? Re: transferring data from old mac hard drive to new one

I have owned a 2009 MacBook Pro 15" that recently broke ( the MB was dropped and now the display has separated and not working) . It is still powered on , but of course I can't see anything. I bought a used Late 2013 MB pro 15 2.0 ghz to replace it. I have lots of photos from my old hard drive that I want to transfer to the new one along with some miscellaneous files. Other than that, there is nothing of real importance on the old drive.

How can I best transfer data to the new MB? Would attaching it via USB as an external drive allow me to access the files I need to transfer? Is there a better way? Or am I just screwed?
Of course I didn't have a time machine backup either.

Many thanks and much appreciation for any help

The best and easiest way would be to remove the hard drive from the broken MBP, place it in an external SATA case or use an adapter, attach it to the new MBP via USB and manually transfer what data you need. You can buy an adapter at www.macsales.com and external SATA carrier cases from Amazon, Best Buy, NewEgg, etc.

This is what I was thinking, but will I have access to all my files even though the drive is set up as my main bootable drive from my old mac? For instance , my photos, would I be able to just navigate the folders to my masters and transfer them over to the new MB?

You should be able to recover the information unless the drive has been damaged. Ideally the easiest way to do this would have been to run Migration Assistant during the initial setup of the new Mac. If you run it now I believe Migration Assistant will create an account matching the username from the new Mac. At this point you will likely want to start emerging info from the two accounts.

Others may have better ideas.

Slydude said:

You should be able to recover the information unless the drive has been damaged. Ideally the easiest way to do this would have been to run Migration Assistant during the initial setup of the new Mac. If you run it now I believe Migration Assistant will create an account matching the username from the new Mac. At this point you will likely want to start emerging info from the two accounts.

Others may have better ideas.

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I haven't actually gotten the "new "MacBook yet. That was one of the other things I wanted someone's opinion on, as to whether I would be able to use migration assistant with that external drive . I did not realize that if you use it after the fact, it would set up a separate account, that I do not want

run Migration Assistant during the initial setup of the new Mac

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This is the crucial point which our Moderator, Slydude, is making.

When you get your brand new Mac (any model), during the start-up process, you will be asked if you want to restore from another Mac - this is before you event create an account on the new machine.

You could choose Time Machine or Migration Assistant (MA). Choosing MA moves your account and all your data (or just the data specified by you) associated with it.

The key is not to complete the start-up process by creating an account before using MA.

Ian

I had to do this just last week. If you get a new computer, or do a complete reinstall of the OS, the initial setup will ask if you want to use bring up Migration Assistant. One of the options is to restore from an Time Machine backup or "from another Mac" or something similar.

I think some version of Migration Assistant did not make one thing clear: The "from another Mac" phrase includes situations like yours where you will be transferring things from the hard drive of another Mac. You might find these directions helpful.

I should mention that when you transfer an entire system's worth of data using Migration Assistant it can take literally hours. My recent transfer took something on the order of 10+ hours if you transfer everything. It will let you choose to transfer only certain things.

What version of OS X is on the hard drive that you will be copying the data from? If it is recent enough to be able to boot the new system it might be faster to use something like Carbon Copy Cloner to "clone" things from the old hard drive to the new machine. It will also let you choose only certain things to copy.

Either way it could take quite some time to transfer an entire system's worth of data / applications.

Slydude said:

I should mention that when you transfer an entire system's worth of data using Migration Assistant it can take literally hours. My recent transfer took something on the order of 10+ hours if you transfer everything. It will let you choose to transfer only certain things.

What version of OS X is on the hard drive that you will be copying the data from? If it is recent enough to be able to boot the new system it might be faster to use something like Carbon Copy Cloner to "clone" things from the old hard drive to the new machine. It will also let you choose only certain things to copy.

Either way it could take quite some time to transfer an entire system's worth of data / applications.

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I believe my old machine was running El Capitan, the last OS that Supported that computer.
The 2013 I have purchased , I believe the seller is installing a fresh copy of Sierra.

The only thing on my old Mac that I really want to transfer over our my photo and video files. I do not remember how big my photos folder was, but I do know it was rather large probably around 70 to 80 GB. There are some other miscellaneous documents and safari favorites that I would like to move over as well. However any applications and things of that nature I am not as concerned about .

That's a much easier transfer time wise. It certainly won't take as long as mine did. I transferred something on the order of 500+ GB because it was total system rebuild.

Slydude said:

That's a much easier transfer time wise. It certainly won't take as long as mine did. I transferred something on the order of 500+ GB because it was total system rebuild.

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Yea, my computer is personal use only. It doesn't do any heavy lifting except occasional photo and video editing and document creation. I just don't want to lose any of that. Hopefully the transfer process goes smoothly and the new MacBook get set up properly. My last hard drive had crashed and had to replace it using a disk recovery program, and I wound up with two separate photo libraries .

If by chance Migration Assistant hangs up, which happens once in a while wait for a bit to see if it continues. If it doesn't it may be necessary to run the Assistant a second time.

The only thing on my old Mac that I really want to transfer over our my photo and video files. I do not remember how big my photos folder was, but I do know it was rather large probably around 70 to 80 GB. There are some other miscellaneous documents and safari favorites that I would like to move over as well. However any applications and things of that nature I am not as concerned about .

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Take my advice above... and forget about using the Migration Assistant as it will only add confusion to the mix. The Migration Assistant can be a life saver when used in conjunction with Time Machine to transfer your entire user profile to a new machine before creating an account on it. But you don't need that. Since your transfer need is very specific, doing it manually will actually work out best for you. Your choice....

chscag said:

Since your transfer need is very specific, doing it manually will actually work out best for you. Your choice....

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I think Charlie's right about this. For most users Migration Assistant is a good idea but since you know which files you need and where they are located a straight transfer is a good idea. Just keep the old drive around until you're sure you've collected everything you need.

Slydude said:

I think Charlie's right about this. For most users Migration Assistant is a good idea but since you know which files you need and where they are located a straight transfer is a good idea. Just keep the old drive around until you're sure you've collected everything you need.

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Thanks for the tips. The documents I need are easy enough, it will just be a challenge importing my photos library to the new machine

If you are using Photos on the new machine it should walk you through the process if finding / loading the old library. Most other programs should do likewise. If you have difficulty post back with any errors / problems.