Lessons Learned (6 hours later)

So, my new MPB arrived yesterday and I learned some valuable lessons that I thought I would share from my 6 hour experience and associated lessons of moving data from my old Macbook to my new MPB.

To set the tone of these lessons, let me tell you what my goals in the “migration” were..

The first goal was to maintain the integrity of my iTunes files. This includes keeping my play counts and other associated data in tact.

My second goal was to move my iPhoto library while keeping my keywords in place.

I used Migration Assistant and a FireWire cable and all I noticed was a bunch of lost hard drive space on my new machine. No photos, no songs just used HD space..

I then started experimenting with just copying my iTunes library from the old machine to the new based on some posts that I read and SUCCESS.

Unfortunately, now after using the Migration Assistant I’ve “lost” 50+ gigs...

Now it was time to wipe the HD and start all over...

After that was done, I moved some applications, iPhoto library, movies folder and iTunes files manually and got the result I wanted.

Now first lesson:

-Don’t waste time with migration assistant.

After using it, I still can’t figure out why none of my iTunes or iPhoto files were moved... My hard drive space went down by 50+ gigs on my MBP but I don’t know what the heck was transferred... I’m sure there is a good explanation but I haven't found it yet.

Second lesson:

-Move it over manually

Third lesson:

There should always be three points and I’m going to reach on this one but make sure you keep all your disks that came with your new computer all together for future use. Also, as you add new software, keep those discs in the same spot so you know where everything is.

Cheers!

Odd. I used the Migration Assistant on two occasions - the first when I did a clean install and used it to move all of my settings, apps and data back from my backup. The second time was when I upgraded from my old MacBook Pro to my new one. Both times it was flawless. Of course, I did use SuperDuper to create the backup (externally) and then I imported i with Migration Assistant.

It sounds like you're using a new user account on the new computer, and not the one that was migrated from your old computer.