Transfering Data from external hard drive to new mb pro

Hi all,

I have been using a macbook for about 2 years until my macbook was recently trashed by malicious water spillage. Due to these unfortunate circumstances, i have been forced to purchase a brand new macbook pro (what a shame). Fortunately, I had an up-to-date backup going on an external hard drive using time machine, so i havent lost any files.

My dilemma is the following: I like new computers because I like starting with a fresh slate and not having the hard drive cluttered with various files and programs that aren't frequently used. So, I dont know that I want to restore using time machine because I don't want to bring the 20% of clutter along with the 80% of useful files and applications. Its not that my computer ran poorly, but there was definitely some clutter.

My questions are:

1. What exactly will change with my fresh out-of-the-box mb pro if i use migration assistant or time machine to transfer from the hard drive? Ive never used these before when transitioning to a new computer.

2. What is the best way to move the 80% of files/applications/etc that I want to keep without bringing along the clutter? Can I use time machine to do this or does time machine require that everything comes along?

Thanks

Scott

stb5003 said:

My dilemma is the following: I like new computers because I like starting with a fresh slate and not having the hard drive cluttered with various files and programs that aren't frequently used.

Click to expand...

This is Windows thinking.

"Files and programs that aren't frequently used" take up TINY amounts of space and are completely inert when not being used, so this is really a non-issue. If you really want to save massive amounts of "clutter," just de-pornify the machine (oh, I mean "offload those excess videos and music tracks").

TM will restore all your third-party apps and all your personal files back to the new machine. It does not give you much flexibility in what it brings over. It will not overwrite newer versions of things with your old versions, and it will not bring over stuff that won't work under the new system.

This is exactly what you want it to do. You can always delete whatever you deem "clutter" later if actually necessary.

thanks

Thanks for your help, my friend...

I'll probably just do the TM thing. I just wasn't sure what it brought over and how it worked with a new computer and newer OS version...since ive never actually used it to restore, just backup.

I actually erased my hard drive (zero'd it out!) to prove to a friend that a TM restore would work perfectly.

Let's just say I won the bet big time.

TM is the best thing after night time football... no kidding it has saved so much extra work for me... I also delete access stuff on my MBP since I know TM is keeping it backed up and by the time I use the 2TB space on it and I don't recall the file I probably won't need it for the rest of my life... lolz

One more question

Sorry guys, I thought of one more question...

When I originally bought my last macbook, I installed VMWare Fusion and a windows OS, and partioned my hard drive. I then proceeded to never use it. If I restore settings using TM will this come along with it (my hard drive being partioned and windows/vmware being installed) because I dont want that to occur?

What about the iTunes library, will it get transferred too?

stb5003 said:

Sorry guys, I thought of one more question...

When I originally bought my last macbook, I installed VMWare Fusion and a windows OS, and partioned my hard drive. I then proceeded to never use it. If I restore settings using TM will this come along with it (my hard drive being partioned and windows/vmware being installed) because I dont want that to occur?

Click to expand...

TM doesn't save a Windows partition. Your VMware Fusion software will be saved but it won't work because it no longer has access to your Windows partition. It will probably ask you to install Windows again if you tried to use it.

banshee said:

What about the iTunes library, will it get transferred too?

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Yes if it is included in your backup selection. By default all important user files are backed up. Unless you choose to exclude your iTunes library then it should be there.

Thank you