Help Transferring data off of old iMac hard drive onto new Imac

Hello, I have two iMac's in my home office. My 6 year old iMac recently had the logic board die; so as opposed to putting $500 dollars into an old iMac I just removed the hard drive. I now would like to pull all the data off this hard drive and upload it to my other iMac. What type of cable/program do I need to do this?
Thanks for any insight!

One option would be a hard drive enclosure case. It would also allow you to continue to use the old drive for backups etc. One example of such a case which includes a usb cable to connect to the new computer: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=0VN-0003-000H1
The same source has a number of others: http://www.newegg.com/Hard-Drive-Enclosures/SubCategory/ID-92
After the old drive is in the enclosure and connected, you can simply move files from the old drive or you could use OS X: How to migrate data from another Mac using Mavericks

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How do I import data from external hard drive onto new iMac?

How do I import data from an external hard drive onto my new iMac?

If you think about it logically if you want to move something from one place to another well do just exactly that
Drag & Drop its as simple as that click on the file/folder keep it pressed down & move the file/folder to where you want it on your Mac
If its photo's drag them onto the iPhoto icon on the dock if its music drag it onto the iTunes icon documents into guess what documents
Hope this helps

How do I transfer all data from my old internal hard drive to a new internal hard drive

How do I transfer all data from my old internal hard drive to a new internal hard drive? I have an iMac with a 320gb internal HD that is full and I am replacing it with a 2tb internal drive. I have several external drives; 1 tb, 2tb and 3 tb. The 2 tb is being used for Time Machine. Do I have to buy an enclosure? If so, where would I get an inexpensive one?
I also want to partition the new internal drive for Windows, and I'm not sure how much space to use for that. I plan to use Windows to check my work in PowerPoint created on my Mac for clients on PCs.

Do you already have Time Machine making backups onto the 2TB drive? If so, after you get the internal drive replaced, boot up into the recovery partition (hold down ⌘R) and restore the latest Time Machine backup that you have onto the new internal drive.
I recommend always having two backups. I'd use SuperDuper to make a complete clone of your internal drive onto an external drive in addition to having the Time Machine backup.
Boot Camp is what is used to make partitions for Windows. How much space to allocate depends on how much space you expect Windows to use up based on how you plan to use it.

Hi All, I recently bought a Mac Book Pro and transferred all my photos from my hard drive onto the Mac. I realised that there were some folders which didn't have the camera information embedded in the files and these files refuse to open on iPhoto. HELP!!

Hi All, I recently bought a Mac Book Pro and transferred all my photos from my hard drive onto the Mac. I realised that there were some folders which didn't have the camera information embedded in the files and these files refuse to open on iPhoto. I know that the folders that have the problem were not transferred to the hard drive via a photo transfer application (I have a Canon camera) but I simply copied them out of the photo card and onto my old PC.
Is there some way I can open these pictures on my Mac? They work fine on a PC.

Thanks for your reply.
The files don't open in preview either. In preview I get the error message 'The file "xxxx_xxx.jpg" could not be opened. It may be damaged or use a file format that Preview doesn't recognize'. The folders with these un-openable pictures do not even get imported into iPhoto. When I try to import them I get an error message about the files being unreadable.
The color profile information on the un-openable files is not visible but I see that all the other files from my old drive are RGB.

Old hard drive into new iMac

My old iMac (G5, no iSight) recently died. Of course, it had been a long time since I had backed up any of my data. The genius at the Apple store looked at it and said the motherboard burned out, but the hard drive was probably still good. While there I purchased a new iMac (iMac 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 24" display).
My question is... What is the simplest way, if any, to transfer data from my old hard drive onto my new iMac? The genius told me there was something I could buy to turn it into an external hard drive with a USB or Firewire connection, but he did not know the specifics.
Thanks in advance for any ideas!
JCG

Hi JCG
Stuffing the old HD in an External Drive Enclosure is probably the best way to go, because you have a choice of USB/400/800 combination's and it protects the drive. A slightly less expensive NewerTech USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter could also be used to transfer data between the old drive and new iMac.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/U2NV2SPATA/
Dennis

HT2518 can i just plug in my old external hard drive into my imac

hi im new to imac can you just connect a external hard drive into a imac containing music,photos and movie clips thanks

Badunit wrote:
Csound1 wrote:
If the OP only wants to read from the drive that would be OK, do you know that is what he wants?
No, do you? The OP asked if the drive can be connected. It can but there may be limitations. Saying you cannot connect an NTFS drive is not correct, it is only partly correct. I know you know that.
Have a nice day.

Can't remove files off of old MBPro hard drive.

Behaves like Read only, doesn't unmount, fails to back up at like 75-99% in Migration Assistant, can't repair in Disk U, has a mysterious "Lock file" of 166 b. Can see and open all files in Windows but can't move or transfer them to my new Mac. I can view all files in Mac but it takes forever. Only main directories load...
Can't move anything off of the hard drive to anywhere.
Can't boot of the hard drive.
trying to move files from 2011? '13 Mac Book Pro 250 GB hard drive
to new '13 macbook air
THROW A HOMIE A BONE.

one error: Can't unmount.
Once every blue moon I'll get some code, but that's it.
Update:
So I booted my Air in win7, started selecting files in the MBPHDD, and clicking properties, and then un-checking read-only. Windows 7 will ask to apply to all subfolders, etc. and then tell me 'permeters are incorrect,' and I clicked ignore. Five minutes of loading later...I am able to transfer this file <1.2 mb/s to another drive or inside my comp.
Still too slow....

How to load files from old external hard drive to new PC

Copied files from old PC (Windows XP) to external hard drive. Purchased new PC (Windows 7). Paid technicians to transfer files from old PC to new PC. Some files were lost in the process.
Please walk me through (step by step) on how to load spicific files from an external hard drive onto my new PC.
Thanx, rp1

Click anywhere on the open desktop so that the Finder menus are displayed at the top of the screen.
Click Go > Network
Double click the Time Capsule icon, then double click the icon representing the drive to mount it on the Mac's desktop. It is named "Data" unless you have changed it
You can drag/drop files to the "Data" icon on the desktop
235 GB is going to take forever if you try to do this using wireless. If at all possible, connect an Ethernet cable from your Mac to one of the LAN <-> ports on the Time Capsule.
Even using Ethernet, you are probably looking at 10-12 hours for the file transfer. All bets are off with wireless only, but a guess would be several days....or even more.

How to get batch recognition of (!) on some tracks after moving library from external hard drive to new iMac (with terabyte hard drive)?

I'm using Lion 10.7.2 and iTunes 10.5.2
I have moved my iTunes music from an external hard drive onto my new iMac (with a terabyte hard drive) with music folder organized - when I try to play some tracks I get the iTunes can't locate warning and so I follow through and show iTunes the track - they are all in the music folder on my iMac hard drive - they all copied over and they all appear in the iTunes library list - so far as I can tell out of a 500 gigabyte music collection - but there are so many giving me the error - many other tracks function as they should too, some work others don't - So I'm looking for a way to get all the error tracks fixed in a batch correction way. Doing this individually with each track just isn't realistic.
Can anyone suggest how I might fix this issue?
Also, after I show iTunes the song location and it plays, I get a find files prompt that looks like it wants to find other files, but that just causes the process to jam and I have to force quit iTunes and then it doesn't remember what I last showed it next time I open iTunes.
Also I'm trying to avoid the use of the consolidate function because that would copy a whole other set of music - not in iTunes - that is in the process of being edited (audio hijack pro and fission tools being used to put vinyl and tapes to mp3) But all that other music just means the consolodate function across my whole computer would be too much.

Some details seem to be coming into focus - I have started scrolling through the main library list A to Z repairing tracks individually (there are thousands, but it's what works so far) - as I work through, it appears the problem occurred on tracks where album artist metadata was different than song artist metadata, predominantly. I'm not sure that is 100% the case in every instance, but that is what it's looking like. I don't why that happened, must be some technical glich I guess.
Also, I tried running Doug's Scripts - the one titled, iTunes Track CPR v1.3 - it is supposed to fix exactly the kind of issue I'm having - I bet it would work for some people with a similar issue - but for my case it only identifies the 'de-linked' tracks and doesn't repair them - that is at least helpful as I scroll though to fix them - I can see exactly which tracks have the issue quickly after running that script - but iTunes doesn't remember that warning symbol after a log-out, so it's only worth running the script on a set of tracks I intend to review and fix in any given session at a time.
If you are interested, Doug's free scripts can be found at
http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=itunestrackcpr
there are other interesting and useful iTunes scripts there too...
also, unrelated to the issue I'm having, I found a lot of really useful and time saving metadata fixing free scripts at - hubi's iTunes scripts - the page isn't English, but the script download is easy to find -
hubi's scripts work for batch selections of tracks - so if you import an album and find the metadata screwed up somehow, you can select the whole set of screwed up tags at once (even across a series of albums), run the easy to use script, and watch it all be fixed automatically while you sit back and relax...
http://hubionmac.com/wordpress/category/softwareschmiede/applescripting/itunes/
just for reference, here is a sampling of what hubi's scripts can do...
there are other useful scripts out there - the tough part can be finding the one that helps you...
01-(un)capitalizes
01-(un)capitalizes
This script changes.... THIS TEXT into This Text... or this text
01-Delete spaces
Sometimes invisible blanks are behind an artist name or album name...this script deletes these blanks behind or infront of the strings
01-Delete x first-last chars. of Title
A Name like "01--Ray Of Light" will be changed to "Ray Of Light" and the01 will be entered in the tracks tracknumber id3 field =)
01-fix combined Artist-Title
Sometimes Tracknames look like:
"Madonna---Ray of Light" and in the artist field you see something like"Ripped by Me"... this script puts Madonna back to the right field... all youhave to do is to enter the right delimiter ("---" in this case)
01-switch Artist<->Title...
Switch ID3 field a with ID3 field b (not only Artist with Title any more =)!
01-z_filename ->Title
Sets the ID3 field Title to the track's filename)
01-z_trackNr-Filename->ID3
When a track's filename look like "01-Madonna-Ray of Light.mp3" andyou don't have the track's tracknumber stored in the ID3 Tag... this Scriptcan do this for your =)

How do i copy my files from my external hard drive onto my imac

how do i copy my files from my external hard drive onto my imac

You should be able to 'migrate them' without having to do so during a reinstall, from an external drive. In some cases, you may be able to use TimeMachine software even if the drive had not been used as a backup.
The usual way, though, is to drag & drop copy from one to another (volume or folder) you created in there and have open. Or drag an item on top of the icon of a hard disk drive when it is mounted on the desktop. I'm used to working with open folders and windows, because that works best; and then see if I want to change how things look inside their destination. This helps should I later want to burn them to a DVD and have it correct. And I want to know where they are.
I had more links to some information about importing or migrating data into a Mac from an external, a week ago, but can't find them now. A few good links to pages, but I think I posted what I did find directly to answer someones question about it; and believe the info was in an Apple Support article about TimeMachine, near the lower part of the page with blue words with a disclosure triangle, so you could read more in that page. But I don't believe these two are correct in that TimeMachine (some versions) only allow wireless backup to a drive in a base station unit such as Apple sells, for this. The link I saw simply said how to work around not using the wireless stuff. Maybe it was a dated item, not in these?
See a main general portal to TimeMachine support,
here: http://www.apple.com/support/timemachine/
Or basics that may not provide optional copy methods:
Mac Basics - Time Machine backs up your mac:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427
Perhaps a search of Apple Support database (or even ASC discussions?) would yield ideas, and perhaps find what may work for the kind of files you want to copy, and where they can be found & used later. Are the files for specific applications? Or images, music, etc?
Good luck & happy computing!
edited.

Transfer iTunes files from external drive onto new iMac

I had all of my iTunes files on an external hard drive with an old eMac. I want to transfer the files to my brand-new iMac.
It's easy to copy the iTunes Library folder from the external drive onto the iMac hard drive, and change the preferences so that new songs are stored onto the iMac, but it doesn't change the settings for iTunes. Then, if I "Add to Library" I get two copies of everything: the file that's on the external drive PLUS the file that's on the new iMac. If I delete all of the "old" duplicates, it will mess up my playlists.
Isn't there an easy way to point iTunes to the new Library on the iMac and have it change the location setting for all of the songs?

okay, let me rephrase my question:
when you moved your files from the old Mac to the external, did you
(a) drag the entire iTunes folder from <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music to the external
or
(b) use the +consolidate files+ command to move the files to the external
if (a), connect the external to the new Mac and launch iTunes while pressing option on your keyboard. when prompted, click on +choose library+ and select the iTunes folder on the external.
if (b), copy the iTunes folder from <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music on the old Mac to <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music on the new one, overwriting the iTunes folder in place there. connect the external to your new Mac and fire up iTunes normally.
if you want to move the media files from the external to the internal disk of your new Mac, go iTunes > preferences > advanced and point +iTunes media folder location+ to the iTunes folder in <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music. also on the advanced tab, make sure there is a tick in the boxes next to +keep iTunes media folder organized+ and +copy files to ... when adding to library+.
then file > library > organize library > consolidate files. this will copy all your media files to the location you specified earlier in the advanced tab. when done, you can (if you want) erase the external and use it for other purposes. or keep the files there and use the external as your backup.
JGG

Importing a contact folder from external hard drive onto new iphone

It is kind of a long story...my mom was updating iphone on computer when computer crashed. iphone crashed. had friend move all info from crashed computer onto external hard drive. got new iphone.
so, she no longer has a computer and we have to share mine. she has her own itunes on an external drive and i have my own itunes on another hard drive. i got almost everything except the contacts moved back on her phone. i see the folder and contacts in a 'contact' folder on the external hard drive, but how do I move that to the new iphone without it being in outlook/google/yahoo. i tried 'adding folder' to the library containing the contacts, but that didn't work.
any suggestions? thanks!!!

thanks for the advise about the two users. so, i did that. but, now cannot seem to import the contact folder into the Address Book. the files in the 'contact'-hard drive are called CONTACT files (.contact). i don't know what that means. can i open those in the address book?

Transferring data from ancient SCSI external hard disk to an iMac

I have an old 60mb external SCSI hard drive - so old that when I got it 60mb was huge - that I used with an old Mac Classic. My wife then used it as a backup for a Quadra. Now we want to transfer all the stuff on it to an iMac (which runs 10.4). How do we do this?

hillmore,
More and more, the best suggestion is to find a user group in your area to make one time transfers. Where in the world is 'Carmen San Diego' or your iMac for that matter? Post back with a city and we might know of a resource near by.
In the NW, Seattle has the best options. Just mentioned them here
Jim

Transferring data from Time Machine external hard drive to band new mac

My husband bought me a brand new Mac but then powered it up to play with it and bypassed the magic transfer option at the very beginning which would have allowed me to transfer my backed up info from my old mac to this new one.
Is there a process that I need to go through now to make sure this information transfers correctly or do I just plug in my external hard drive and let it do its thing.
My worry is that I do something wrong and Time Machine doesn't know that I need to transfer to a new mac, it sincs with the new mac and the old data gets somehow erased.
Paranoid? Oh yes!
Thanks for any help....

Time Machine transfers of backed up info to any Mac are not automatic, nor does any backed up info get erased from the Time Machine backup when you do a transfer. You have two options for copying Time Machine backup files to the new Mac:
1. Use Migration Assistant (found in Applications/Utilities) to migrate (copy) items to the new Mac. Select "From a Time Machine backup or other disk" as the migration method, then select the Time Machine backup of the old Mac, then select the items you want to transfer. You can select some or all of the user accounts on the old Mac, Applications (all or none), Settings files (Time Zone, Machine, and/or Network), & "Other" files & folders (which are any other root level files & folders not included in the above).
If you have already set up your network, time zone, etc. settings while playing with the new Mac then there is no particular need to migrate the old ones. If you migrate Applications, Migration Assistant will not replace newer versions with older ones, but it may transfer some old apps that don't work with Snow Leopard. This won't do any harm, but you may want to delete the incompatible apps as you discover them to save space on the new hard drive.
If you have created a new user account on the new Mac with the same name as some account on the old Mac, you will have to either give the old account a new name for the transfer or replace the new account with the old one, which will erase any user files you have created in the new account. Thus, you should save any such files to a backup if you want to keep them.
2. Use Time Machine itself to restore selected files or folders from the Time Machine backup of the old Mac to the new one. Open Time Machine from the Dock, choosing "Browse Other Time Machine Disks…" from the popup options. Again, choose the Time Machine backup of the old Mac, & then select whatever dated backup you want to restore items from.
All this is harder to explain than to do in actual practice -- for the first method you get on-screen guidance for each step & for the second the interface is pretty intuitive.

How to get data off Quadra 650's hard drive

My brother has an old Quadra 650 that has some old design projects on it that he would like to get off. The hard drive won't boot and he is frustrated with the task of trying to figure out why. I am hoping to help him get to his old design files another way.
I have an old Sawtooth G4 450 that has the Classic environment still on it inside OS X 10.2 and can be booted to OS 9. Also have old Adobe software and fonts on the machine, from using the machine for freelance design before getting my Mac Pro. So, what I'm hoping is that I can take the drive from his Quadra 650 (SCSI-based) and connect it to something I have and get the data off of it. With the 650's drive being old and SCSI, I'm not sure what options I have.
Any advice?

There are several difficult ways to transfer the files, once you establish that the drive is alive and the files are there.
AppleTalk-
This requires a Mac with a built-in serial port running 9 or earlier, OR an AppleTalk-over-Ethernet adapter such as AsanteTalk or Farallon EtherMac iPrint LT.
Ethernet-
This requires your Ethernet capable Quarda 650 to have a cheap Transceiver to convert its built-in AAUI-15 Ethernet port to the now-ubiquitous RJ45 twisted-pair Ethernet cable. Luckily, these are readily available on the used market:
eBay search for: (apple,mac) (AAUI,transceiver, RJ45,twisted) -(usb,coax,bnc,RAID,fibre,10base2,thinet,AppleTalk)
Dialup-
If you have a modem connection to the Internet, you could email the files to yourself.
SCSI on another Mac-
Getting a SCSI card, drive enclosure, cable, Terminator, and getting it all to work may be too daunting for a one-off data transfer, but is doable.
Floppy disk-
You would need a USB diskette drive on another Mac. These USB drives are capable of reading 1.4MB Mac-formatted floppies only (not 800K diskettes).
USB thumb drive-
USB support probably requires 8.6, which you may not have and your Mac may or may not run, plus you need a PCI-slot card.
FireWire-
Firewire support probably requires 8.6, which you may not have and your Mac may or may not run, plus you need a PCI-slot card. Your Mac does not support Firewire Target Disk mode.

Help Transferring data off of old iMac hard drive onto new Imac

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