I spoke before about Apple’s tendency to under promise and over deliver, or "uPod" regarding its business outlook. Well I had just had an experience with an overlooked, but amazingly powerful feature that, to the best of my knowledge, Apple has never hyped or even marketed at all.
That feature is the "Migration Assistant." Here was my dilemma. I was having lots of issues with my personal MacBook Pro and it was slowing down my productivity big time. So my company ordered me a new one last week and it was delivered this Monday. But I’ve been so busy I could not find the time to switch over, so I stuck with my unreliable MacBook simply because it had all my stuff in it.
During one of my frequent reboots I remembered the Migration Assistant. (I’ve never used it before because I’m one of those old-school techies who likes to build his hard drive one install at a time) Basically, all I had to do was reboot my old Mac into Firewire disk mode (try that MacBook Air!) and connect a Firewire cable to my new Mac. A few clicks (and a few hours) later, and my new MacBook was a carbon copy of my old one.
I was amazed! Every file, document, email, iPhoto, iTune, even the arrangement of icons on my dock and my desktop was preserved. It is the most amazing feeling to pick up a brand new computer and hit the ground running with everything where it should be in just a few hours. Such a feat usually takes about a week.
Clearly this isn’t the coolest feature around, but perhaps the most practical when trying to get people to buy a new Mac. I think Apple should invest in a PC vs Mac commercial where Justin speaks to this feature since there are lots of people like me who stick with their old computers for fear of the hard work of migrating. Have you ever used the Migration Assistant?
2/8/08 Update: AppleInsider describes the challenge for MacBook Air and Migration Assistant, as does MacNN.
I have been using it for a number of years. I find it real handy and real easy to use. I think the only problem I had was that I had re-authorize my Adobe Creative Suite, it didn’t take the old registration over to the new Mac.
I’ve used Migration Assistant a few times. It’s great! I’m sure that I take it for granted, now that I’ve used it. But I remember transferring files and reinstalling software, before Migration Assistant was introduced, and this is just so easy!
I agree that a Mac/PC Migration Assistant commercial is in order.
The other thing to be aware of is that if you are migrating from a G3/G4/G5 Mac, some of your software may not work because of the change to Intel processors. Rosetta doesn’t handle all software. I ran into someone at the Genius Bar at my local Apple store who had this problem and it was giving him fits. Removed one utility, and the problems went away. This may not be a problem for most, but if you have problems after the migration, it’s something to consider.
That said, Migration Assistant is definitely great.
Yeah, I used it when I went from a G4 to a G5 – worked great. my question is this: i have a macbook pro and want to get a larger hard drive because i’m doing HD video and whatnot. is there an easy way to transfer all my data to the new hard drive easily, using something like migration assistant?
josh
Transfer ALL your stuff? Easy: use ‘Superduper!’ (Yes, it has an exclamation point.) I learned about backing up the hard way with a, umm, “baking accident” with a drive that had all my tunes on it. Now I use Superduper! to make perfect clones of my main HD. It is, of course, a little harder with a notebook as the HD is far more difficult to replace, and there is no second internal drive, but cloning a drive is the way to go.
Just attach an external drive of equal or greater size (via FireWire) to the MB-P and use Superduper! to clone the drive. Then replace the HD in the notebook. Boot up the MB-P from the External FireWire drive and clone all your stuff BACK to the notebook.
Now you have TWO identical bootable HDs, one internal and one external. You can use Superduper! to make ‘Smart’ (incremental) backups every so often.
For a notebook, it’s best to get an external 2.5 inch FireWire drive of the same size as the new internal, as they are a convenient portable size and bus powered (but don’t run them BOTH off of the notebook’s battery! Use the AC adapter for one or the other.)
You know what, maybe Apple should take your advice. I’m a fan of those Mac vs PC commercials. In a way, Justin Long actually reminds me of the way Steve Jobs makes presentations. The way they speak makes you feel like what they’re telling you is the most practical thing in the world. Maybe they wanted to leave a few secrets for the users to unlock themselves. With Apple, you never know.
” is there an easy way to transfer all my data to the new hard drive easily, using something like migration assistant?”
As Barbarossa says you can use SuperDuper!, Carbon Copy Cloner, or a similar backup/copy program. Dragging and dropping data files is easy, but that does not work with system files, some of which are hidden. I regularly make a clone of my hard drive to an external drive so I can relatively get back up and running should my primary computer break down.
One more thing, I also use TimeMachine to backup the internal drive to a second external hard drive.
Migration Assistant works with the MacBook Air. Both the old Mac and the new MBA need to be on the same network and it is handled wirelessly. It’s slow (as you can imagine), but convenient. Might be smart to start it before going to bed and letting it work over night…
Mike
The first time I used the migration assistant it was so perfect that I was little bit dissapointed. I was used to reserve a whole weekend when I got a new windows laptop and I had to reinstall and configure everything. But I got over that feeling fast. This is the way a computer should work, flawless and helpfull. So normal but so refreshing when you come from the Windows stone age!
Flipping screens, moving screen… blah. When do they come up with a screen-only with a virtual keyboard. Just the screen…www.birmarket.com