Using Time Machine to new Macbook

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Hi. My 2yo Macbook Pro has died :(. I have time machine on an external drive. I now have a refurbished MBP that I thought I'd be able to use Migration Assistant as per the instructions from my previous post from a very helpful Mac-forum member.

However when I started it up, it went straight through without asking - the person I'd purchased it from has loaded quite a few programs; Microsoft Office 11 for one.

I went through Applications/Utilities/Migration Assistant however Assistant doesn't see my external drive. I've tried the firewire and usb and still nothing. I've read that even if you try a new user you still may not see the external drive.

I'm desperate to access my files and just don't what to do. I'm not that technical so simple steps on how to solve my challenge would be greatly appreciated.

My "sick" MBP is still under warranty and I'm wondering whether their service would be willing to assist.

Thanks in advance. I'd appreciate any advice
Karen
 
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I have found the answer!! The HD that shows up in assistant migration IS the external drive even though it doesnt show the name of the drive. Migration is happily happening.

Cheers Karen
 
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chas_m

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The programs loaded on your new machine are illegal and pirated unless the seller also gave you the original disks. I'm glad you got Migration Assistant to work for you, but I would for security reasons *strongly* recommend that you:

a. Upgrade to Mountain Lion using a newly-bought copy you purchase using YOUR iTunes account through the Mac App Store.
b. Once installed, use the Recovery partition to ERASE the boot drive's main partition and reinstall Mountain Lion "clean"
c. Then use Migration Assistant to pull over YOUR apps and data (yes, again).

Only THEN will the machine actually be legal and fully yours.
 

chscag

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If your "sick" MacBook Pro is still under warranty, why not get it repaired first before migrating data? What's wrong with it? If it's not a hard drive crash, you may be able to remove the hard drive from it and place it in a USB carrier and copy your data to the refurbished MBP.

The refurbished MBP you purchased has applications on it that unless the previous owner gave you the original disks, are not legally registered to you. Please keep that in mind.
 

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