Migration Assistant Question

[pinkoos]

I remember reading on some tip sight (maybe here, maybe Macintouch, maybe somewhere else) that when using Migration Assistant to migrate an account from an old Mac (or volume, etc.) onto a new Mac, one should make sure that the accounts have different names to avoid some potential problems, etc.

I can't seem to find this tip and don't know what issues would be created if the user names are the same.

Anybody know?

Thanks.

[pinkoos]

My apologies!!

I just found the thread that discusses this, with a post from me with the link to the Macintouch post.

Blame it on Monday!!

http://forums.macresource.com/read.php?1...18,quote=1

[Robert M]

Pinkoos,

I avoided the User Name conflict issue entirely by backing the older machine up to an external hard disk drive via SuperDuper. I connected that drive to the new machine. Migration Assistant was happy to transfer everything from the external drive. Minimal fuss.

Two things to remember... The first is you may need to reinstall 3rd party apps if you're going from a PowerPC based machine to an intel machine. For example, I still need to reinstall MS Office 2004 on my office's new IMac. Right now, I still have the PowerPC version. Reinstalling will replace that with the Intel version and I'll enjoy an immediate boost in application performance.

THe other issue is you'll need to redo your printers and related settings. You'd think the installer would be intelligent enough to transfer over and reinstall the printer drivers and such. But, no. I still had to add the Brother HL-4040cn and completely reinstall the software for the HP Laserjet 3055. Annoying, especially on a work machine.

Robert

[pinkoos]

That's what my setup will be: older system is backed onto a FW drive and will be connected to new system and migrated in.

So, if my old system and my new system has the same user name, there should be no problem?

Also, both the old and the new systems will be Intel, so the PPC issue shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks.

[Robert M]

Pinkoos,

No problems here. But, as usual, your mileage may vary.

Robert

[MacManMaz]

watch for ppc items that startup at login. Things like logitech control center should be replaced with the intel version. After startup and login go to the activity monitor and look for PPC processes running.

[john-o]

I could be wrong, but I don't believe there is any such thing as an Intel-version of Office 2004. That's one of the big "new" features of Office 2008: it's (finally) Intel-native.

As for the broader topic, I never use the Migration Asst. if migrating from a PPC machine to an Intel one, or even from a Tiger machine to a new Leopard model for that matter. I simply create the account(s) on the new machine that were on the old machine (and I do try to keep the user-names the same) and then use Target Disk Mode to copy data over. You can copy all the Home folders (Desktop, Documents, etc.) except the Library folder. From that one, you should individually copy over things like your Address Book & iCal data (the "AddressBook" and "iCal" folders located in Library/Application Support/), your email data (the "Mail" folder in /Library/), Safari bookmarks/history/etc. (the "Safari" folder in /Library/), and lastly, any relevant .plist files in /Library/Preferences/ (for instance, the "com.apple.Mail.plist" file is where all your email account settings are stored). There might likely be other things you need, but could find with a little googling.

Hope this helps,
John

[Robert M]

John,

I stand corrected. I intended to say Office '08.

Robert