Transfer Question

[michaelsaxon]

Hello. I'm new to the Mac world, having just traded for a Macbook. When I was starting it up, I noticed that it had some sort of transfer option from another Mac.

Well, I've also ordered a Mac Pro now. Will it ask the same thing and, if so, can I transfer from this Macbook? What will it transfer? Does it leave the stuff on the other computer that it transfers on?

Sorry for the ignorance, but I want to do the best thing when it arrives. If I can save myself and reinstall of all of this stuff I've already done on the Macbook without screwing up the Macbook, that'd be great!

 

[robbieduncan]

Yes, all new Macs offer this on startup, or you can run the Migration Assistant application in Utilities. Nothing is deleted from the original Mac. You can transfer from any Mac with built-in Firewire, so sure your MacBook is supported.

 

[michaelsaxon]

Does it basically clone the hard drive or does it just copy certain preferences and such over?

 

[robbieduncan]

If you started the Migration Assistant on your existing Mac as I kind of suggested above you would see the attached very first screen which tells you the sort of stuff it will copy. It does not clone the drive. You can have it copy your users (basically everything in the users home directory will be copied so all files, settings etc), applications and machine configuration. Only Applications that can be drag-and-drop copied will work properly if you copy them like this. Photoshop etc are probably better to be installed from the CD.

 

[michaelsaxon]

Thank you.