Using Migration Assistant to migrate from Mavericks to Lion

[LincolnsiPod]

I don't know why I don't think before I do something, but I went ahead and updated to Mavericks on my old 2010 MBP, despite the fact that I'm replacing it with a refurb rMBP. I'm assuming the refurb will still have Lion on it, so I'm wondering if the best thing to do here is to update it first to Mavericks, then use Migration Assistant to restore a Time Machine backup from my old MBP. I'm assuming this way I avoid any potential complication from migrating my now Mavericks based files to a new MacBook.

Can anyone with experience migrating to new machines using different flavors of OS X chime in on whether this is a good approach?

 

[Yahooligan]

Using Migration Assistant doesn't migrate the OS or core OS configs, only applications and user settings. You don't need to have both machines running the same OS version in order to use Migration Assistant, either.

But, it sounds like in either case you're going to be running Mavericks on both, so I would say it makes more sense to upgrade the OS and then migrate as it would make the upgrade process faster since it wouldn't have to analyze all the apps to make sure they are compatible.

 

[LincolnsiPod]

Using Migration Assistant doesn't migrate the OS or core OS configs, only applications and user settings. You don't need to have both machines running the same OS version in order to use Migration Assistant, either.

But, it sounds like in either case you're going to be running Mavericks on both, so I would say it makes more sense to upgrade the OS and then migrate as it would make the upgrade process faster since it wouldn't have to analyze all the apps to make sure they are compatible.

Knowledgebase Article on Migration Assistant recommends updating both source and destination machines with the latest software updates. I'll have to bypass the Setup Assistant to accomplish that but it's probably the best way to avoid any potential headaches given how new Mavericks is.

 

[Yahooligan]

Knowledgebase Article on Migration Assistant recommends updating both source and destination machines with the latest software updates. I'll have to bypass the Setup Assistant to accomplish that but it's probably the best way to avoid any potential headaches given how new Mavericks is.

Yup, their recommendation is the same as mine. Note it's a recommendation and not a requirement. You don't have to bypass the setup assistant, just create a temporary account (With a name that won't conflict with your migration), do your migration, then delete the temporary account.

 

[LincolnsiPod]

Yup, their recommendation is the same as mine. Note it's a recommendation and not a requirement. You don't have to bypass the setup assistant, just create a temporary account (With a name that won't conflict with your migration), do your migration, then delete the temporary account.

Good tip, thanks!