transferring info ...
Hi Jim
I'm brand new to the Forum so you may want to take this with a pinch of salt.
I'm also brand new to Macs - I took mine out of the box only 2 days ago.
Like yourself I was concerned about how to move my data across. I've got a few terabytes of photographs and I worry about them more than I worry about my kids.
I have to say that after almost 20 years of 'living in fear' of Windows machines, this iMac is like a breath of fresh air.
OK, it's a bit 'quirky' at first and I'm on a really steep learning curve but, so far, it's done everything I've asked it to do - and done it at blistering speed too.
As for moving files across from the old PC(s) via an external hard drive, that was no problem at all. The Mac just sucks it all up without complaint and does with it whatever you want it to do.
The only problem I had was when I tried to write files back into another external drive. This proved to be a major headache for an hour or so 'till I realised that the external drives needed to be re-formatted to enable write- access from the Mac.
I wont say it's been an entirely 'painless' experience but, to be fair it's gone very well so far. Every peripheral I've attached to it has worked like a charm.
So, there you go - just 48 hours in and I'm 'converted'
It's a shame Apple don't include a bit more in the way of User Manuals but, that said, pretty well most of what you need to do is really straightforward.
Trust me - you'll have no problems.
Enjoy.