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Upgrading my MacBook-start fresh or convert existing folders

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
This seems like an important decision and frankly I have avoided upgrading because of it. My MacBook Pro 2.16GB /2006 has reached the end of its useful life. While I could goose up the performance , the wireless connections are unreliable ...I have gotten my money s worth ..and its time has come.

So assuming I build a screamer like Guy did .......should I just clone my existing drive or start fresh and reload everything. I shudder at the thought of reloading my software and fighting with Adobe and others over the licenses. But frankly I don t have that much ... I use the current version of lightroom and old out of date copy of Cs2 ,Office and not much else. Never really use CS . I don t have the lightroom disc with me but I think I can get the copy.

I am still running OS 10.4.11 .

How would you approach this ? start fresh or clone the drive (or use apple s conversion software).
 
R

Ranger 9

Guest
I wouldn't clone the hard drive regardless; you'll get a lot of junk you don't need and probaby cancel out some of the performance benefit of a new computer.

My advice is to start with a new, bare clean system install and then install just the software you actually need, from original discs, and then applying all updates.

To get your personal files and settings transferred, you can either use Apple's Migration Assistant to transfer just your user folder, network settings, etc. -- or copy your home folder from your old computer and then set up a new user account using that home folder. Getting a new user account to use an existing home folder is much easier under the current Mac OS (Leopard) than it used to be, so it isn't that much harder than using Migration Assistant.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Roger I would not clone it. What I would do if you still have the old one around is actually use migrate assistant. First lets get the old one up to snuff .First upgrade to 10.5.7 and make sure all is well and smells good. Now we could do this two ways . Let's approach the absolute cleanest first and you can decide if you want this hassle. Let's say your old box is not very loaded down and is more just OS , PS and mail and such. If this is the case than maybe just do a fresh install of your applications and such. Also if you have a .mac account all your keychains, preferences can be backed up here and maybe all you need to do is copy all your documents than reload them. I tunes is easy to backup your music . Mail you can back up the folder from your user account and install on top of the new. This is the cleanest way but a lot of work. However if your loaded down for bear than migrate assistant would be your next best option. Make sure you have all the latest updates on all your software and repair permissions on your old box before you migrate. When your new box is turned on the first time it gives you the option to migrate right out of the gate so it is easy to do.

The key here is what you have on your old box and how comfortable you are backing everything up and copying in manual mode over to your new box. Regardless of either way please do a Carbon Clone of your existing box to a external as a complete backup in case the stuff hits the fan blades.

Now if you want to build a rocket ship , I have the answers. LOL Just make sure your CC is clean.:ROTFL::ROTFL::ROTFL:
 

stephengilbert

Active member
Third strike: I wouldn't clone it either. I recently replaced the OS HD on my Mac Pro, and took the move as an opportunity to do a clean install without alot fo the stuff that Apple installs by default. My HD, with C1, LR, Word, and a few other miscellaneous apps now has 10 GB on it.

One thing, though, I'd find and save to an external drive or flash card my Bookmarks, addresses, and any other lists of things that would be annoying to recreate. LR was easy to reinstall, as was Word.

Steve
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Don't clone x 4. But, don't be afraid to try the migration assistant. It should port everything over properly, but you may have to reset all of your licenses.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Yes PS,Quark you have to actually deactivate the license than activate on the new box. Don't forget this part with Adobe stuff, real hassle otherwise
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
I now have a tremendous headache ! Reminds me of my old job....the new release strategy . I think I am in pretty good shape ..my software library is really small ....good points on housekeeping ...up front and using the migration manager. I need to leave behind the junk. I have avoided this for much too long . thanks for the help.

Roger
 

jonoslack

Active member
I now have a tremendous headache ! Reminds me of my old job....the new release strategy
I'm going to make it worse. . .
We've just been doing a laptop swap around here:
Silas has my 15mbp unibody 2.53, and I got a new 17" 2.66

First of all, I tried simply putting the drive from the 15" into the 17" - worked fine, but the colour was impossibly purple, and a little search suggested this was a bad move.

So
I used migration assistant to move stuff to my new 17" without issue (I've used it many times before, and I think it's the sweetest way to do it.). Firewire 800 link and the old machine in firewire mode - took about an hour. Fine.

When Silas started to do the same thing, he tidied up the hard drive on his old MBP, repaired permissions, clean reinstalled and updated OSx on the 15'MBP - he then used migration assistant in firewire mode - fast and uneventful.

It wouldn't accept his password. We changed it booting from the system discs, we changed it logging in as root user, we did everything we could think of . . . didn't work - nothing would work. He simply couldnt log in. So we went through the whole routine again, this time transferring data during the install - same thing.

I did a search on this, and found two similar instances only - and in neither case, as far as I could see, had anyone found a solution. The user is there, you just cannot get in!

In the end we put his HD in a caddy and used carbon copy cloner - and that worked fine.

Of course, the clean install is the 'right' way. But I always find I'm without something really important when I'm far from home (usually with a client).
 
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