Restore User Folder on New Computer

I have a flat-panel iMac (10.4.11) that is totally misbehaving after a power failure. I can get it to boot, but the OS is totally flaky.
I have been able to copy my user folder to an external hard drive and now want to put it on a new computer (20" iMac - 10.5.3) and use the user account as if it was on the old computer.
Can someone give me the instructions for doing this under Leopard? Can I simply put the user folder into the Users folder, create a new account with the same short name, restart and voila? Or is there some rubber chicken mojo that I need?
Thanks!

David Bernstein1 wrote:
I have a flat-panel iMac (10.4.11) that is totally misbehaving after a power failure. I can get it to boot, but the OS is totally flaky.
I have been able to copy my user folder to an external hard drive and now want to put it on a new computer (20" iMac - 10.5.3) and use the user account as if it was on the old computer.
Can someone give me the instructions for doing this under Leopard? Can I simply put the user folder into the Users folder, create a new account with the same short name, restart and voila?
This procedure should actually work exactly as you describe but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it if you had problems with your old computer. any kind of preference file problems will be imported to the new computer. also I'm not sure how well that will work because you are moving from a 10.4 mac to a 10.5.3 one. I would create a new account and move only the stuff that you really need. Consult this [link|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1571689&tstart=0] for the list.

Similar Messages

How can get 40,000 pix from old computer restored by Carbonite to new computer into PE 11 or 12?

I bought a new, faster, more storage Windows 8 computer.
I had 40,000 pix on old computer tagged with names, event, location, date with PE 11. Also several projects involving hundreds of pix.
Carbonite restored all files (250 gig) from old computer to new, and their tech support says they all are on the new computer.
I bought the new PE 12 and installed it on new computer. It has only found 4,000 pix. I don't at all like PE 12 after enjoying PE2-11 and managing all my pix with it. PE11 was clearer in the pix presentation.
Apparently when imported to the new computer, I lost the tags that went to events, location, and the person tags did not separate family from friends etc. I can't even find my projects.
I was so frustrated with PE12, that I installed PE11, but everytime I try to open the Organizer, it doesn't open.
Help. I am so frustrated. I am pretty sure before I made the transition that I had written all tags to files. When I put PE11 on the new computer, why won't it give me what I had on the old.
This is probably my 10th generation computer change, and I never had such problems before with PE.

I am using 10 and 11 instead of 11 and 12. I tried to go back and edit,
but couldn't figure out how. Sorry, typing errorC.
In a message dated 2/6/2013 7:02:33 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
[email protected] writes:
Re: How can get 40,000 pix from old computer restored by Carbonite to new
computer into PE 11 or 12?
created by Jeff A Wright (http://forums.adobe.com/people/JeffAWright)
in Photoshop Elements - View the full discussion
(http://forums.adobe.com/message/5050443#5050443)

Importing old iTunes folder to new computer

I would appreciate any help with this you can give.
I have a MacBook Pro that I had four multi-user accounts on. One of them got corrupted, so that one was deleted and another account was opened. I want to get all the old iTunes songs out of the corrupted user folder and put them in the new account iTunes folder. Do I just drag the whole old iTunes folder into the Music folder of new user? ... letting it overwrite the existing iTunes folder?
If I overwrite the new iTunes folder with the old iTunes folder, will it delete whatever I downloaded in the new iTunes since, or meld the old and new together? How do I keep from deleting newer songs and still keep the iTunes library or directories, or whatever, intact?
Thanks,
Michael

Just copy entire /Music/iTunes/ folder from old computer to /Music/ on new computer.

Can I Use Time Machine Restore Files to a New Computer?

I use Time Machine to backup my data to an external drive. Let's say that my computer crashes and I buy a new computer with Leopard installed.
Two Questions:
If I plug my Time Machine drive into the new computer, will I be able to recreate the old files and settings? Or does Time Machine only work to restore information on a specific computer?
If Time Machine WILL restore the documents onto a new computer, what happens if the first computer is Power PC and the new one is Intel?
Thanks!
Message was edited by: Dan D\'Errico

Dan D'Errico wrote:
I use Time Machine to backup my data to an external drive. Let's say that my computer crashes and I buy a new computer with Leopard installed.
Two Questions:
If I plug my Time Machine drive into the new computer, will I be able to recreate the old files and settings?
Yes - see my comments below regarding "Migrating User Data From One Mac to Another".
Or does Time Machine only work to restore information on a specific computer?
No
If Time Machine WILL restore the documents onto a new computer, what happens if the first computer is Power PC and the new one is Intel?
Then you should choose to Migrate your personal data over but NOT Applications. They may likely not be compatible with the new system.
*_Migrating User Data From One Mac to Another_*
*Firewire Disk Mode*
If you have a FireWire cable, you can connect one Mac to the other via FireWire Disk Mode. Then use Migration Assistant to transfer all of your files and applications over from the older Mac. It should result in a virtually identical setup as your previous Mac. Follow the instructions in this KB article:
“How to use FireWire target disk mode”
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
*Using Time Machine Before Initial Launch of New Mac*
Before starting the new Mac for the first time, attach the hard disk that contains the Time Machine backups from the old Mac.
Start the new Mac and begin the setup process. At some point it will ask you if you would like to Migrate/Import user data from another computer or a Time Machine backup disk. Follow the prompts and select the date of the backup you would like to restore your user data from. Once the migration is complete use Disk Utility to repair any permissions issues.
*Using Time Machine After Initial Launch of New Mac*
If you have already created a User Account on the new Mac using a DIFFERENT Username and Password from the old Mac, then do the following:
Attach the hard disk containing the previous Macs' Time Machine backups to the new computer.
Go to Applications --> Utilities --> and launch Migration Assistant.
At the welcome dialogue click "Continue." You may be required to enter your Admin password.
For Migration Method chose "From a Time Machine backup or other disk".
Select the hard disk containing the previous Time Machine backups. (Give Migration Assistant some time as it scans the disk for eligible data to migrate.)
Now select which User Accounts you would like to migrate over.
However, if you have already created a User Account on the new Mac using the SAME Username and Password as the old Mac, then you will need to do this:
Create a new User Admin Account on the new Mac with a completely unique name.
Now, delete the first User Account you created on the new Mac - The one that is identical to the old Mac. (Of course, backup any important files that were created using the new User Account before deleting it.)
Finally, use Migration Assistant as described above to move the old User Account data over from the Time Machine backups.
*Full Backup After Restore*
Bear in mind that in all cases Time Machine will perform a full backup after a full restore. This is normal. Time Machine will resume incremental backups after the full backup has completed. To view previous backups, Control-click or right-click the Time Machine icon in your Dock or Option-click the Time Machine menu extra and Choose "Browse Other Time Machine Disks," then select your previous backup volume. You will enter Time Machine and be able to browse your previous back ups and restore files. (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1338)
Let us know if this was helpful.
Cheers!

Help please... Transferring a separate iTunes Media Folder to new computer.

I keep my iTunes folder on my C drive on my old laptop but my iTunes Media folder is on my D drive (separate physical drive).
I have purchased a new laptop with a single drive, (C drive) however, I can no longer access my old laptop's C drive to transfer the entire iTunes folder onto the new laptop. I do however have access to everything in my iTunes media folder that previously resided on my old laptop's D drive.
I thought I could just download the latest version of iTunes and copy my iTunes media folder that I had on the D drive over. I have done that but the only media that shows up in iTunes is what I've actually purchased from iTunes. Even that it wants me to download from the cloud. All the songs that I've ripped from my CD's are missing even though they are actually in my new iTunes media folder. All my playlists are also missing.
I do have a 6 month old backup of my iTunes folder on a backup drive but I've downloaded and ripped music since then.
What do I need to do to transfer all my media, playlists and genera tags to my new laptop?
Do I actually need to transfer my entire iTunes folder to the new computer or is there a way I can only transfer my iTunes media folder and get everything back?
As much as I like iTunes, I really wish there was a easy foolproof way to transfer all your media...
Thanks,
Tom

Restore the 6 month old backup of the iTunes folder into the current User's Music folder.
Make sure the D: drive has the media folder on the same path it was on previously.
Check the library works, make sure the correct media folder is selected.
Add the media folder to the library to add in any new content.
See make a split library portable and Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy.
tt2

How do I use Time Machine to restore applications to a new computer?

Hello again
I just upgraded to a newer computer (not brand new, though: 20" imac with intel core 2 duo).
I traded in the older one and the files from it were transferred over, but not the applications.
Now, a year ago I took my tech friend's advice and used TM to back up the whole hard-drive .... so last night i used TM and navigated through Finder to see that all the applications are there in the Application folder. Tech friend said that i could just restore the Application Folder .... but this isn't an actual install .... so what other folders will i need to restore?
Or should I just restore the whole hard drive? .. if i do this, will it copy over Snow Leopard too? cause the imac only came with leopard and i just had to install snow and then it took all night to get the upgrades and install them !
Thanks for any advice and help.
Elizabeth

I would recommend you just reinstall the applications from their original distribution discs. Some applications require files that are not installed in the Applications folder alone. You would need to know what specific ones to look for. Reinstalling a whole system or major folder from an old TM backup will surely render a malfunctioning system unless the system you would be restoring is known to work on that computer. For more on using Time Machine see:
A whole lot about Time Machine for help with TM problems. Also you can select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to locate articles on how to use TM. See also Mac 101- Time Machine.

Can't copy user folder to new user (account)

I tunes would no longer open-- would only lock up with the beach ball spinning when I tried to boot it. Mac Genius said that the software was corrupted and need to create a new user. Here's what he said to do which i did...
At the suggestion of Mac Genius... I copied my whole user folder to an external harddrive. Then I created a new user. Logged in under the new user and deleted the old user. Then (logged in under the new user) I copy the user folder from my external hard drive to the system drive. It gets almost competely done copying and then gives me an error message that it can't be copied. I can't put the exact error message right now (at work) but can post it later. Any suggestions on this? This is keeping me from running i-tunes as well as moving forward with several projects.
At this point I am just thinking another trip to the Mac store...

Hi Micah,
Where you trying to copy the whole User folder into your Home folder or into the Users folder?
Did you do any Disk maintence first?
Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Tiger Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then Safe Boot , (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it finishes.

Transfer user files to new computer without creating new user?

I know this is probably listed on here, but I have searched for two days and have not found it. I am very confused and frusterated. I set up my new iMac on wednesday running Lion. When I originally tried migration in setup assistant, the only way to migrate computer to computer was over the wifi. After that failed/froze three times (I am thinking because my home internet is too slow?) I just skipped that set in setup so I could use my computer. After reading some posts, I saw that I could migrate by essentailly making my old computer (macbook pro) an external hard drive and holding down the "T" key when I restarted. When it said I cannot transfer that user with the same name to the new computer, I changed the name. That worked must faster and transfered all my stuff over. I went to set up my itunes and iphoto and noticed that I couldn't find those migrated files. I read another post saying that i now have another user and have to log out and log into that user to get the files. I don't want two users, I want one that has all my stuff! Now maybe I did something wrong or don't totally understand the process, but is there a way for that to be done?? I have read I can delete the "admin" account that my computer created somehow and just use the old computers migrated user as my main account or just leave them both. Which is the better option here? Appreciate any help anyone can give. Thank you for your time.

You did nothing wrong, but you did misunderstand the process. Here are your options:
Log out of the account you created in Setup Assistant and log into the account you migrated from your old computer. Open Accounts preferences, click on the lock icon and enter the admin password for the migrated account. Select the account created in Setup Assistant and click on the Delete [-] button to remove it. Select the third removal option. You now have one user account - the renamed account you migrated from your old computer.
Create a third temporary account. Name it "temp" and use "temp" as the password (no quotes.) Give this new account admin status. Log out of the current account and log into temp. Now delete both of the other accounts. Then connect the other computer via Firewire cable as you did before. Boot the old computer into Target Disk Mode. Now re-migrate your old account using Migration Assistant. After the migration has completed log out of temp and log into your old account. Delete the temp account. This will give you one account with the same username you were using originally.

Can't get transferred songs to appear on player even though they are in the right folder on new computer

I have moved music from old computer to new one through externaI drive. They are in the proper folder for Itunes to find them (I did authorize the new computer) but they do not appear in the list when I call up nItunes. I did try to import them through the add fule to library, but it only seems to work one siong at a time. I want to add rhem all at one time.

Was the ENTIRE iTunes folder copied, just the iTunes Media, or just the media files themselves?
If properly moved, there should be no issue.
Assuming the ENTIRE iTunes folder was moved:
Close iTunes.
Hold SHIFT and launch iTunes. Continue holding SHIFT until the locate or create a new library option is presented.
Point iTunes to the correct location for the iTunesLibrary.itl file, this will be the folder that was copied from the old computer.
Everything in iTunes on the new coputer should be exactly as it was on the old computer.

Migrating server home user folder to new SAS

We are currently housing our "Home" users folders on our XRaid which is hosted on an Xserve G5, but are in the process of wanting to migrate them to a new Vtrak SAS array. Would this be a simple matter of copying that partition to an new partition on the Vtrak, or is there something more I need to consider. like re-pointing the users to a new drive via workgroup manager.
TIA
Spec's G5 XServer running OSX Tiger, with 7 channel XRaid Level 5

Okay - in case this helps anyone else. This totally worked. On initial set-up it migrated everything, however it does not ask you to create a new User Name, but it migrated all my stuff including the accounts.
I did not want my account name used, just the same mail, calendar, etc. So....
While there seems to be a lot of postings saying you cannot change the name of your User Account, I don't know why, because you can indeed.
You have 2 choices:
You must be logged in as an Admin on another Login (I already had 2)
Choice 1
You go to System Preferences>Users
Unlock the lock,
Highlight the User you want to change
In the area called "Full Name" just change the name!
This however will not change the name of the home folder which is also what I wanted. That is a little more involved but this absolutely worked:
Choice 2
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3872
I am running Mountain Lion on a new iMac (Oct 2013) - I have no idea if this works on anything older.
Good luck and thanks!

User folder corrupted, went to restore, user folder files not there

I tried to upgrade to 10.5.4 in our iMac and my drive went out to lunch for some reason. We tried to work through that in another forum. I finally had to scrub the drive and install from DvD. Then I went to restore from Time Machine. It seemed to go well, but when finished, all I can see of the user folder is the shared folder. Where is my data? I had the original folder encrypted with FileVault. Could that cause the file to be hidden? I have 10 years of information in that file...

I tried several different approaches. I tried the restore from backup and could tell from the space used that the file was there somewhere, but couldn't find or open it. Finally, I loaded the OS from the installation disk and asked for a restore from backup and selected everthing but the system file. Everything came back. I did have to try several times to remember the encryption key for FileVault to get the file to open. I downloaded the 10.5.4 combo update, and this time things went fine. I don't know what happened earlier. One other unusual thing that happened in the process was I plugged in a firewire drive. The iMac wouldn't recognize it and everything suddenly flashed off like a breaker tripped (though the power strip never lost power). The iMac rebooted OK, but I'm wondering if a power supply is going south or something. Anyway, thanks for your suggestions. It looks like I have joy again! Thank God for Time Machine!

Restoring v8 catalog to new computer with v12

i have just bought a new computer with windows 8 and installed elements version 12; my old laptop had elements version 8 on it and I did a full backup of the catalog to an external hard drive. I have gone through the restore catalog process but cant see any photos either in the organiser or in my pictures. I did the convert step but it said it conversion failed and suggested repairing the backup with previous version which is not possible as the computer was a work machine which has now been wiped and rebuilt and I dont have version 8 anymore!! when it did the convert step it only seemed to find breeze files. I'm now stuck as to what to do next - can anyone help, please

The renamed catalog folders with the suffix 1 or 1 1 are in the PSE8 format.
Your PSE10 converted catalog should have the old name.
It should contain the database file : catalog.pse12db.
First be sure that your explorer is set to show hidden files, then search in the explorer for that catalog.pse12db file.
Double click on the catalog.pse12db file to open PSE12 with the new restored catalog.
Does it work for you ?

Best way to restore iTunes contents on new computer.

The computer gods conspired to get me. My Windows XP desktop failed beyond repair and I am getting a new Windows 7 desktop. But also by some coincidence, my new external hard drive that I backup my system on weekly also failed. I still have my previous external hard drive, however. The last backup from that was the beginning of June.
So I am looking for the best way to get whole again. I have NO downloaded music on the iPod (some music from CDs that I can reload). I do have a number of apps however, some with a lot of data that would be difficult to replace (although updating from June would be doable).
If after installing iTunes on the new computer,I just synced to the iPod what would I lose? Would it keep the apps data on the iPod?
Or should I install iTunes, copy my backup from my External drive to the new computer and restore from the backup?
Thanks

- Transfer iTunes purchases by:
iTunes Store: Transferring purchases from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to a computer
- Transfer other music by using a third-party program lke those discussed here:
Best iPod to PC
- Making a backup of the iPod by connecting the iPod to the computer and right clicking on the iPod under Devices in iTunes and selecing Backup
- Restore the iPod from backup and sync as necessary.

Help needed to restore my catalog on new computer

I am trying to restore my catalog on a new computer using Elements 12

Use Backup, Restore to move catalog | Organizer | Elements 6 or later

Restore iTunes on a New Computer

I apologize if this has been asked before, but I don't have time to search all the questions.
I just found out my office was getting me a new PC (good thing, but bad for the idiot that downloads all their music at work!!!) and that my software would not be transferrable.
Can someone tell me how I can move my music both from CD's & purchased from my iPod onto a new & blank iTunes, that I'm gonna have to download onto the new computer?
Or -- is this even necessary? Will my music files be able to be uploaded from the hard drive to the new iTunes provided the files are transferred over?
Thanks

For all out in cyber world that my post may have offended, I did not mean to imply my time was more valuable than any of yours... I was "over concerned" and freaking JUST a little, as I thought my new PC would be in any moment now and the IT guy would delete all of the songs that I paid all that money for. I hadn't even started researching the subject yet & it seemed a complicated process for someone like me, whose not too IT savvy.... it was a momentary lapse of reason that in my haste, I forgot about posting etiquette. Please all accept my most sincere apology.
And fellow poster -- a big "thank you" for setting someone like me straight & teaching me a thing or two about cyber manners!
Done with this now -- c-ya!
iPod nano Windows 2000

Restore User Folder on New Computer

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for