Upgrade to 27in iMac, best way to migrate data including applications

[clarkyjpc]

I have a 7 year old 24in iMac and planning to upgrade to a 27in iMac. I understand I can migrate data. Could you let me know what best method to migrate. I would like to take only stuff i want not all the junk to new iMac.
I don't wish to take everything to new iMac and have been told i may not be able to move some applications. I use the iMac mostly for photography and have back up on external drives.
thanks
James

 

[harryb2448]

G'day and welcome to the forums.

I use Migration Assistant which can be found in Applications > Utilities. Some software from Adobe and Microsoft often require re-activation so keep the DVDs and codes handy.

 

[RadDave]

Hi Clarky.... - welcome to the forum! As usual, Harry is 'spot on' w/ his advice - for additional information on the Migration Assistant, the Apple Support Article on the topic can be viewed HERE - as to the 'old' files you do not want migrated to the new computer, you can of course just delete beforehand on your old computer.

As to compatibility of your older apps w/ El Capitan (assume that is the OS X on your new Mac), check HERE - good luck and return w/ further questions and tell us about your experience and what you did exactly - may help others in the future reading this thread. Dave

 

[clarkyjpc]

Great, thanks guys, Im about a month from purchase of new iMac and plan to delete as much old stuff and junk as a possible before doing the migration. any other tips on Migration before i begin ? thanks again

 

[pigoo3]

...plan to delete as much old stuff and junk as a possible before doing the migration. any other tips on Migration before i begin ?

Yes. Make sure what you throw away truly is "junk"…and "old stuff" (no longer needed).

Also. You didn't tell us what OS version your iMac is currently running. But if you purchase a brand new iMac…it will certainly be running the latest Mac OS (10.11…El Capitan). If your iMac is running a really old OS version…and you have a bunch of user installed apps…these apps may not run with El Capitan.

Just mentioning this…just in case you didn't know…or hadn't thought of it.

- Nick

 

[clarkyjpc]

thanks again, I have version 10.9 the one before El Capitan. I have hesitated installing El Capitan as have heard bad reviews.
I suppose what I am also asking is, how do I remove this junk and old stuff I no longer need before I migrate. I don't want to migrate everything from my old computer and dump it on the new one. I could of course bring data and Apps across one at a time but that could be time-consuming. - James

 

[RadDave]

thanks again, I have version 10.9 the one before El Capitan. I have hesitated installing El Capitan as have heard bad reviews.
I suppose what I am also asking is, how do I remove this junk and old stuff I no longer need before I migrate. I don't want to migrate everything from my old computer and dump it on the new one. I could of course bring data and Apps across one at a time but that could be time-consuming. - James

Hi again - actually, you're one version off, i.e. the current update to El Capitan is 10.11.5 (which I installed on my Macs in the last few days) - you are using Mavericks, which is fine because from my previous link provided "Your old Mac needs OS X Snow Leopard v10.6.8 or later......" to use Migration Assistant.

What do you mean by 'junk and old stuff'? If these are simply pics, music, documents, etc. that you do not want on the new computer, simply put the files in Trash and then empty - if not sure, then backup these files to an external HD first. As to apps, simply look at what you will need to use on the new machine (review in the Applications folder of Finder), and for those that you want to migrate, then use my other link to see if each is compatible w/ El Capitan - for those that you want to remove from your old computer, AppCleaner is useful to remove an app and its associated files.

BUT, please check the links that we offer - there is much useful information. Dave

 

[clarkyjpc]

Thanks Dave and everyone who took the time to reply. This has been a great help and will let you know how I progress after I purchase my new iMac.
Oh by the way, before I purchase the new 27in iMac do you have any advice on what spec you would recommend. e.g. Fushion drive or SSD - RAM etc.
thanks once again

 

[elf69]

from what I know from my PC background always buy as advanced as can afford that way it last longer before you upgrade.

So most ram, biggest CPU etc.

as for HDD/SSD/etc depends on what you use it for.

You will need to look into pro and con of each and make your own choice.

I just added an SSD to a 2009 macbook and its alot faster.
Also added more ram so buy and much as you can at start.

 

[pigoo3]

Oh by the way, before I purchase the new 27in iMac do you have any advice on what spec you would recommend. e.g. Fushion drive or SSD - RAM etc.
thanks once again

Ram is upgradeable after purchase…so I wouldn't sweat this part too much. Get it with the basic 8gig of ram.

- Apple is charging +$200 to upgrade to 16gig of ram. You can get an extra 8gig of ram (2 x 4gig) from Macsales.com for under $50.
- You could also get an extra 16gig (2 x 8gig) from Macsales.com for under $100…and end up with 24gig of ram.
- If you wanted 32gig of ram…Apple is charging +$600. From Macsales.com 32gig of ram is only $196.75 (4 x 8gig).

As far as the storage. Depends on how much storage you need & how big your budget is. The flash storage options will be faster…be smaller…and be more expensive. The Fusion drive options will be slower than the flash storage…larger capacity than the flash storage…and cost less/gigabyte.

The storage decision is much more important. Since upgrading or changing the storage after purchase is pretty difficult.

I think what I would do is get the flash storage for the 27" iMac (so you get the speed benefits of the flash storage)…and if you needed additional capacity…get an external hard drive later as necessary.

HTH,

- Nick