Transferring folders from old MBP to new MBP

[vjaaan]

I am trying to set up my new MacBook Pro. I copied many apps via flash drive and put them in the Applications folder, and that worked fine. Now I am trying to copy all my documents. I was dragging folders from my old Document folder onto the flash drive and then putting flash drive into new MBP and trying to drag them into the new Documents folder. It was not working right. I had two Finder windows open on the new laptop to make it easier. One window showed the flash drive files and the other Finder window had my Documents folder highlighted. But when I drug the file or folder, it popped that second (Document folder on laptop) window to the flash drive window. The files that seemed to transfer with grayed out and unaccessible.

I was not able to set up the network right to transfer data that way. So I'm using the slower, flash drive method. But I have never had this happen before.

Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[snaky69]

Enable file sharing on both computers, send your documents to the newer computer's public drop box. At least that way you'll avoid copying everything over twice.

Or in the future, keep a good backup handy, migration assistant would've made your tedious, by-hand task a breeze.

 

[Fishrrman]

You need to tell us more information.
WHICH folders are you trying to drag over?

You -CANNOT- drag the immediate sub-folders from your old home folder to the new one.
These are the ones named "Documents", "Downloads", "Library", "Mail", "Movies", "Music" and "Pictures".
This WILL NOT work.

However --
You -CAN- copy the contents that are inside these folders from one folder to another.

There are also permissions considerations when moving data from one account to another.
This is easily "worked around"...

 

[emilioestevez]

Can apps like Pages, iMovie, etc. be copied and pasted from one Mac to another, or do they have to be re-downloaded through the App Store again?

 

[Weaselboy]

Can apps like Pages, iMovie, etc. be copied and pasted from one Mac to another, or do they have to be re-downloaded through the App Store again?

They need to come from the App Store. Apps like these use installers that place support files in other folders, so just a drag and drop of the app won't bring those along.

Usually the only apps you can just drag and drop are those you download in a DMG where you drag the app out of the DMG and into /Applications.