Connecting iMac to New Macbook

I am going to be getting a Macbook or Mackbook Pro for school in a little while. I currently have an Intel iMac and am wondering how I can connect the two so I have easily share things between them. I've never owned two computers at the same time before so I have no idea how to set it up or if it is even possible to do that things that I want it to do.

Lots of ways - wireless network both, computer-to-computer wireless, ethernet cable, firewire cable, USB cable
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304286
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583

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Trying to connect iMac to new Macbook Pro

Hi,
I just got a new MBP and am trying to network it with my intel iMac (late 2007). I can only connect as a guest. I try to connect as an administrator and am asked for a password. I enter my password and it says it is not correct. I have only assigned one password on my mac and assumed it would be the same one for the network, apparantly not. I am not sure what to do. I have enabled home sharing in itunes and that works. I tried using the generic password for the netgear router but that is not it either. Any thoughts?

Screen sharing setup in 10.5, 10.6 are described by the links by operating system. 10.7 is fairly similar to 10.6.
And if both Macs have Firewire, you can setup a Firewire over IP network for fast communication between machines. Note if you have two different Firewire ports a 6 pin to 9 pin Firewire cable does exist. There are no Firewire to USB cables.

I can't get a thunderbolt connection to work between my iMac and new macbook air

I would like to establish a connection between my iMac and new macbook air using a thunderbolt connector. Nothing seems to happen when I plug the cable in to each device. When I open Settings/Network it shows up the Thunderbolt bridge as 'Not Connected' on the MacBook and as 'Some Connected' on the iMac. I have no problems with connecting another device (iPad) to the iMac. Can anyone help please?

Nothing happens when I try to boot up using the command+R keys.
Did you hold down those keys before booting and continue till you get to a selections window? You should get this:
If you can't boot into the Recovery volume make an appointment with the nearest Apple Genius bar for a diagnosis. You're still under warranty.

I'm attempting to migrate files from iMac to new MacBook air. The estimated time shown on the display is over ten hours. Is that correct? Is there a way to do it quicker?

I'm attempting to migrate files from iMac to new MacBook air. The estimated time shown on the display is over ten hours. Is that correct? Is there a way to do it quicker?

It's quite possible, since you are using an MBA without Firewire, that it could take that long.
A Basic Guide for Migrating to Intel-Macs
If you are migrating a PowerPC system (G3, G4, or G5) to an Intel-Mac be careful what you migrate. Keep in mind that some items that may get transferred will not work on Intel machines and may end up causing your computer's operating system to malfunction.
Rosetta supports "software that runs on the PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor that are built for Mac OS X". This excludes the items that are not universal binaries or simply will not work in Rosetta:
>Classic Environment, and subsequently any Mac OS 9 or earlier applications
>Screensavers written for the PowerPC
>System Preference add-ons
>All Unsanity Haxies
>Browser and other plug-ins
>Contextual Menu Items
>Applications which specifically require the PowerPC G5
>Kernel extensions
>Java applications with JNI (PowerPC) libraries
See also What Can Be Translated by Rosetta.
In addition to the above you could also have problems with migrated cache files and/or cache files containing code that is incompatible.
If you migrate a user folder that contains any of these items, you may find that your Intel-Mac is malfunctioning. It would be wise to take care when migrating your systems from a PowerPC platform to an Intel-Mac platform to assure that you do not migrate these incompatible items.
If you have problems with applications not working, then completely uninstall said application and reinstall it from scratch. Take great care with Java applications and Java-based Peer-to-Peer applications. Many Java apps will not work on Intel-Macs as they are currently compiled. As of this time Limewire, Cabos, and Acquisition are available as universal binaries. Do not install browser plug-ins such as Flash or Shockwave from downloaded installers unless they are universal binaries. The version of OS X installed on your Intel-Mac comes with special compatible versions of Flash and Shockwave plug-ins for use with your browser.
The same problem will exist for any hardware drivers such as mouse software unless the drivers have been compiled as universal binaries. For third-party mice the current choices are USB Overdrive or SteerMouse. Contact the developer or manufacturer of your third-party mouse software to find out when a universal binary version will be available.
Also be careful with some backup utilities and third-party disk repair utilities. Disk Warrior 4.1, TechTool Pro 4.6.1, SuperDuper 2.5, and Drive Genius 2.0.2 work properly on Intel-Macs with Leopard. The same caution may apply to the many "maintenance" utilities that have not yet been converted to universal binaries. Leopard Cache Cleaner, Onyx, TinkerTool System, and Cocktail are now compatible with Leopard.
Before migrating or installing software on your Intel-Mac check MacFixit's Rosetta Compatibility Index.
Additional links that will be helpful to new Intel-Mac users:
Intel In Macs
Apple Guide to Universal Applications
MacInTouch List of Compatible Universal Binaries
MacInTouch List of Rosetta Compatible Applications
MacUpdate List of Intel-Compatible Software
Transferring data with Setup Assistant - Migration Assistant FAQ
Because Migration Assistant isn't the ideal way to migrate from PowerPC to Intel Macs, using Target Disk Mode, copying the critical contents to CD and DVD, an external hard drive, or networking
will work better when moving from PowerPC to Intel Macs. The initial section below discusses Target Disk Mode. It is then followed by a section which discusses networking with Macs that lack Firewire.
If both computers support the use of Firewire then you can use the following instructions:
1. Repair the hard drive and permissions using Disk Utility.
2. Backup your data. This is vitally important in case you make a mistake or there's some other problem.
3. Connect a Firewire cable between your old Mac and your new Intel Mac.
4. Startup your old Mac in Target Disk Mode.
5. Startup your new Mac for the first time, go through the setup and registration screens, but do NOT migrate data over. Get to your desktop on the new Mac without migrating any new data over.
If you are not able to use a Firewire connection (for example you have a Late 2008 MacBook that only supports USB:)
1. Set up a local home network: Creating a small Ethernet Network.
2. If you have a MacBook Air or Late 2008 MacBook see the following:
>MacBook (13-inch, Aluminum, Late 2008) and MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2008)- Migration Tips and Tricks;
>MacBook (13-inch, Aluminum, Late 2008) and MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2008)- What to do if migration is unsuccessful;
>MacBook Air- Migration Tips and Tricks;
>MacBook Air- Remote Disc, Migration, or Remote Install Mac OS X and wireless 802.11n networks.
Copy the following items from your old Mac to the new Mac:
>In your /Home/ folder: Documents, Movies, Music, Pictures, and Sites folders.
>
>In your /Home/Library/ folder:
>/Home/Library/Application Support/AddressBook (copy the whole folder)
>/Home/Library/Application Support/iCal (copy the whole folder)
>Also in /Home/Library/Application Support (copy whatever else you need including folders for any third-party applications)
>
>/Home/Library/Keychains (copy the whole folder)
>/Home/Library/Mail (copy the whole folder)
>/Home/Library/Preferences/ (copy the whole folder)
>/Home /Library/Calendars (copy the whole folder)
>/Home /Library/iTunes (copy the whole folder)
>/Home /Library/Safari (copy the whole folder)
>
>If you want cookies:
>
>/Home/Library/Cookies/Cookies.plist
>/Home/Library/Application Support/WebFoundation/HTTPCookies.plist
>
>For Entourage users:
>
>Entourage is in /Home/Documents/Microsoft User Data
>Also in /Home/Library/Preferences/Microsoft
>
>Credit goes to Macjack for this information.
If you need to transfer data for other applications please ask the vendor or ask in the Discussions where specific applications store their data.
5. Once you have transferred what you need restart the new Mac and test to make sure the contents are there for each of the applications.
Written by Kappy with additional contributions from a brody.
Revised 1/6/2009

I have the G Drive 1 TB (GEN4 1TB) external drive purchased in 2010. I need to connect to my new MacBook Pro. I'm using the external drive for media storage of my video editing projects. Will a 800fw to thunderbolt adapter cable work?

I have the G Drive 1 TB (GEN4 1TB) external drive purchased in 2010. I need to connect to my new MacBook Pro. I'm using the external drive for media storage of my video editing projects. Will a 800fw to thunderbolt adapter cable work? I understand that using a USB port connection is not fast enough for video editing. I read somewhere the G Drives don't connect well to MacBook Pro.
thanks
larry

I doubt this can be relocated or moved so you might want to just repost in the macbook pro area.
MacBook Pro
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os?view=discussions
Can you afford a new Thunderbolt case and cable? any case with FW800 is going to be slow 72MB/sec and less, and any new 1TB drive is capable of 75MB/s minimum up to 125MB/sec.
Thunderbolt storage can of course when setup properly reach 100's of MB higher using multiple drives.
Use what you have for a system backup or for secondary backup storage.
you might be able to take the drive - most cases allow you to open and swap drives - and use this:
G-Technology 1TB G-DRIVE mini High-Speed Portable Hard Drive
or this:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/HB137VC/A/g-technology-4tb-g-raid-professional -high-performance-dual-drive-hard-drive?fnode=5f

HT2693 I purchased Huawei Dongle and trying to connect with my NEW MacBook Pro (OS- Mountain Lion) USB port 3.0 but unfortunately it does not support. When I plugged in my the power is flowing in dongle due green light blinking twice in every 3 sec but no

Hi,
I purchased Huawei Dongle and trying to connect with my new MacBook Pro (OS- Mountain Lion) USB port 3.0 but unfortunately it does not support.
When I plugged in my macbook the power is flowing in dongle due green light blinking twice in every 3 sec but no connection found or diver shown.
Please let me know how I have to use it. I got some suggestion for USB hub 2.0 but It does not make any sense and driver installation.
So please suggest proper direction to use it and provide link to install any driver.
Thanks
Tauheed Ahmad

Yes Clinton I did same, but they were (Huawei customer support) surprised about this problem, They behave like they have no idea about USB 2.0 and 3.0 knowledge. They handsUp that reason I posted my problem in this forum.
So is there any better solution to use any mediator between these USB version handling, Please let me know.
Thanks
Tauheed

I have a Firewire 800 external hard drive and need to connect to my new MacBook Air. Where can I get the correct cable?

I have a Firewire 800 external hard drive and need to connect to my new MacBook Air. Where can I get the correct cable?

Apple has announced a Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter, but not yet given a release date.

Connecting old imac to new macbook pro

I have a five year old imac that I use for photoshop work. My new macbook pro is so much faster processing big files, I can see the Imac's days are numbered. Can I use the monitor from the imac with the new Macbook? How would I connect the two?
Thanks,

When I bought my new MacBook Pro, the sales person showed me how to do the V-card method that you suggested. I tried it at home, and it worked. I have been worrying for years about the best way to do this, so was very relieved to find such a simple method. David Pogue in the Tiger Missing Manual also mentioned another tip which I used: he said to select all the address entries you want to transfer (in my case it was all of them) and then just drag the whole lot out onto the desktop. A V-card icon appeared that said: "Name of Person plus 344 others". I then copied that to a flash drive and then onto the new computer desktop. I then dragged it into the Address Book window. As you said it was done in a matter of seconds. Thank you so much!

Migrating from iMac to new MacBook Pro

Currently I have a iMac, serial number QP833*ZE5, 2.4 GHz, with Snow Leopard 10.6.2
I will be getting a new MacBook Pro shortly.
What I would like to do is have absolutely everything on the MacBook be a duplicate of what is on my iMac.
And I can do this by simply restoring the MacBook from my stored iMac cloned disk image.
So, my question is "Is this OK?", or are there ANY differences at the System level (any at all) between my iMac 10.6.2 and the new MacBook Pro 10.6.2?
.. or, in any case, would you seriously encourage using Migration Assistant to port from my stored disk image clone? I say "from the stored clone" because this clone is on an external firewire drive which would be connected to the MacBook Pro.
Thanks in advance for answering.
John Love
<Edited by Host>

As a rule, it is not a good idea to try to restore from an older Mac's startup volume (or a clone of it) to a newer model. This is because the newer model may require a later version of the OS to support its newer hardware & the result will be a new Mac that can't start up. (See Don't install a version of Mac OS X earlier than that which came with your Mac for info about this.)
However, from Mac OS X versions (builds) included with Intel-based Macs, it appears that currently at least, a new MacBook Pro should be able to boot from any version of Snow Leopard, so a restore from the iMac running 10.6.2 should be OK.
But keep in mind that Setup Assistant will run the first time you power up your new MBP, & it will offer to run the equivalent of Migration Assistant to copy everything not already installed from another Mac (or a cloned drive of it) to the MBP. Since this will not replace any apps or OS components included on the BMP will older versions from the iMac, but can copy over everything else (except system settings that don't apply & you don't need anyway), it is a good, perhaps even better, option for you.
Besides, you really don't want to duplicate absolutely everything from the iMac -- many of the files on it are just temporary working files, caches, etc. that the MBP will just discard or ignore.

How to export my mailboxes from Imac to new Macbook Pro?

I am getting a new Macbook Pro 13" today (not sure if it will ship with Snow Leopard). How can I just move all of my mailbox contents, and maybe bookmarks from Safari and other account information over from my Imac Time Machine backup. A few months ago I used my Time Machine from the Imac to move everything over to the new portable, including PHotos and all documents, etc. Is there a way of picking and choosing during setup assistance just a few things.
The other option is whether I can simply export the contents of my mailbox into a file--two accounts--over to the new computer? Can I do the same with the contents of Iphoto and ITunes?
Thanks

See the following:
Folders You Can Move to Your new Mac
From the Home folder copy the contents of Documents, Movies, Music, Pictures, and Sites.
In your /Home/Library/ folder:
/Home/Library/Application Support/AddressBook (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Application Support/iCal (copy the whole folder)
Also in /Home/Library/Application Support (copy whatever else you need including folders for any third-party applications)
/Home/Library/Keychains (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Mail (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Preferences/ (copy the whole folder)
/Home /Library/iTunes (copy the whole folder)
/Home /Library/Safari (copy the whole folder)
/Home /Library/Calendars (copy the whole folder)
If you want cookies:
/Home/Library/Cookies/Cookies.plist
/Home/Library/Application Support/WebFoundation/HTTPCookies.plist
For Entourage users:
Entourage is in /Home/Documents/Microsoft User Data
Also in /Home/Library/Preferences/Microsoft
For FireFox:
/Home/Library/Applications Support/FireFox
/Home/Library/Preferences/org.mozilla.firefox.plist
Credit goes Macjack for this information.
You can connect the two computers with a FireWire cable and use Target Disk Mode to copy from one machine to the other.

Transferring files from iMac to new MacBook

I have an iMac running Tiger and I would like to transfer some, but not all, of my files and apps to my new MacBook 13". I have tried to use the Migration assistant, but it runs for a couple of hours and then says all of my documents can't be migrated and I am unable to continue. I was trying this over my wireless network. It was also going to take 14 hours.
Is there a method in which I can choose what I want to copy to my MacBook

Welcome!
You can connect the two computers directly with a piece of ethernet cable and set them up as a local network. Should be faster than using wireless.
As I recall, the firewire port disappeared from the newer Macbooks; too bad--FireWire Target Disk mode was a fast and reliable way to move stuff.

Transfer files from my IMac to new MacBook without firewire?

What is the best way to transfer files from my Imac as listed to a new MacBook. I understand there is no firewire connectivity. I would like to migrate all photos, music, and settings.

I’m sure that specific instructions come with the machine, but essentially:
Use Migration Assistant do do this. You can connect the Macs with Ethernet or even Wirelessly.
Regards
TD

HT3199 connect iTunes on new macbook to apple tv 1st gen. library

On my formar macbook I had iTunes to synch with Apple TV 1st generation.
After upgrading to a new macbook pro with iTunes 11.0.3 I observe following problem:
1. on apple tv 1st gen. the library from my old macbook is there but in light gray, i.e. not connected to new macbook
2. when connecting new computer to apple tv 1st gen. it will create a new library (instead of connecting with existing library).
3. in iTunes, Devices Apple TV, only buttons "Settings" and "Photos" appear on top of window. "Music", "TV-shows" are missing.
How do I connect the two libraries, i.e. iTunes library on my new macbook with library on my apple tv 1st gen (last synched with my old macbook)?

AppleTV 1 was designed to sync with a single computer, but apart from untransferred purchases made on AppleTV, the sync was to AppleTv only.
You cannot make the new computer sync with AppleTV without removing the old sync connection on AppleTV under Settings>Computers. Doing this wipes the AppleTV of content tomprepare tobsync with a new iTunes library.
AppleTV1 also allowed streaming only from several computers other than the synced one - content will appear under My Shared Movies and so forth when the computer is on.
you really need to remove both computer entries from the Computers settings screen then re-add the new iTunes as a sync library.
Hopefully you have still got the old computer to allow you to copy media to the new one, or have copies of he media somewhere.
If most of your stuff was from iTunes Store then you should be able to redownload in iTunes.

Airport Extreme Connection problem with new MacBook

Help-
For the past 2 years, I have had no problems with my Airport Extreme. My MacBook Pro (2006), My wife's iBook G4 and two AirPort Express units used as remote speaker connections have been rock solid. Both iPhone and one iPod touch work like a charm.
I just got my wife a new MacBook and since it came in and was connected, my Air Port Extreme has been nothing but a problem, requiring a hard reset every couple of days. As long as that MacBook is not connected, everything is fine.
Anyone have any ideas? Only the MacBook is using 802.11n. It is so frustrating, that my wife want to use her old iBook so if this can't get fixed, the MacBook is going back to Apple.

Welcome to the discussion area!
From your description, it sounds like the wireless communications between the AirPort Extreme and your wife's MacBook are picking up some sort of wireless interference from another source such as a cordless phone or another nearby security system.
I suggest that you try different channels for your wireless to see if you can find a setting with less interference. To do this, you would:
Open Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility
Click on the AirPort Extreme and then click Manual Setup below
Click the Wireless tab below the row of icons
Look for the Radio Channel or Channel setting
You may need to hold down the option key as you click on the selection box to display all available choices.
Start at the highest channel and work your way down, or start at the lowest and work your way up.
Click Update at the lower right of the window to save your current setting and the AirPort Extreme will restart in 20-25 seconds.
It will take some time to find the optimum channel for your network, so proceed slowly and take a few notes as you go.

Transfer iTunes Library and iPhone Sync data from old iMac to new Macbook Pro

Hi,
I bought a macbook pro in September last year, previous to this I had an iMac. This has all my music and iTunes stored on it.
Is there a way to transfer my iTunes over to my new Macbook Pro and sync my iPhone as if my phone thinks it's the same computer, so I don't have to restore my phone or set it up as a new one.
Thanks.

harryfromchesterfield wrote:
Is there a way to transfer my iTunes over to my new Macbook Pro and sync my iPhone as if my phone thinks it's the same computer,
Yes.
Simply copy the entire /Music/iTunes folder from old computer to /Music/ on new computer.
See this -> How to move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Support

Connecting iMac to New Macbook

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