Swapping MacPro and MacBookPro Over.

[Reality4711]

I have decided that my wife is more of a big user of her computer than I am nowadays.

She has a busy web base of activities, uses Photo, Pages, Mail, iTunes all at the same time whilst writing long letters and messaging. Add to that an unbreakable habit of never shutting an App. down when finished with and I think anyone can see that her 13" three-year-old MBP plus Eizo Display are being pushed on a regular basis.

My own needs have diminished as retirement from the photographic rat race, health issues and general digital disinterest have set in.

So decision made.

My wife will have my set up and I hers.

How to go about the exchange is the question I would like advice on. I will have a few days grace in which to achieve the swap when my wife is visiting family end of February and I would like to have "a plan" set out before I start.

Is 'Time Machine' my best option, or a total rebuild from scratch of both machines?

My wife's set up is MBP(16gb ram & 512gb HD)+Belkin Hub+Eizo 24" display+4TB Timemachine Drive, 275GB external Photo SSD, Printer(USB) and Scanner(USB). Mine is in my signature.

Obviously, the external drives can just be swapped but what is the quickest safe way of swapping the OS etc between the MacPro and MacBookPro.

All advice gratefully received. I know what I do can be handled by the laptop easily by the way so no problems there and my 4K display is wasted on me. So over to you!

Regards. Sharkey

 

[CoastalOR]

Which OS are the Macs running?

I'm thinking of suggesting 2 external disks, cloning software, and possibly the Migration Assistant app if you are using a different OS in each Mac.

 

[Reality4711]

Which OS are the Macs running?

I'm thinking of suggesting 2 external disks, cloning software, and possibly the Migration app if you are using a different OS in each Mac.

We both run 10.12 (Sierra)

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"We both run 10.12 (Sierra)"

I don't think you need to do "a complete swap" of OS's between the two Macs.

Do you have any external drives available?
One would be ok.
TWO would be better.

I would use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to clone the contents of each computer to a respective hard drive.

IF you have a drive of sufficient capacity, it may be possible to use a single drive by partitioning it into partitions for BOTH cloned backups.

CCC is FREE to download and use for 30 days.
SD is FREE to create a "full clone" forever without registering.

Take HER clone to YOUR Mac.
Use Migration Assistant to migrate apps, accounts, settings, and user data.

Take YOUR clone to HER Mac.
Then... do the same, moving your stuff to her Mac.

Now, BOTH Macs should have BOTH your accounts on them and all the apps you use.

At this point, you can login to your account on HER Mac, and delete her account.
She can login to her account on YOUR Mac, and do likewise.

Final adjustments may be necessary on each one...

 

[Reality4711]

OP wrote:
"We both run 10.12 (Sierra)"

I don't think you need to do "a complete swap" of OS's between the two Macs.

Do you have any external drives available?
One would be ok.
TWO would be better.

I would use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to clone the contents of each computer to a respective hard drive.

IF you have a drive of sufficient capacity, it may be possible to use a single drive by partitioning it into partitions for BOTH cloned backups.

CCC is FREE to download and use for 30 days.
SD is FREE to create a "full clone" forever without registering.

Take HER clone to YOUR Mac.
Use Migration Assistant to migrate apps, accounts, settings, and user data.

Take YOUR clone to HER Mac.
Then... do the same, moving your stuff to her Mac.

Now, BOTH Macs should have BOTH your accounts on them and all the apps you use.

At this point, you can login to your account on HER Mac, and delete her account.
She can login to her account on YOUR Mac, and do likewise.

Final adjustments may be necessary on each one...

Thank you for that.

I understand your method and will try to find a suitable HD.. I already possess the CCC full programme.

Q1/ Do I open an account on each of the computers for the new owner and then use MA on it?
Q2/ Could I just connect the two computers with TB cable and transfer accounts in 'Target Mode'?

Regards. Sharkey

 

[Fishrrman]

"Q1/ Do I open an account on each of the computers for the new owner and then use MA on it?"

I'd think... use your account on your machine (by which to run MA), and her account on her machine (you're going to need her password).

"Q2/ Could I just connect the two computers with TB cable and transfer accounts in 'Target Mode'?"

That might work, I've never tried it.
Using an external drive has always worked for me.

 

[Reality4711]

Firstly, thank you for your suggestions.

Method used was a combination of my thoughts and your advice

1/ Use CCC to create bootable drive on existing USB3-SSD (On its own partition)
2/ Partition Internal Hard drive.
3/ Use Target Mode on MacBookPro. and then CCC to move Whole of MBP to a new partition on MacPro.
4/ Change Boot Drive on MacPro to the new partition and ReBoot.
5/ Test new Boot.
6/ Re-Partition MacPro Internal Hard Drive back to single partition thus deleting original OS.
7/ Restore MBP using external SSD to boot from and CCC back to Internal Hard Drive-Test.

24Hrs later and all is well. The usual 'this is not your computer' stuff and email/account setup glitches but otherwise all stable and problem free.

I just hope my wife appreciates the work involved and takes real advantage of the upgrade in her computing facilities.

As for me? I might get a bit more carpentry and walk more.

Thank you & Regards. Sharkey