Data migration to new macbook via external usb?

So I have a macbook pro right now and am looking at getting a macbook. I want to use the data migration assistant during the macbook setup to keep all my files, applications and things from the mbp.
The question is can I use a external usb drive to do this or does it have to be firewire? I wouldn't actually have both computers at the same time, so I would create a restore on the external usb and just plug that intot he new macbook. Would that do?
If not and I need firewire, would a simple usb to firewire adapter work?
Thanks

Patience sir. People who have an answer will post. If no one does, it's probably too esoteric for most. See "A Basic Guide for Migrating to Intel-Macs" at http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=580146. That should get you started.

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Data migration to new macbook pro retina

I just migrated my imac desktop 2007 to my new macbook pro 2013 (about 250gb) and all was well. I then decided that there may be a few photos/contacts etc on my 2008 macbook pro which were not on the desktop, and migrated that to the new computer. Now the new retina is just like the old macbook but the previous migration cannot be found. My hope was to merge the two and delete anything which was a duplicate (95% of photos are in common on both computers for instance, and now have two copies of most on this retina, one hidden). When I check my memory usage the new retina has about 500gb storage used so I know BOTH computers are now on this new retina but only one is visible. How to merge all data from both on the new retina and delete all copies to go back to about 300gb storage?
Help is much appreciated!
coolpop

Ralph Landry1 wrote:
Recently did one MacBook Pro to another for my daughter...almost full 500 GB HD estimate wireless was 48 hours, wired took a little over an hour.
Wow, shocking in comparison. You have the patience of a Saint !

I used Migration Assistant to copy data to an new MacBook Pro from an old via my Time Capsule. When asked if to inherit time machine history on the new Mac, I mistakenly said no. How do I go back one step to say yes?

There isn't enough space on the Time Capsule to create a separate backup of the data on the new MacBook. And I am reluctant to delete old backups of the old MacBook to create space to backup the new machine. This occurred about 3 weeks ago so the data on the two machines are now out of sync. If I start over by formatting the new MacBook and rerunning Migration Assistant to pull data from the Time Capsule, how do i preserve the last 3 weeks of data on the new MacBook, considering that I didn't keep track of which files changed in the last 3 weeks?

All the rest of the stuff is where it should be. As best I can tell. I have been going through my programs one at a time to see what works. With the change in the OS (Launchpad? What the heck?) I am finding a significant number of my old programs are not working. Some I have found upgrades. But without a working mail program, the machine is pretty useless for work.
The Apple techies had me run through 3 hours of 'stuff' (holding down keys and restarting, etc, etc). It still does not launch. I think we are waiting for a 'miracle', but I need to know now if they should just come get this piece of junk or if they really are able to find a solution in a timely manner.

How can I use a firewire hard drive on a new Macbook with one USB-C only?

How can I use a firewire hard drive on a new MacBook with only one USB-C?

kaz-k is correct about FireWire not being supported by any possible connector or adaptor to USB-C and never will. However, there is no such thing as a FireWire Hard Drive. There are only SATA (or if it is a really old one, ATA,) drives in a FireWire enclosure. If you can remove the drive from the case/enclosure - bust it open somehow if it is a glued-up unit - then the drive can be placed into a regular USB3 enclosure. Then it can connect to the new MacBook via any one of the adaptors Apple sells.

Hi, ok so at my old job i got given a laptop and i synced my iPhone to that laptop using iCloud, now i have left that job and i have bought my own macbook. I just linked my iPhone to my new macbook via iCloud and now pictures from my old work colleges

Hi, ok so at my old job i got given a laptop and i synced my iPhone to that laptop using iCloud, now i have left that job and i have bought my own macbook. I just linked my iPhone to my new macbook via iCloud and now pictures from my old work colleges that are obviously using that laptop have popped up on my new laptop, does that mean all my pictures in the last 3 months have been loa
ding onto that old work laptop as well as my new one??!!! if so how do i delete my pictures from the past 3 months off that old work macbook? HELP!!

If they are photo stream photos, save them to your camera roll, then delete them from photo stream. That will delete them from photo stream in iCloud and on any other devices/computers. Of couse it won't delete them if they have already been moved out of the photo stream album download folder on the work computer.
Then change your iCloud password so the old work computer no longer has access to your iCloud data or photo stream. See http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2617.

Now that the new macbook pro has usb 3.0, is there a way to convert my current macbook's usb 2.0 to 3.0?

Now that the new macbook pro has usb 3.0, is there a way to convert my current macbook's usb 2.0 to 3.0?

No you can not.
You can connect USB 3 components to you MB if you wish to use them but will only run at USB 2 specs.

How do I transfer my data to my new macbook pro using an external hard drive?

I've already set up my new MacBook Pro is my issue. It asked me if I'd like to "Migrate" my stuff or use an external hard drive etc but at the time I didn't transfer my data from my old MacBook yet. I was going to manually do it later as I had to wait for my External hard drive to back my old Mac up. Now it's that time and I have no idea how to do it. I believe I've researched best of my ability.
I feel like I'm asking a pretty dumb question. If I were to just drag all my programs out like my Adobe Suite on to my new macbook pro would that work? I feel like that's just too easy and incorrect. Please and thank you.

The Adobe suite can be downloaded free, you dont have to copy it at all, under standard CS6 Adobe rules, if you own the suite, you get 2 computers "activated at any one time" Make sure, if youre not using the older computer, you deactivate the software under the HELP menu in Adobe.
format the new drive in disk utility ......APPLICATIONS.....UTILITIES.....DISK UTILITIES.......select the external drive and format (if its new and empty!!!) under the ERASE button with Mac OSX extended journaled
copy all your important stuff from older computer , pics, files, documents, personal anything.
most of you apps, i ASSUME you bought in the (other than Adobe software, or Office suite, etc etc,..... obviously) in the MAC APP store, so you can reload them on the new computer without copying them , makes things very easy......just open APP STORE, and download what you already bought.
really the only important things , is copy all important work files, documents, pictures, personal ABC...XYZ...... obviously.
the migration is about emails, contacts, etc etc etc, also data, just because you passed it by at the time doesnt mean you still cant do it, go to the SEARCH at menu at top and type in MIGRATION ASSISTANT to do it again , since you passed it by at first .
the only thing you NEED / SHOULD copy is all your personal stuff........Applications need to be reinstall from either ONLINE download,.......or from the MAC APP STORE,........ you cant just copy the apps over (in most cases) and toss them onto the new computer
Nahh, there are no dumb questions, just dumb mistakes because you DIDNT ask any questions, and we all make those here and there.

HT201250 old data transferred to new computer via time machine, is external hard drive still usable

I set up my new macbook from an old macbook via time machine and an external WD Harddrive.
The setup partitioned my macbook to two user id's, now I need to back up.
The old user id is backing up everything again and the new user id wants to create a new backup to my WD Harddrive like it is not used.
I don't believe that my WD was partitioned.
Help! How can I continue using my WD and backup both user id information without losing anything?

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
When you turn on the new iMac for the first time, Setup Assistant will ask you to restore a backup, so connect the external disk and follow steps to restore all your files to your new iMac. Your new Mac will have the same settings and programs as your old computer.
In other cases, I would recommend to restore the whole backup without using Migration Assistant or Setup Assistant, but a Late 2012 iMac uses a special OS X build, so the OS X version that you're using on your old Mac won't work on the new one. For more information, see > http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html

Why is there no data on my new MacBook Pro after using Migration Assistant?

Last night I launched Migration Assistent between my MacBook to my MacBook Pro. It said it would take 12 hours so I left it over night. When it finished this morning it said that some files were not able to be transferred. But there is absolutely nothing on my new MacBook Pro. Why is that?
My TimeMachine backup disk has a cable that won't work with the new MacBook Pro so what other choice do I have to transfer data?

epicsnow wrote:
Last night I launched Migration Assistent between my MacBook to my MacBook Pro. It said it would take 12 hours so I left it over night. When it finished this morning it said that some files were not able to be transferred. But there is absolutely nothing on my new MacBook Pro. Why is that?
See Problems after using Migration Assistant

HT1296 How do I load my old macbook data onto my new macbook using an external hard drive backup?

I have a new macbook pro that I bought and started to use. I then went back to using my old macbook because I couldn't learn some of the new keystrokes and software and it was slowing my ability to get work done. i am now ready to use my new computer but want to update my new computer with my external time machine hard drive to have all my current work on one computer.

See this Excellent Advise from Pondini...
Setting-up a new Mac from an old one, its backups, or a PC
See the Second Chance to Use Setup Assistant here...
http://Pondini.org/OSX/SetupLion.html

Migration to new macbook aluminum

I have recently purchased the latest macbook and its a happy upgrade from my ibook g4. My current problem is when doing the original migration over the wireless network after many hours, the connection failed. I then went to attempt the process again however this time via ethernet. When I went to do this, I was not prompted with the original page that asked to transfer from an old mac and went straight into the set up.
So my question is now that i have a set up macbook how do I do the migration from my old ibook?I would love to get the basics of music, pictures and documents from my old machine.
Thanks so much!!

You can, but I would suggest you simply transfer the files manually over the network. There are some caveats to consider when moving from a PPC to an Intel Mac. See the following FAQ:
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

Migration to new Macbook Air incomplete, disc ejected

Hi,
I am trying to migrate data from an external USB disk with time machine backup of my mid-2007 Macbook to a new Macbook Air 13". I have't found a problem like this in the forums.
The data is ca. 46GB, it shows it should take 24 mins but at 30% all of a sudden it speeds up to a 100%, says the migration was successful but an error window shows up at the same time saying that the disc was not ejected properly etc. And indeed some data was transferred (user preferences, documents) but some (music especially) was not. I have tried this both on a fresh installation at the startup and after having created an additional user account to be able to overwrite (same user name) the one I had already tried to migrate.
The external disc is PQI with two USB ends - I can only plug one in as the other USB port on MBA is on the other side and the other end of the cable won't reach there. I don't think this could be the problem, could it?
At first it seemed to me like the disc was ejected because the data was unreadable or unaccessible(?) on it. So I did a full fresh backup and it still would get ejected and the migration would be incomplete.
I really don't know what I should do. Whether to try and run the migration procedure over and over again, but this seems terribly silly and I don't know if this will duplicate files that have already been transferred or not.
I would greatly appreciate your help in finding the problem here.
Thanks!
geldbar

A couple of suggestions...
1) An external disk with two usb cords generally uses one of the cords for extra power...
you could try pluging the extra end into a powered usb hub.
2) You could try to sync directly from the existing machine if it is on the same network.
This is what I did.
Jerry

Migrating to new macbook air with Lion, entourage 2008 doesn't work

I bought a new macbook air with lion installed. trying to migrate data from my old macbook with snow leopard. Got most data across, and installed my most frequently used applications:
- office 2008: most office apps 2008 work, if buggily. entourage not, see below.
- firefox (hangs up when downloading updates)
- dropbox (ditto)
<these two problems may have something to do with internet proxy settings, will try to sort that out later>
MAIN ISSUE:
entourage wont open at all. so for now i'm using my old comp for e-mail and the new for the rest.
MY OPTIONS:
please advise (1) what you think is the most time & nerve-saving option (2) how to do it smoothly:
A) try to get office 2008 to work.
when trying to open entourage, it tells me this version (office 2008 12.0) cannot open this entourage database (12.3)
error for other apps says there is a problem with database, and rebuilding several times did not fix it.
would have to start with updating to the version i used last (office 2008 12.3). Problem is the ms office updater does not seem to work on lion. the first update does not open, says it does not support powermac.
B) buying office 2011, and migrating entourage 2008 to outlook.
I suppose the best way to do this is to install office 2011 on the old mac first, then on the new one, then move database, right?
C) migrating from entourage 2008 to lion mail.
best way to do this would be to import entourage email to leopard mail, then move those files to the new mac? and move entourage addresses into the mac addressbook. my major concern is that i have a lot of mailing rules, and a fair bunch of notes. a lot. i;d rather not have to recreate those by hand. Is there a way to import rules from entourage to mail?
i also habe a huge backstock of mail, over 10,000, and a correspondigly huge addressbook (within entourage). i'm ready to abandon entourage at last (though i used it for a decade), but i want to have my addresses, my rules, and at least the last 3 yrs of emails. i get about 130 mails a day so i need plenty of automatic organizing capability.
i never had issues my old mac/snow leopard, i just ran out of ram and the one usb broke, so i figured it's time. kinda sorry i did not just get the usb repaired and extra ram. what a hassle these migrations always are.
cheers!
maedi

Kappy wrote:
Yes, repairing first is a sound idea. In my experience I've only moved from Entourage to the OS X applications or from one version of Entourage to another. In the latter I've been able to just copy over the Microsoft User Data folder. But I have not used Entourage for quite some time.
Microsoft don't make it quite that easy to migrate to their own applications, but the import from a 'tidy' .rge file works well, I had a lot of issues with the first few I migrated but after performing a database repair prior to import all proceeded smoothly.

Can't migrate to new MacBook Pro

Hi,
I have just brought home my new MacBook Pro, running 10.8. I can't migrate my stuff from my MacBook, which is running 10.8.2 - neither computer sees each other via wifi or ethernet cable. I have also discovered that my external hard drive with my backups on it is corrupted. I tried downloading the latest software update - it appeared to download, then I got the spinning wheel in the corner of the update window for awhile then nothing. I restarted the Pro & clicked on software update and it didn't install it. I have read that a few people are having trouble installing the latest update on 2012 computers.
Any ideas gratefully accepted, thanks.

Step by step:
1) Your old MB is running a newer OS X version than the new MBP. After migrating, you might discover some incompatibilties, e.g. the iPhoto library not opening on the new MBP, et al.
2) Probably you can't update the new MBP yet because for some new models the presently available updates don't apply, and it's unknown when one for you will be available. Just be patient.
3) In any case, and before migrating, you should have a proper fresh backup of your old MB. See that you fix the external drive (re-format with Disk Utility, then create new, full backup with Time Machine, verify it works).
4a) Once that's done, you may use that external drive to migrate from. Back to point 1) here...
4b) You should be able to migrate from one Mac to another, too, if they have a proper connection. Guess your network settings were wrong when you tried. Warning: WiFi is slow and might take forever.
All about Migration Assistant.

Migrate to new Macbook Pro

I am going to be migrating from an older macbook pro to an newer macbook pro. Which is the best way to migrate 1) from mac to mac or 2) via time machine backup? Thanks

When you get the new Mac (you wrote "will be getting..." so I assume you don't have it yet), the "out of the box experience" when you first boot will offer to do the migration for you -- and it'll invoke Migration Assistant to do this. It's actually a little less confusing if you the migration right at this time (rather than continue without restoring and then manually running Migration Assistant later). This is because Migration Assistant wont let you restore an account if an account with the same name already exists.... meaning if you type in your same firstname / lastname and let it make an account with the same name, THEN try to run Migration Assistant, it wont restore your own files to your account because an account with the same name already exists (it will block the restore if either the accounts "short name" matches OR if the full name (first & last) are identical. If you do the restore when the out-of-the-box experience prompts for it no account will have been created yet and you wont have this problem. (if you DO choose to do it later, then just create a temporary account on the new Mac so you wont have an account name collision. You can delete the temporary account after you complete the migration.)
"Migration Assistant" does have an option to use the Time Machine drive as a source for your data.
It's a smarter restore because it can create the user accounts, machine specific configuration (network settings, wireless networks, printers, etc.), as well as all your applications. This is considerably easier than trying to use the Time Machine interface to manually select everything you want to restore.
If you do a machine-to-machine restore (with the old Mac booting in "target firewire mode") then you'll have no use of either computer until the restore is complete. If you do a restore from a bootable backup drive (the sort of thing you could create with a utility such as 'SuperDuper') or a TimeMachine backup volume then you wont have both machines tied up. Depending on how much data you have to restore, it could take a few hours.

Data migration to new macbook via external usb?

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