Time Machine - restore or migrate?

[Yzerguy]

My 24" iMac died an ugly death a couple of weeks ago. I've decided to replace it with a 17" MBP, which is ordered and on the way.

My iMac was running (10.5.x), with TM doing it's usual hourly incremental backups.

Obviously my MBP will be running (10.6.x).

I have read that I can either restore or use the migration assistant to try and retrieve my data and/or programs.

My biggest concern is getting my data, especially photos but including emails etc -- also I'm really hoping iTunes will come back just the way it was before as well.

I have media for all software that I was running pre-crash, including some stuff I've just bought to upgrade (PS CS5, LR3) - I'm wondering if it's best to do clean installs of all the software I have (old and new) and then migrate data, or should I try and restore everything (including programs) over to Snow Leopard from my Leopard TM backup and then upgrade/update?

After searching I have found little to explain the differences (pros & cons etc.) - can anyone point me towards some links for further details?

Cheers, Sean

 

[ouimetnick]

Just wondering how old is you now dead iMac 24"?

 

[dashcs]

Restore is not a option.

Over a few reasons.TM backups are from 10.5 and also its from a iMac.
You have a 10.6 MBP.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3243


You have 2 options.
Either use migration assistant on the TM backup or copy and paste the information from the TM backup to the MBP

 

[Yzerguy]

Just wondering how old is you now dead iMac 24"?

Bought Dec 2008, no AppleCare. Was a gift -- 24" core 2 duo, 2.4 GHz, 4 gigs RAM.

I've chatted to 3 different Apple Authorized repair shops about it - most thot it was just the HD given my explanation, but diagnostics says it may be "a controller" or something else -- given how much labour is involved in pulling apart an iMac (beyond just getting at the HD or RAM), my cost to repair it was "anywhere between $400-$1,100".

It became an oversized paperweight to me at that point, although I'll get a tiny bit for the ram and perhaps other parts, I've got a few people interested.

I had planned to move to a matte MBP at some point in the next year, this just bumped it up a bit, still, I did not want to spend that cash now. Will get an external monitor in the next 6-12 months.

The people at one shop said they have seen 4 of these same iMacs come back like this in 2010.

 

[Yzerguy]

Restore is not a option.

Over a few reasons.TM backups are from 10.5 and also its from a iMac.
You have a 10.6 MBP.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3243


You have 2 options.
Either use migration assistant on the TM backup or copy and paste the information from the TM backup to the MBP

Thanks dashcs,

Much appreciated -- all of the articles I could find on the topic were from 2008 or earlier, i.e.: before 10.6

Now to figure out how I go about deauthorizing my iTunes account/DRM on my dead iMac.

Cheers, Sean