committing to the migration. It's just smart practice to use the machine for a few hours or days and then run MA so you ensure you have a good one. It's also faster because once when you do the migration during the installation you're asking the computer to do additional duties. I tried doing a migration when I first turned on my MBP from my iMac, the migration got hung up at about 7 hours. When I stopped it and finished the installation without choosing MA and let the new MBP run for a few hours I then ran MA and the migration took about 2 hours total. When it was done I had a very stable MBP.

 

Right now, I am using Leopard on my SR MBP. I am moving the files to the new i7 MBP running Snow Leopard. In my case, either way will work. Am I correct?

 

Yep, either running MigrationAssitant during installation or after installation will work.

 

Thanks for the info. Appreciated.

 

A noob question....

Thanks for the info! I plan to get a 13" MacBook Pro this weekend to replace the late 2007 that was stolen from me and the one silver lining I had is those bastards did not take my external drives. So, it sounds like it should be a snap to restore my data.

However, I have a question. What happens if there are different versions of the same applications? For example, I had iLife 08 and QuickTime Pro 7 on my old MacBook. If I restore my applications I assume it will put QuickTime Pro in the Applications folder but will something similar happen with iLife 08? I worried that I'm going to clobber iLife 09.
Thanks in advance!

 

^^^^^
If you have a Time Machine back-up of your former setup, the restore will replicate exactly what you had on your former machine. It will feel exactly like you're at your old computer, except that you'll be running on your new h/w.

 

Thanks!

Thank you for the quick response and apologies for taking so long to respond. Well, I selected restore from a Time Machine backup during the initial setup and my new MacBook Pro feels just like my old MacBook just like you said except it's quite noticeably faster. And to answer my own questions....

Fortunately, when I tried my iLife application they were all the latest versions so my fear was unfounded. However, when I looked at my Dock where QuickTime Pro 7 had been I just had a question mark. However, all I had to do to get it back was to open Time Machine, select it in the Applications folder, and click Restore.