Files from old tiger to new lion

I know that these questions have been asked before, so do forgive me. But being technologically challenged and pressed for time, I thought I'd ask them anyway.
We're about to move. Since I'd rather not lug my aging G4 emac with me (I have an Amiga 500 in the closet and one antique is enough!), I bought a new iMac a few days ago (thus far, still in its box) and plan to give the emac to a friend who has no computer. I know that I can't move most of my applications from Tiger to Lion, and the few that l can, like iWork '09 and my Canon printer software, I can install by disc. What I'm wondering about are my files.
I've led a dull life so they're neither very large nor very interesting. I have a few hundred pictures in my iPhoto library, some music and audio files in iTunes, and a scad of documents (.doc, pages, pdf, xls). They would all fit comfortably on a flash drive. Am I right in assuming that I can simply copy these into the appropriate folders on my new iMac? Are there folders connected to iTunes and iPhoto that I should be careful not to overlook?
What about Mail. Would copying the necessary folders (Mail, Mail downloads, and com.apple.mail.plist) to my new computer using my USB flash drive be a good first step? If so, what would I do next? If not, what should I do instead? The instructions I've read on these forums have left me a bit confused. Remember, I'm technologically challenged.
Many thanks!

That depends on how you transferred them. How did you do it?

Similar Messages

Will apple store transfer files from old macbook to new?

will apple store transfer files from old mackbook to new

If you mean that you are going to an Apple Store to buy a new Mac, and you want to know if they will transfer your data for you then the answer is "maybe." Many stores will do that for you, but some may not. Good idea to ask first.

How do I quickly move files from old iMac to new one?

how do I quickly move files from old iMac to a new one?

How many files, and what total size?
To move ALL your files from an old Mac, you would use Migration Assistant, using either an Ethernet or Firewire connection. It's not quick, though.
To move just a few, you COULD put the old Mac into target mode (reboot it while holding T, and connect a Firewire cable, with Thunderbolt adaptor on the new end if need be). Or you could just copy them via an external (probably USB, for compatibility) drive or flash drive, formatted Mac Extended.
Matt

Get files from old MBP to new MBP when the old one has suffered a Logic Board failure

Recently, my 2009 unibody MacBook Pro died. Logic board failure, I am told. It is out of warranty, and replacing the Logic Board would cost a grand. It had some other issues too, so I figured upgrading to a brand new system would be the best idea. So, I am going to purchase a brand new one within the next few days. My question is this: How to I get the files from my old MBP (I NEED them, plain and simple) to the new one once I get it? Should I take out the harddrive from the old one and connect it via a SATA>USB cable and connect it to the new one? Can anyone shed any light on this? It will be much appreciated. Thanks.
Roku

AvatarRoku wrote:
Should I take out the harddrive from the old one and connect it via a SATA>USB cable and connect it to the new one?
Yep, all you need is a IDE/SATA to USB adapter for about $20 online at OtherWorld Computing, NewEgg and other online computer sites like Amazon etc.
You can find the screwdriver or other torx driver at iFixit or OtherWorld, just look for your Mac model or just be rough with it and drill out the screws.
You can choose to get a enclosue and use the drive as a external drive, it will cost more naturally, but for a few bucks more though you can get a brand new external drive and likely twice the capacity.
Some external drives can't be Carbon Copy Cloner and option booted from, so perhaps a adapter is best. (don't clone a OS from another Mac to your new Mac)
Setup:
When you set up the new Lion Mac, name the hard drive the same name as the external drive, also setup the same user name as the old Mac had. Software Update.
Install all your known third party programs from fresh sources as many as possible.
The last thing you do is connect the old Mac drive, transfer all the files from the user folders right back into their respective folders on the new drive (Music, Pictures, Documents etc) Not User/Library.
Open all your programs like iTunes and iPhoto and it will update for your files, then go through the folders and delete what you don't want.
Don't use migration or setup assitant, it's a blind copy, includes programs you can't use anymore and other headaches.
If you do things in the order I specify, your drive will be optimized and run fast for a decent amount of time.
If Lion act's glitchy, Carbon Copy Cloner to a new HFS+ Journaled (Disk Utility) and then hold Command R to get into Lion Recovery, Zero Erase the OS X Lion partition and then option boot from the Lion clone and reverse clone onto the OS X Lion partition on the internal.
You can also reinstall Lion on top of the factory Lion from the Recovery Partition.
search "apple support Lion Recovery" for details.

Transfer iTunes files from old MacBook to new MacBook Pro

How do I transfer just my iTunes files from a MacBook to my new MacBook Pro?

The best bet is for you to transfer your iTunes library to the new Mac with the Migration Assistant. When you first fire up a Mac and it asks if you want to move your data, that’s one chance, but you can also set up the new Mac as pristinely new and use Migration Assistant later. Just launch it from the Utilities folder and tell it what you want to do—you can transfer your library over Wi-Fi, but if both Macs have a FireWire port, it’s much faster to connect them that way and use Target Disk Mode. (Start up the old Mac holding down T, which mounts it as an external drive on the new Mac for Migration Assistant to mine—but Migration Assistant walks you through the whole process.) Migration Assistant doesn’t have a setting specifically for iTunes, but if you migrate your user account’s Music folder, that’ll contain both your media and your library database, which stores those preferences you want to transfer.
Migrate your Music folder to your new Mac. (Which we obviously can’t do here because the MacBook Air is a few hundred gigs light…)
If you’d rather do it manually, first move the files in your home folder’s Music/iTunes/iTunes Media folder from the old Mac to the same location on the new Mac. Then export the iTunes Library database from your old Mac—go to File > Library > Export Library. Move the resulting XML file to the new Mac. Open iTunes, choose File > Library > Import Playlist and select that XML file.
Why not use Home Sharing within iTunes, you may wonder? I found out the hard way when recently combining songs from multiple laptops and external drives into one, new, started-from-scratch mega-library on my new iMac: Home Sharing is great for actually moving music, videos, and apps from one machine to another over the network, but it doesn’t move the metadata. My ratings and play counts were wiped out.

Cannot migrate files from old MacBook to new MacBook Pro

I have been trying without success to migrate files from my old MacBook to my new one. The Migration Assistant doesn't work. The new Mac recognizes the old one but the old one cannot see the new one. The old MacBook has OS 10.5.8 and the new MacBook Pro has 10.8.1.
Then I tried migrating from my Time Machine backup, with the external drive still connected to the old MacBook, but it kept telling me I didn't have enough space to copy anything, even when I unchecked everything except my Documents folder.
I went to the Apple Store and one of their "geniuses" told me I could connect the external hard drive directly to the new MacBook Pro and migrate the files from there. That didn't work either; I got an error message about incompatible software.
The genius also told me that I could back up the new MacBook Pro to the same external hard drive with Time Machine that I'd been using and that I'd be able to restore from backups from either computer, but that's not true. I cannot see any backups on the drive except from the new computer. Time Machine does recognize that there is space in use on the drive but will not show me any of the content.
Does anyone know how I can migrate my files, short of copying them to a flash drive and doing it the old-fashioned way? Thank you!

It is possible to merge accounts but it is not easy nor foolproof. The easier solutions:
1. Remove the account made in Setup Assistant and change the username on the migrated account.
See Mac OS X- How to change user short name or home directory name.
See Macworld | Changing the short username in Leopard - use the last procedure, "The Full Monty."
2. Log into the migrated, renamed account and delete the account made in Setup Assistant, then re-migrate your data.

Can't transfer files from old macbook to new retina?

Hello, I am well aware that the macbook pro retina does not have a firewire 800 port, but rather thunderbolt. Unfortunately I didn't know of this when I asked an apple employee about how to transfer files from my old broken macbook pro (leopard) to the new retina I bought. He only told me to get a firewire 800 wire. So now I have the firewire 800 cable but I cannot connect it to a my macbook pro retina. Is there any way I could transfer files from my broken mac to this one? To be more accurate: my broken macbook pro is just that the screen is broken, otherwise I would just transfer the files by usb; but since you cannot access the computer at all except for turning it on I am unable to do this.
I do have an alternative theory, if anyone thinks it could work please let me know. My mother has a mac desktop, with a firewire 800 port. Could I transfer my files onto her computer and then transfer those via usb to the new macbook retina? Or is there a way to connect the old broken macbook to the new one? I apologize if I sound very confusing right now, it's just that I finally got my new computer and I cannot transfer my files onto it. Thank you for your help.

I used wifi to transfer two users and system preferences during setup, since that was a relatively small amount of data. To transfer my main account (40Gb or so), I turned off wifi on my old laptop, ran an ethernet cable to the ethernet-thunderbolt adapter to mbp-r, ran migration assistant on both - worked fine. I didn't feel like waiting for the firewire adapter.

Transferring Files from Old Computer to New Computer

I upgraded my iTunes to 9.1.1 on my old computer (and new computer). On the old computer, I have everything organized in playlists. When I transferred all my music from my old computer to my new computer (via ipod), my playlists do not show up. All the songs are in Music on the top of iTunes. Is there anyway to transfer the itunes exactly as it appears on my old computer to my new computer? Would a USB transfer cable take care of this problem? Please help

Hi there,
what you did is only transfer all of the MEDIA files into your new computer's iTunes. There is no problem with doing this, but all the media files include are well, the media obviously, and the tagging info (which displays name/artist/album/etc.) If all you do is move the media files onto the new computer and load iTunes, a new copy of iTunes (with no playlists/ratings/play counts and new settings) will load up, and put your content in it.
If you wish to preserve your playlists/ratings/etc, you need to import the iTunes Library File as well. This is by default located in your iTunes directory. So instead of just moving everything from "iTunes Media" (default location), it is best to move the ENTIRE "iTunes" folder, with the Library file and your media files.
However, one trick may still work. If you transfer JUST the Library file over (iTunes Library.itl), transfer it to your new computer, REPLACE the current iTunes Library file with the old one (so delete the new one, put the old one there). Open iTunes while holding SHIFT down the whole time, until a screen pops up asking you to find a library. Select choose library, and go to the location of the Library file we just moved. Select it, and if all goes well your playlists should be there!
You might come across one issue however, and that is if you changed the relative location of your media files. For example if you USED to have it on an external drive "my Music" and now it is on the internal drive in a folder labeled "iTunes Music", the computer may not be able to find your songs because it is looking in the wrong place. If that happens, and you are willing to lose your play counts and ratings, it actually might be more of a time saver to start over again and make your playlists from scratch.

Transfer old config files from old C150 to New C170

I exported the complete configuration from the old C150 and emailed it to myself without masked passwords. I copied the file to my machine and logged into the new C170. System Administration --> Configuration File
Selected Load Configuration file from local computer. I browsed to the file and seleted it and hit "load"
It failed on so many lines that just seemed incompatible with the new XML structure I just gave up. I ended up doing it manually but would like to know if it is possible to accomplish the original task of importing that old config file?

The dievices have different port settings and there are some large differences in the code. You cannot transfer the entire config file but you can do it in sections. Such as export your HAT config and import that to the C170.
How I did it was hook a laptop directly to the new C170 on the management port and opened a wireless connection via browser to the live C150 and manually set all of my network configurations individually.

Transferring files from old macbook to new

I'm trying to transfer files and programs from old macbook pro to new one, but run into problems using Migration Assistant, and time machine. Not sure what to do differently...

Probably the most straightforward way to get iTunes onto your new computer is to network the two and copy your iTunes folder across. This works fine if you have been using iTunes to completely manage your music and all your songs are in iTunes Music not in different folders. Connecting two Mac computers using Ethernet
Another way is to put your original computer into target disk mode and copy the data over Firewire: How to use FireWire target disk mode
Copying the whole folder brings with it the iTunes Music folder and also the iTunes Library (iTunes Library.itl in Windows) database file which holds all the information about your songs (Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts, Last Played, Date Added, etc). You'll get more information including the Folder/File structure in this article: What are the iTunes library files?
When you copy the iTunes folder make sure you put it into the same location on the new computer. This has to be the exact same place, on a Mac this would be in Username/Music/. When you open iTunes on the new computer it will be the same as on the original one Songs, Playlists, Play Counts, Ratings etc. When I moved iTunes a while ago for my daughter I was also using the same version of iTunes, not sure how important that is but it's probably worth keeping them the same.

Can someone help me transfer files from old apple to new

hi i recently got a new (used) laptop. To bring files from my old g4 to my new laptop can i create a network between the two with just cord?
ibook Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Hi benbev welcom to the posts,
Well if it is a mac to mac transfer you can simply get a firwire cable and follow the on scrren instuctions in the installation window.
If it is between a pc and mac then make a shared folder on the pc and connect the ethernet cable between the two. Then connect to the shared folder via go, connect to server, smb://(pc computer name)

Moving files from old Mac to new one, via Firewire

I have an old G4, and recently bought a new iMac. I'm trying to transfer the files from my old computer to the new one via firewire (and I've also tried via ethernet cable). The G4 has two hard drives, one with system files, the other just used for data. When I connect the Macs by Firewire, with the G4 in Target mode, the iMac only recognizes the data hard drive. Is there a reason that anybody can think of why the system drive wouldn't show up?

FireWire Target Disk mode only connects to the master ATA drive on the ATA 0 bus; if there's nothing at that location, the computer will shut down instead.
(33779)

How to transfer files from old mac to new

How so I transfer files from my old mac 1.5 gb (os x 10.4.11) with disk drive to a new imac with 8 gb (os x 10.9.1) without disk drive? Sorry but I don't want to pay the $99 service cost?
Where can I find step by step instructions online to do this?

new imac with 8 gb (os x 10.9.1) without disk drive
Sorry - are you saying that your new iMac does not have a hard drive?
If it does, please read this article (in particular this section):
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4889
You cannot use the methods linked to above; you will need to use the method offered in the Apple article.

How to transfer files from old iMac to new iMac without transferring everything.

I just got a new iMac and would like to transfer files from my old iMac. I don't want to transfer everything from the old iMac. I just want the files, iTunes library, iPhoto library, etc. I don't want to transfer applications and settings. I was told in the Apple store that if I transferred my files using system setup then my new computer would look just like my old one. I'd rather start out fresh with the new one and just bring in the files I need. Is there a tool that allows you to customize what you transfer over from old to new? Thanks for your help!!

Carbon Copy Cloner might be the correct tool. It lets you pick and choose what to clone.
http://www.bombich.com/ccc_features.html
install CCC on the old Mac,
connect the Macs with an ethernet cable,
enable file sharing on both Macs,
use "connect to server" (in Go menu) to mount the new Mac's drive on the old Mac.
run CCC.

How to transfer files from old iMac to new iMac

What is the easiest way to transfer files from my current iMac (intel) to my new iMac..which be arriving this week?
Thanks

Get a Firewire cable to run between your old iMac and the new one. Boot the old iMac into Target Disk Mode. Boot the new computer for the first time. You will find yourself in the Setup Assistant. You will have an option to transfer files from another drive or Mac. Choose that option to transfer your Home folder, third-party applications and support files, and network preferences. You will opt to transfer from your old iMac's hard drive which should appear as an alternative source.

Files from old tiger to new lion

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for