How do I transfer files from external drive to proper location on my new MacBook Pro?

My MacBook's hard drive failed and luckily I had backed up all my data through a off site sever. They sent me a external drive with all my data on it. I now have a new MacBook Pro and don't know how to transfer the files and get them to the correct location. Can anyone help? Thanks so much, Colleen.

Connect the external drive to the new machine. Assuming the online service backed up your entire drive, browse its contents and look for a folder called "Users". Within that folder should be your home folder (noted by your username on the old machine). Within that folder should be your pictures, music, video, etc. Simply drag and drop the needed data over to the internal drive on the new machines.

First...thanks so much for your response...I'm a newbie so bear with me...So for instance, my photos in iPhoto, do I drag the entire blue folder that says my pictures from the external drive to the same my pictures blue folder in my new system? Simply dragging will format properly?

There is no formatting to be done. Formatting is what you do to a new drive to make it usable.

Simply drag and drop the folders (or the contents of the folders) where you want them. Pictures folder as an example, drag the contents of the Pictures folder from the external and drop them onto the Pictures folder on the new machine.

Or connect/mount the external to the new machine and use the app Migration Assistant to copy over needed files.


Or:

To copy over your iPhoto files, do this: iPhoto: How to move the iPhoto Library Folder to a new location

For iTunes, do this: iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Music folder

Obviously, for backup reasons (since you have a nice, new backup), don't delete the files from the external once you are through.

skybolt said:

Or connect the two machines and use the app Migration Assistant to copy over needed files.

Click to expand...

Excellent point. You should be able to use the Migration Assistant (again, assuming it's a FULL backup) to automatically copy over all of the important stuff, depending on the criteria you select within the program. Just connect the external drive, open Migration Assistant (Applications folder => Utilities) and then choose the external drive as the source.