Ask TUAW Video Edition: Migration Assistant

What software was used to CREATE that video?

Thanks.

Does simply copying everything over from an old Mac ACTUALLY erase software on the new Mac? Why would it do that instead of just retaining the newest version of whatever software?

More of a question than a comment ...

What about a PPC device that is currently on Leopard? My wife has a PowerBook 17" currently on Leopard. I need to more her data files to a new MBP 15" (2011). I've already installed a couple of new apps, like Photoshop CS5, and Lightroom3.

Most of what I need to pull over is mail, and photos. I have no plans to move any apps to the new machine. But am wondering if there is anything in the user folder that might upset the new machine ... Thinking specifically about stuff in the application support folders.

Any advise?

It's my pleasure, from one techie to another!

I run a Mac support company in NYC, and I am constantly being reminded of how difficult it is to truly make things "easy". I often catch myself making things more complicated for a client, or forgetting that they have no idea what I'm talking about! I once made a website with the goal of making it be super easy to navigate, and it was probably the worst site ever created. Hilarious.

Anyway, glad you found those things helpful. I appreciate your article!

R

We have a Mac Mini in our conference room, and sometimes it is very difficult to see just what is happening on it. Is there a way to wirelessly show the Mac OS screen on multiple iPads in the room? I don't want them to control the Mac, just the ability to view a mirror of what is on the Mac, including the cursor. All of the solutions I have found so far don't meet at least one of my requirements.

Thanks in advance.

JustIn, your walkthrough is much appreciated, especially for those people that find this sort of thing too technical for their level of skill. However, you really need to think not like a techie and more like someone who is not comfortable with this sort of thing. There were a number of times you did things and did not explain what you did. i.e. When the Migration Assistsnt didn't open it's window, you knew how to fix that. But you did it without explaining what was happening. You also entered passwords without telling the user that they'd need to do that. You had the computers hooked up via wifi, and were halfway into the video before telling them that they had multiple options of how to connect the computers, or even that they would need to hook up the computers. You made no mention of a FireWire 400-800 cord, which is needed if you have an older FireWire 400 only Mac.

This video is a great example of how difficult it is for companies to make demo videos truly user friendly and "easy". Though I knew what you were doing the whole time, I'm quite sure my mother or people in her generation would have turned it off very quickly.

I hope this is helpful. It's not meant to be an attack, rather as constructive criticism for the future.

So is there no way to specify which applications get transferred? Would be nice to transfer everything except the software you know is updated on the newer mac. Especially if you're going from a laptop to a desktop, some software (like photo booth) won't run properly.

Migration Assistant works perfectly fine migrating third party software but not Apple's professional applications --- I know!

I migrated from an MacBook Pro 17" to a iMac 27" and all my settings were fine, third party apps perfect... However Final Cut Pro, Aperture and iTunes was requesting license and passwords every time I started them. I followed every tip I found in the support pages, contacted several guru friends and finally used Apple support stating I bought a new iMac and needed support. They passed me to the application support team, and a guy with bad attitude (yeah not very Apple-I'll-sell-you-this friendly) said I had o scratch my iMac OS and reinstall from disk!.

What I did was reinstall Final Cut and Aperture, got those two running fine but still have iTunes requesting my iTunes password everyday. And I prefer to re-enter my password then go through the aggravation of re-installing my OS and messing with the hassle of all my other Apps.


That was my experience with Migration Assistant. And nope, I won't ever use it again.

John Krone