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Upgrading to a new mac, need guidance transferring music and photos

B

bigaudiofanatic

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 17, 2008
130
0
Hello everyone tomorrow I will probably be buying a new macbook pro 13 or 15 inch. I am upgrading from a 5 1/2 year old powerbook g4 running tiger.

Now my problem is this. I always backup my files and all using super duper making an exact replica of the HD. The problem was I never really used iphoto to keep track of all my photos. They are in quite a few different places. On my new one I wan to use and have all my photos in iphoto. What is the best way to do this? I do not want to have multiple copied of the same photos on my new HD.

Also I have my music collection well over 200 cd's all ripped, favortized and organized almost all with album artwork and such. What is the best way to copy my library from my backup to the new computer?

I want to thank you in advanced for any help.
 
You should edit your thread title to something more, let's just say, descriptive.
Like: How to move my iTunes library and also keep track of my images with iPhoto on a new Mac.
Or something like this.

To move your iTunes library, a simple copy of the Users / You / Music / iTunes folder should do the trick, unless your music is all over the place.

You can also use the Migration Assistant during the setup of the new Mac to transfer data from your PowerBook, either via Firewire or Ethernet, including the music.


With the photo issue I'm not so sure, but there is a software called Find Duplicate Files for Mac, which does what the name promises.
http://www.araxis.com/find-duplicate-files/index-eur.html
 
For the photos, just put them in the Users/You/Pictures folder and then File>Import to Library in iPhoto. If they're all over the place, then you'll need to search for them and copy the folders over.

If you consolidated your music (so it's not all over the place), then you could just copy the iTunes Music folder.
 
Thanks for the advice but sadly last night the powerbook took a dump. It will not take a charge no matter how you plug in the power plug.
 
You can still save the data from the PB's HDD, if you need to.

There are some guides on how to dismantle that beast, then you just need a 2.5" P-ATA (IDE) HDD enclosure, which you can connect via USB. They should run around for 15€.
 
-aggie- said:
For the photos, just put them in the Users/You/Pictures folder and then File>Import to Library in iPhoto. If they're all over the place, then you'll need to search for them and copy the folders over.

If you consolidated your music (so it's not all over the place), then you could just copy the iTunes Music folder.
Click to expand...

Now from what I understnad for the photos if you do that, iphoto will make a copy of the photo and place it in another location. Or that could be what mine did. Or what I thought it did.

The music is all in one place so I think that will be easy enough. Do I want to copy the actual itunes account or just the music? I would like to keep all my play lists and my favorites.
 
spinnerlys said:
You can still save the data from the PB's HDD, if you need to.

There are some guides on how to dismantle that beast, then you just need a 2.5" P-ATA (IDE) HDD enclosure, which you can connect via USB. They should run around for 15€.
Click to expand...

Ya I have one of those already from when I did a HD upgrade in my powerbook. :D
 
Okay I copied all my itunes stuff and went to my new computer. After copying everything to the new computer I double clicked my library everything loaded BUT it can not locate any of my music. What do I need to do?
 
bigaudiofanatic said:
Okay I copied all my itunes stuff and went to my new computer. After copying everything to the new computer I double clicked my library everything loaded BUT it can not locate any of my music. What do I need to do?
Click to expand...

Since you couldn't consolidate your library, you need to point iTunes to the folders where the music is. Go to File>Add to Library and click on the folder(s) where the music is.
 
Oh boy this is going to be fun. Now I have doubles of all my music. Any quick way to fix this? Also the new copies do not have my favorites marked on them.
 
Ok...

I got a way easier, no frills solution. Put your old Mac into FireWire mode (Hold down T at startup) and use migration assistant on the new Mac and select your old Mac as the source.

What you need: A male to male firewire cable.
 
benjamin747 said:
I got a way easier, no frills solution. Put your old Mac into FireWire mode (Hold down T at startup) and use migration assistant on the new Mac and select your old Mac as the source.

What you need: A male to male firewire cable.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes: As I said my old mac is dead.

Aggie it is doing what I was afraid of it is making a copy of all the music. Basically making copied and filling ma hard drive in the process.
 
bigaudiofanatic said:
:rolleyes: As I said my old mac is dead.

Aggie it is doing what I was afraid of it is making a copy of all the music. Basically making copied and filling ma hard drive in the process.
Click to expand...

IDK what happened to Spinnerlys, but I only had advice for you if you could consolidate your library, which you can't, because I actually read posts, unlike the poster above. :)

So, now you have your music in iTunes\iTunes Music. Seems like you can just delete all the folders where you got the music from and then you won't have double copies. Right?
 
Well I have the answer.
After deleting everything out of itunes and copying all the music directly into the itunes music folder.

Go to File>Library>Import Playlist>Select the .XML file from your old library and your done.
 
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