New Macbook and transferring from old Macbook

llh189

Hi,

I am just about to invest in a new mac book - I have about 4000 photos, my itunes and my mac mail working on my current macbook. When I went instore and asked how to transfer my stuff over in true apple style I was told pay £70 and thy'd do it for me. But I must be able to do it my self - I have a external hard drive!

So questions - A) how do I transfer my pictures?

How do I render my mac account void on my current mac - I am giving my macbook to a friend and don't want him to access my mail.

c) How do I access my mail on my new macbook, I am guessing through preferences!

D) Ditto with Itunes - would like to continue to access I tunes on both Macs - all purchases require my password so happy to purchase via new mac book this way.

E) How do I change the name of my old macbook?

F) Is there anything else I need to know?

How dull do I sound!

But thanks in advance?

x

Marty_J

The easiest way to do it is to use Migration Assistant.



As for your old MacBook, just boot up from the OS X DVD and wipe it.

llh189

Hey - Marty that is twice you have helped me today!

So whilst you are here!

I have Office and photoshop installed - pukka copies but no discs - long story!

I am guessing of I boot up from the OS, I will lose these!

I really need to keep them on old mac book!

But thanks again - will try not to stalk you!

Lisa

thescouselander

Last time I used migration assistant I'm pretty sure the apps moved over too. The only problem I had was that some apps weren't compatible with the new OS - for the most part it worked ok though.

Marty_J

Hey, Lisa (good name btw).

OK, so wiping it is out then.

What was it exactly that you wanted to remove from it?

If you just want to delete your user account, follow the instructions here.

llh189

Hey Marty (cool name too BTW)

Thank you for your help again.

I am obviously very high maintenance!

I ideally want my old mac book to still be able to use photoshop and access my Itunes ( just not be able to buy anything ), and Office for Mac.

I ideally want to migrate my 4000 photos, have access to my Itunes account and access my mail ( by this I mean my mac.com account).

Happy to manually sort out my bookmarks - how technical am I not

Haffiana

If you wish, you can simply transfer everything from your old Mac to your new one. By everything, I mean literally everything - your non-system applications, documents, music, photos, mail and all your settings, including your mail settings and all passwords. This is one of those things that the Mac does really really well...!

When you get your new Mac and boot it up for the first time, it will ask you if you want to transfer stuff from another Mac. Just click 'yes'. Now, you will need either a firewire cable or an ethernet cable. If both your macbooks have firewire ports, a firewire cable is fastest. If they don't - and only the current white macbook and the recent aluminium macbooks don't (all Macbook Pro's do, however) - or, if you don't have a firewire cable, then use an ethernet cable. You can use a standard ethernet cable, the sort that you use to connect your Mac to a router, not a patch/crossover cable unless you have a very old Powerbook.

Simply connect the two macbooks together with the cable, and follow the instructions. You need to turn file sharing on in preferences if you use an ethernet cable - but I am pretty sure the mac will tell you all that in the instructions. It will take a while to transfer everything across, depending on how large and full your hard drive is. You can do this transfer stuff at any point after you buy your new mac by using the Migration Assistant application that comes with your mac. However if you do it all when you first boot up your new mac, then you can also transfer your computer name, which means that you will have no permissions issues.

The best way to prepare your old mac to give to your friend, is to wipe the hard drive and reinstall the operating system. Do this only when you are completely happy that everything transferred across. That way he gets a completely new, empty mac, with none of your details or documents at all. You will need your original system discs to do this (the ones that come with the new mac will not work in your old mac) or a purchased copy of the operating system.

Haffiana

OK, just read what you have just posted - when you have wiped your old mac and reinstalled the operating system, then THAT is the time to move back the stuff you want to give to your friend using that ethernet cable.

As far as I can see, it is just the Applications that you want to keep (Office). You can set up the new copy of iTunes in your account name anyway, and copy your library across manually.

Marty_J

OK, so you basically just want to delete your email account from your old Mac?

If so, after you've transferred everything to your new Mac, on your old one, go to Mail > Preferences > Accounts, and then select the account(s) you want to delete, and click the minus button on the bottom left.

BikerEd

I simply used my Time Machine backup to do a complete restore onto my new laptop, and all apps & data & settings were restored.