Transferring Files from 2007 MacBook to new 21.5-inch 2.7GHz iMac

[LeftClick]

My new iMac arrived yesterday and now I'm charged with the task of transferring data from our old Macbook (mid 2007 13") and our external hard drive.

A couple of questions on this:
1) I know there's the migration assistant but can you establish a "hard" connection between the Macbook and iMac via the USB ports?
2) Our external hard drive is a Firewire 400 connection, does it make more sense to get a Firewire 400 to 800 adapter then link it to a Firewire 800 to Thunderbolt? Or go with a Firewire 400 to 800 cable and then the Firewire 800 to Thunderbolt adapater?

 

[Weaselboy]

1. That won't work. Connect the two directly with an ethernet cable for Migration Assistant.

2. Should be the same end result either way. I would get whichever is cheapest.

 

[LeftClick]

If I set up a connection via the ethernet cable between the Macbook and the iMac and simultaneously plug the hard drive into the Macbook will I be able to transfer anything from the hard drive to the iMac via Migration Asst?

Or do I have to drop the files from the hard drive onto the Macbook, wait for them to become available in the Migration Asst and then transfer to the iMac?

 

[Weaselboy]

If I set up a connection via the ethernet cable between the Macbook and the iMac and simultaneously plug the hard drive into the Macbook will I be able to transfer anything from the hard drive to the iMac via Migration Asst?

Nope. Migration Assist won't see it to pull the data over.

Or do I have to drop the files from the hard drive onto the Macbook, wait for them to become available in the Migration Asst and then transfer to the iMac?

Yes. If you have the room on the Macbook just copy all the files from the external into say a temp folder in Documents or something and Migration Assistant will bring it all over.

Also, make sure you run Migration Assistant (MA) as part of the new system setup. Don't make the mistake of creating your user account and then trying to run MA as it will copy onto itself and make a big duplicated riddled mess.