Installed Leopard...How do I transfer things now???

Bare with me here people, Im a mac nube and I really need some help. Here is my situation:

I have an external, bootable drive via USB that I created a backup of my HD just before installing Leopard using Super Duper. (I did the erase and install of Leopard by the way) I've booted from that drive before so I know it works. Im not really familiar with the OS systems and how they work entirely or how things get transfered over though from an external drive. Im kind of lost now.....

Here is my question:

How do I get all my apps, documents, emails, settings, and things like that transfered over?? I tried using the migration assistant but it didn't transfer my emails or settings for messenger ( i know, i know...its microsoft). I may be looking in the wrong areas or doing things totally wrong too. That is very possible. I am definitely not opposed to doing another erase and reinstall of Leopard and starting from scratch to get this right (I will still have my backup with all my important data on to fall back on).

Can somebody please point me in the right direction of what to do to get my computer the way it was, but this time running with Leopard? I know things like little settings may not transfer over, but thats ok. Im just worried about the main things I have on my external HD.

By the way, I have an 8 month old 15" MBP. So its completely updated and intel based if that makes a difference.

If this post is not in the right place, please feel free to move it...I just need some assistance. Thanks a lot!!!

Dallas

In the migration assistant there should be a box to check to move apps over. Did you check that?

As far as mail, I'm stumped on that. When I migrated my wife's MB to her new MBP a month ago, I just exported her mailbox but haven't been able to get it into her new mailbox. Sounds like a lot, but what about forwarding all emails to yourself again or a new yahoo mail account?

T

I've been playing around with this for a little while now and I've come across a couple of things. When I boot up with my external HD, it boots up in Tiger type format. Even when I check the OS, its still Tiger even though I have Leopard installed on the normal HD. I used SuperDuper to copy all my files from the backup HD to the normal HD. It all seemed to work, but I have files everywhere and its kind of a mess. Then when I go into my bootable HD, it tells me I dont have the adequate priveledges to access some of those files and apps. Why is that?

I need some help here on the best way I can get Leopard on my computer without a huge hassel of transferring data. Ugh.

I just did an isync with my other computer that had my info stored on it...hope that helps. I also synced with .mac for my mail

Here is the latest after me trying a few different things:

1. I made a bootable backup using SuperDuper to an external HD, we will call this "Backup HD".

2. I install Leopard using erase and install so I get a clean install of Leopard.

3. Once thats finished, I restarted the computer using the "Backup HD" to boot from.

4. Once restarted, I use SuperDuper to copy my "Backup HD" to the freshly erased "Internal HD". I then restart and boot from the "Internal HD". At this point, the external HD (Backup HD) is not being used anymore and out of the picture.

5. Only to discover that upon copying from the "Backup HD" it has converted my "Internal HD" to an exact copy using the old 10.4 OS that was on the "Backup HD" and not Leopard. At this point, Leopard is GONE...which is perfectly logical. But Im stumped.....

How in the world do I make this work? Am I doing the wrong steps? Do I need to use Migration Assistant and just sort through everything when thats all done to get rid of what I dont need? How do I get my permissions back after using Migration Assistant if thats what needs to be used?

I used Migration Assistant before but it just seemed like I was going to lose alot of "user preference" type things like bookmarks, emails, settings, etc. How do I keep those types of things? Or can I?

OR......Should I use the "upgrade" option when installing Leopard and then make a copy of my Internal HD to the Backup HD using Time Machine? I cant use SuperDuper to do that because its not compatible with Leopard yet. My problem with using the "Upgrade" is that each time I tried it that way...the TON OF BUGS came with it. If I use the "Upgrade" option, get it installed and make a copy on my "Backup HD" using Time Machine, will the bugs be in my "Backup HD" then too? If so...that doesn't sound like the right thing to do at all. If not, I'll just yet reinstall using "Erase and Install" then when Leopard is installed the clean way, copy from the "Backup HD" (which now has 10.5 on it with or without the bugs...not sure yet)...seems like it could work.

Keep the replies coming, Im a nube in need of assistance please!!!

I will get this the way I want it, no matter how many times I have to "Erase and Install"....haha

You're 1 step ahead of me, and I'm very curious to learn the solution to your problem too. As soon as my external harddrive arrives (tomorrow), I'm going to backup Tiger and erase-install Leopard. Then I'll want to copy over all my email, apps, files too. I hope there's an easy way.

Well, just for kicks, I tried the "Upgrade" option again. I made sure I had all things unplugged from my laptop except the power cord of course. It worked like last time and everything "looks" as if it worked. Im in the process of trying out all the apps, documents, etc. that I can right now and I've discovered only a couple issues:

1) Had to go through everything in my dock and desktop to make sure it was transfered over properly. I had to get rid of Safari on the desktop and make a copy of the one in the Applications folder. Otherwise when I just clicked on the icon on the desktop, it wouldn't even open. I would get the "An error occured while trying to open Safari". Thats fixed now though.

2) The same error message as mentioned above happens with Mail also. I had to grab the one from the Apps folder and enter into it that way. It automatically upgraded Mail and all was well. All my messages are still there and works just fine.

So far everything seems fine. All my music, pics, documents, bookmarks, personal settings all were kept. Hopefully it stays this way. Im not going to overwrite my backup HD for a while just to make sure this is all going to stay this way and I can get more of it figured out.