How do I transfer everything from my 2006 macbook pro to an external hard drive?
I am selling my Macbook Pro 2006 to upgrade. I want to clear all info off my computer. First, I want to move all info to an external hard drive. Is this possible? I recall that there is a way to move info form mac to mac by hitting alt A? Would this work for tranfer to the external drive?
No, here's what you want to do:
Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility in the Utilities folder.
2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag
it to the Destination entry field.
5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
the Source entry field.
6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
This process will first erase the external drive. The result is a bootable backup on the external drive.
Similar Messages
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How can I transfer pictures from my old Mac mini to an external hard drive?
HHow can I transfer pictures from my old Mac mini to an external hard drive? Thanks.
Normally you should be able to drag and drop them onto the drive, provided the drive is Mac formatted. Have you already tried that?
Matt -
I can't access any of my files, photos, anything form my external hard drive... It worked before now when I plug it in the light comes on, but it doesn't even show up as an external drive, so I can't access anything, I'm worried I have lost everything...
Huge mistake was only having ONE copy of your data OFF computer,
most people do it, and its just horrible and the typical reason for serious data loss.
Likely you have a very common failure (extremely common actually) called SATA bridge card failure, which would be "good" news,
read about same here:
Your dead external hard drive is likely fine! Great hope for your 'faulty' external HD
Never again let yourself have LESS than 2 copies of your important data off-computer, ever
1. verify the external HD doesnt show up on another Mac
if same, you have about a 8 in 10 chance its SATA card failure.......... easy to fix.
The great news at the end of the tunnel of an apparently failed or failing external hard drive.
When checked on another computer, and with no need for spending money on data extraction expertise or software, the very likely case is that your external USB or thunderbolt HD is in fact fine, and merely the card interface, or SATA bridge card has failed or is failing. Keeping a HD dock around handy, or cheaper still a $20 hard drive enclosure or a SATA to USB connector can be a real life saver in getting your drive back to use, when the drive itself is fine, and merely its interface card has gone bad.
The SATA bridge card inside a USB external HD has a very high failure rate in general
Typical SATA bridge cards as seen inside a 3.5" external HD with power input (#1), and 2.5" SATA cards (#3, #4, #5)
What are the realistic odds your HD is perfectly fine?
There are no hard facts whatsoever, especially since so many people discard their assumed “dead/faulty” hard drives, but a good educated conclusion from years of examining and seeing this issue is that for hard drives made since 2010, and not dropped or generally abused, is that a minimum of 50% conservatively are perfectly fine! I personally estimate however that it likely approaches 60%+.
Considering how many external hard drives ‘fail’ (rather the SATA bridge more than half the time) each day, that is a very high number of perfectly fine HD that are tossed!
This is especially common with 3.5” desktop HD that are connected 24/7 with power and see a lot of data transfer. People wrongly conclude that “X” mfg. just made a defective drive, when in fact their 3.5” drives inside the plastic enclosure is 100% fine. I have personally seen well over 200 of these dead SATA cards and additionally seen 3 fail within a one hour span of doing a large data copies.
One of the very reason pros use bare HD as inserted into HD docks is not just the saving of space and the need for endless USB cables, but the elimination of the need for this high failure-rate part.
While the shapes and sizes vary somewhat on SATA bridge cards, they all serve the same purpose and have likewise failure rates
What exactly is the SATA bridge card in your external HD?
In the middle to late of 2009, most all external hard drives both in 2.5” and 3.5” reached the shelves in SATA III. These small SATA cards or "bridges" are used to translate between the hard drives’ interfaces and the enclosures' external ports (USB, Thunderbolt, Firewire). Additionally these small bridges not only transfer power but also of course the data. Unfortunately these SATA bridge cards have a very high failure rate as they are burdened with shuffle power and data.
Literally these little unreliable and fragile cards are the power conduits and the nervous system for all external HD data transfer.
SATA card as found inside a typical USB external hard drive
The assumption that the hard drive is bad when its not!
Countless 1000s of good external hard drives are thrown away each year because the owner thought the HD was bad when it fact it was the SATA bridge card which had failed. This card is removed in a matter of mere second once an external USB HD is cracked open from its plastic casing to reveal the bare HD and the attached SATA card which attaches between the HD and the USB cable.
To complicate this problem, even many computer professionals do not know that there is a very easy solution to the “failing or dead HD” issue since the hard drive itself is very likely just fine. Its astonishing that so many highly educated computer repair persons are unaware of this high-failure part, but this is mostly due to the fact that they do not juggle 100s of hard drives and know that of the iceberg that is a “external hard drive failure”, the mostly unseen majority are not a HD failure at all, but a bridge card failure.
To add to this great misunderstanding is the fact that people assume that "likewise symptoms seen on an external HD are the same as seen on an internal HD, therefore also the external HD must be bad". This is a compositional fallacy of logic. Since internal HD do not have a SATA bridge interface, to conclude similar symptoms "indicate the same failure" is misplaced and incorrect.
This is all not to say that HD do not fail, they do indeed, and I have seen many 100s of dead and failing hard drives. Hard drives even under ideal conditions have a life expectancy of around 4-8 years due to ferromagnetic depolarization from entropy. But of the mountain of symptoms that are seen as “hard drive failures” in comments, posts, and hearsay, half or more of these are not a HD failure at all.
Once your rescued hard drive is removed from the bad SATA card
You have several options, but the purchase of a $20 HD enclosure is one option, another is having a HD dock, however this eliminates the former portability in a 2.5" small HD.
Remember that 3.5” HD require power, which means you need either a HD dock, or a powered SATA card kit as seen at top left in the picture below. 2.5” HD get power from the USB port itself.
Just remember that the serious downside to the low cost external HD enclosures is THEY TOO contain these SATA cards, and what is worse the cheap ones will fail, often, much quicker than the original factory one did! In which case it is recommended you buy a quality HD USB enclosure
Rescue tools to use with your extracted HD for data recovery -
whats the best way to transfer everything from my old macbook pro to a new mac mini, i have a external hard drive which i backup to regularly via time capsule
Check out > OS X Lion: How to use Migration Assistant to transfer files from another Mac
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how to transfer data from macbook pro to an external hard drive, im using (WD 1TB 3.0) ???. I cannot copy anything from my mac to it not a single file.
ok - since you'll be sharing it with a PC - connect it to your windows pc - then format from there - instead of NTFS format - choose exFAT.
or, you can read the link below on how to do it in dos mode.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/how-can-i-forma t-external-drive-in-exfat-not-in/0f6bf19a-19d6-4470-ae05-53ddf26bb476?msgId=1860 eae3-3488-4eea-8326-f87b89d9851b
once you've formatted it - you can now use it in both your macbook and windows computer. -
How to wipe off everything from my 15 MacBook Pro? I bought my Mac in Middle 2010. It was with OS X Snow Leopard, and a few months ago, I installed the Lion, so I couldn't just insert the CD and reinstall.
Yes, you can and should. The DVD belong with the MBP. You should use the original DVD to erase the disk and install Snow Leopard prior to sale.
You can't sell it with Lion because it is authorized under your user ID.
Allan -
I have stored everything on my Macbook pro in a external hard drive (Time Machine) Now that we have "wiped the machine" I am told I can start it over and load ontent--apps, docs, etc from the hard drive, just plug it in, find the time machine and what? I need to know what to highligh, what to click on.
hirogliffix,
take a look at this Apple page — in particular, the “Restoring data from Time Machine backups” section and its “Restoring your entire system from a backup” subsection. -
Trying to copy ANY file from my MacBook Pro to an external hard drive spins for 45 minutes then fails. I hate this computer and WISH I never would have wasted my money. Any ideas? WD My Passport 2TB Drive, had to buy a program to make the POS read files. Copies that would take seconds from a Windows based machine never complete. I have to close the transfer or shut off the machine half the time. Worst computer I have EVER owned, crashes non-stop, constantly freezes, and seems like EVERY operation is more complicated with this thing. Literally, my 1997 Compaq was FAR MORE reliable and user friendly.
This is one of the messages I keep getting; The Finder can’t complete the operation because some data in -- File Whatever -- can’t be read or written.(Error code -36)
I have copied things to the hard drive in the past, but it has always been incredibly slow, and now just seems to freeze and fail -
How do i back up my macbook pro to an external hard drive?
how do i back up my macbook pro to an external hard drive?
schmunzelmonster, greetings; Your suggestion is a good one. CCC does create a boot drive which as you point out can be most useful at times. Time Machine does not have that capability but it retains a history of activities and transactions that CCC does not. CCC only retains information as of the last update.
Neither individually is the 'perfect' backup solution individually, but if both are utilized it becomes that. There is no harm in backup redundancy.
My only complaint about CCC is that is is very slow in performing updates compared with Time Machine. Just a nit on my part.
Ciao. -
How can I backup my MacBook Pro to an external hard drive
How can I backup my MacBook Pro to an external hard drive?
Basic Backup
For some people Time Machine will be more than adequate. Time Machine is part of OS X. There are two components:
1. A Time Machine preferences panel as part of System Preferences;
2. A Time Machine application located in the Applications folder. It is
used to manage backups and to restore backups. Time Machine
requires a backup drive that is at least twice the capacity of the
drive being backed up.
Alternatively, get an external drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Carbon Copy Cloner
2. Get Backup
3. Deja Vu
4. SuperDuper!
5. Synk Pro
6. Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files. For help with using Time Machine visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.
Although you can buy a complete external drive system, you can also put one together if you are so inclined. It's relatively easy and only requires a Phillips head screwdriver (typically.) You can purchase hard drives separately. This gives you an opportunity to shop for the best prices on a hard drive of your choice. Reliable brands include Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, Toshiba, and Fujitsu. You can find reviews and benchmarks on many drives at Storage Review.
Enclosures for FireWire and USB are readily available. You can find only FireWire enclosures, only USB enclosures, and enclosures that feature multiple ports. I would stress getting enclosures that use the Oxford chipsets especially for Firewire drives (911, 921, 922, for example.) You can find enclosures at places such as;
1. Cool Drives
2. OWC
3. WiebeTech
4. Firewire Direct
5. California Drives
6. NewEgg
All you need do is remove a case cover, mount the hard drive in the enclosure and connect the cables, then re-attach the case cover. Usually the only tool required is a small or medium Phillips screwdriver. -
How can I transfer information from my older MacBook Pro to my new MacBook Pro?
How can I transfer information information from my older MacBook Pro to my new MacBook Pro? Does anyone have an answer because I spoke to 2 people at Apple & both sent me the wrong cables.....
Did they mention Migration Assistant? You can use MA with FireWire, limit is the speed of the older unit. MA will guide you and allow you to choose what to transfer.
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How do I transfer video from ipad to macbook pro
How do I transfer video from my iPad to my MacBook Pro?
Hi MeSwolf,
You can do it wirelessly with Dropbox. The Dropbox app has a very cool auto-upload process that will automatically upload photos and videos from the iPad Camera Roll to Dropbox.
First sign up for a free Dropbox account from your computer.
Then, download the free Dropbox app on your iPad.
Log in to the Dropbox app on the iPad with your new account and click on the Photos icon in the lower left corner of the screen (second one from the left).
Select "Enable Camera Upload" and "Only Wi-Fi." The upload process will begin for all existing photos and videos in the Camera Roll.
From now on, all future photos and videos taken by the iPad will automatically upload to the Dropbox folder. You can then download your photos from Dropbox to your computer by going tohttp://www.dropbox.com, logging in to your account, and downloading the photos and videos.
Hope this helps!
~Joe -
How do I transfer files from my old MacBook Pro to my New MacBook Pro?
I am trying to transfer some files, not all, from my old MacBook Pro to my new MacBook Pro. I have tried to use Migration Assistant, but it doesn't let me choose what I want to transfer (only generic things like "users" and "files and folders"). I have tried to use Firewire. Now here is the funny thing. When I put my old mac in target mode it doesn't appear on my new mac anywhere. But, when I put my new mac in target mode, it pops right up on the dashboard and in finder. The problem is I have tried using my new mac as the target and just place the files into the icon, but the don't stay after I eject. I get a prompt that says downloading and when all files and apps are transferred I turn off my new mac then turn it back on and nothing. I've done search after search and repeated this process 3 times and nothing. Am I doing something wrong? Please help.
Time Machine will not "overwrite". New back ups are added to what is there, without erasing.
Connect the Time Machine back up, double click on the icon and navigate through its contents - the back ups are chronological, so you just select the date then go through the contents just like on any other drive. You can select any files you want and drag and drop on the new Mac's desktop (or anywhere else). -
If I buy a new MacBook Air will the Apple Store help me transfer everything from my old MacBook Pro?
Will Apple help to copy over all the settings, apps, programs, files, etc. from an old MacBook Pro 15" on OS X 10.6.8 to a new MacBook Air 15"? Will it work easily and painlessly? Will they help me set it back to factory once everything is copied so that it can be sold or given to someone else? Will they charge for this?
I want to get the new MacBook Air 13".
The current 15" 2.53 GHz MacBook Pro Mid 2009 has the following specs and OS:
Mac OS X version 10.6.8
Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,4
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.53 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP53.00AC.B03
SMC Version (system): 1.49f2
Serial Number (system):
Hardware UUID:
Sudden Motion Sensor: Enabled
According to Apple's serial number identifier it's this: https://support.apple.com/kb/SP544
Thanks.You sure about this? https://www.apple.com/why-mac/better-support/
"Purchase a One to One membership at the same time you get your new Mac from an Apple Retail Store, and you won’t have to spend hours transferring all your stuff. Just bring in your old PC, and we’ll do it for you. A Specialist will move all your files — email, contacts, music, photos, documents, calendar, desktop items — and make sure everything is exactly where it should be. One to One costs just $99, and it includes a year’s worth of one-hour, face-to-face training sessions. It’s like getting a head start before you start."
This is really disappointing. Buy a $3,000 computer from them and then buy another one for $1,000+ and all they want to do is screw you over, nickle and dime you and price gouge you on setting it up. -
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.
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