Help! did I wipe my new imac?

[lucore]

Got a new imac for Xmas. Finally getting around to transferring stuff from old emac (yes, emac) to the new one. emac slow and full of many years of extra crap - wanted only to transfer stuff that I wanted to keep onto the imac. Yesterday used firewire and Migration Assistant to transfer. Wouldn't let me just take what I wanted - just sent EVERYTHING over. Now when I started up this morning, my imac is the absolute mirror image of the emac! Did I lose everything on my imac? Did the transfer REPLACE everything on my imac, or just add the emac stuff to it? I can't find my imac stuff, though I haven't really started searching too much. I'm too scared to do something that will permanently delete the wrong stuff.
How do I fix it? can I send everything back? Is the transfered stuff now overloading and clogging up my new computer (exactly what I did NOT want to happen)?
Please help.
Suggestions?

 

[bobtomay]

If you used Migration Assistant to transfer not only your data but your preferences also, yes the desktop and everything else probably looks a lot like your eMac. That's what it's suppose to do, move your stuff to the new machine.

It just added your data and preference settings to the iMac. Whatever version of the OS you had on that eMac wouldn't even run on your iMac.

Open up About This Mac to verify you're still running 10.6.

Overloading and clogging up???? Only you can answer that by checking how much free space you still have, unlikely though that your old machine had a big enough hard drive to affect the iMac. You should be able to delete whatever data from your user account it moved that you no longer want and readjust any preferences you like.

Just don't delete anything that you don't know what it is. And to be on the safe side, once you delete, don't empty the trash for a few days. That way you can always move it back if you want.

Can't find your iMac stuff??? That doesn't tell us anything. What does that mean?

 

[chas_m]

It could also be that Migration Assistant transferred the user accounts, making your old one the default that boots up. If this is the case, your "old" account is still there in "Users" and thus your "old" iMac data is there too.

 

[Jamie-Jamie]

Files on the hard disk don't "clog" a computer. That's a really old myth that I hear over and over. You can get some pokiness if an HFS volume gets to around 85% full, or if you don't have enough space for your pagefile.

Also, I don't think anything that an eMac ran would ever make that iMac blink.

 

[lucore]

True - thanks for the words of encouragement. I am not the tech-swiftest or most computer savvy, so I'm stumbling my way through this. Just trying to see where I can access the imac user file and start cleaning up.
I do believe I will have quite a few more posts/questions before I am done with this project.
Treat me gentle, I'm new to this.

Thanks

 

[toMACsh]

Perhaps this is the downside to being given a Mac as a present. If you buy one from the Apple Store, they will transfer your old stuff over, at no charge.

 

[Jamie-Jamie]

Asking questions is the second most fun way to learn. The first being to simply jump right in

 

[lucore]

Apple Store, they will transfer your old stuff over, at no charge.

Actually, I've had macs for a long time, but really have never needed to do much more than word processing, email, ppt, photos - basic stuff. So I never got into experimenting and trying things I wasn't comfortable with. I guess there's a first time for everything. Also . . . . I was told by the apple stoe there would be a charge to transfer stuff. Plus, I didn't want to have to haul around my emac (WAY too heavy).
Anyway, I got some good help this am from applecare, so I think I'm on my way.
Let the stumbling and fumbling commence!

 

[toMACsh]

I was told by the apple stoe there would be a charge to transfer stuff. Plus, I didn't want to have to haul around my emac (WAY too heavy).

Please note:

If you buy one from the Apple Store, they will transfer your old stuff over, at no charge.

If you take a recently purchased Mac to the Apple Store to have files transferred, they will charge you for that.

I took my old beige G3 desktop to the Apple Store in a suitcase with a handle and wheels. You can figure out a way that you don't have to carry it. Or, you can leave it in your car, go inside, and they will send a person with you out to your car to get the computer. You only have to carry it between your desk and your trunk.