Season 10, Episode 3 (#327)
On this episode of For Mac Eyes Only: Mike is joined by Eric to discuss why Eric dumped iMessage for Telegram, they debate the merits of Apple’s latest “Magic” hardware, and share ways to selectively migrate apps and files to a new Mac without using Migration Assistant. Mike announces the dates for Macstock 2016: July 16 & 17, 2016!
EDITORIAL LINKS
> Macstock 2016
> Telegram
> VK – The “Russian Facebook” (via Wikipedia)
> Magic Mouse 2
> Magic Trackpad 2
> Magic Keyboard (Full Review Coming Soon!)
> Using Migration Assistant
> Carbon Copy Cloner
CONTACT US
Play Now
Running Time: 1:29:47
Wow Mike – I’ve just finished listening to this episode # 327 A ListenerPalooza of One and I feel privileged INDEED to be “the one”! This was a fabulously helpful episode because you actually covered a lot of migration assistant processes for after an OS upgrade as well as the “manual upgrade” approach !
I am writing because I did forget one pretty important item and the talk about “DE AUTHORIZING” reminded me! ITUNES! What Eric mentioned about getting new copies of software happened to me – my 2nd iMac from mid 2008 died a few years ago because the electronics inside basically melted and the screen disappeared so it was toast before I could click DE AUTHORIZE ITUNES. The Genius Bar reauthorized ALL devices, then I added the living computers back.
So that leads me to why I am writing this – I do NOT do iTunes on the cloud so the mac being replaced has a big iTunes library that I want to bring over to the new computer and it can’t be done via the cloud. So question:
1. Will migration assistant “later” let me bring over just that one application and its files from the iCloud back up OR do I have to manually port this file like I would do with the iPhoto which is 30 Gig of iTunes only (the most important as it contains tunes from 100’s of CD’s that I downloaded then sold to a used CD store ). I also have a few amazon files and some used in garage band . That’s it.
Appreciate any thoughts! If its too complicated for here – you can email me!
Hi Lisa!
Much like the original migration, you’d can’t be terribly “picky and choosy” with what you want to restore if you run Migration Assistant later.
Fortunately, iTunes, like iPhoto, is super easy to bring over from one Mac to another: If you copy (or restore via Time Machine) the iTunes library from the Music folder of one Mac to the other, then fire up iTunes, it will be like you never switched Macs. I do that all the time for folks.
It’s true that there’s a limit to the number of “devices” (i.e. 5 Macs / PCs) that can be linked to your iTunes purchases. The good news is that if you forget to “deauthorize” a Mac before taking it out of service, you can always log in to your Store account and deauthorize “all” from there. Then it’s a matter of signing in to each of your active devices again to authorize them. (like what the Apple Store did for you)
Of course if you still have the old Mac available, you can always fire up iTunes, click the Store menu and deauthorize.
Hope that helps!
Mike
Hi Mike
Thank you so much for responding. Just in case this helps anyone who is severely behind like me, I have a few questions about restoring from time machine back up to the new 27″ :
1.ITUNES: My time machine back up on the old mac is stored on a WD My Studio external HD that connects with FIREWIRE 800 right now, but I think it can also use the slower USB 2.0 There is no firewire connection in the new iMac -27″ that I plan to buy, only 4 BT 3.0 and 2 T’bolt connections. Will that USB 2.0 connect to USB 3.0? Do I have to have upgraded the old mac to El Cap to bring the iTunes library over.
2. IPHOTO
I’m not sure what to do about this one to be honest – but it looks like I”m going to lose iPhoto on all but my white macbook which will never be able to run El Cap.
I have iPhoto 9.4.3 on the old imac which is running LION (yes its a bit behind but I liked the old cat!).I don’t OWN iPhoto. I have had iPhoto since my first imac purchase 1/3/2005, and it has come along with each new mac “ghosted” from that first Tiger install!
So, given this comment in APPLE DISCUSSIONS ” Specifically, you must have iPhoto version 9.6.1 installed if you are running OS X version 10.10.3. If you have any older version of iPhoto installed, OS X 10.10.3 will refuse to launch it.” I can’t use any version of iPhoto even on my other iMac that I’m keeping – once I upgrade to El Cap it will refuse to run iPhoto.
So now I have a 2 part question:
1. If I upgrade a mac in place to El Cap but it does not have iPhoto 9.6.1, what happens to the iphoto libraries? Will I be able to bring that into the new PHOTOS or will I be prompted to? I have cut up my iPhoto library into several of them so I only work on the latest one for ease of use)(when I hold down option and click on iPhoto, I have a choice of several iPhoto libraries
PS there are a relatively small set of non iPhoto pictures in the PICTURES folder in my user account that I guess will just sit there.
2. On the iMac that is going away and being replaced with a new one that won’t have iPhoto, Can I use migration assistant to just bring in the pictures folder and do everything else manually like you went through on the podcast? Or is it an all or nothing choice: If I don’t run migration assistant I have to do the copy from USERNAME >PICTURES or USERNAME>MUSIC to get items to the new mac.
Thanks again for all your help Mike.
Hi Lisa,
Sounds like a 4 part question to me! :)
1) iTunes: The iTunes library is pretty easy to bring over from one Mac to another. Just restore or copy the iTunes folder from your Music library and drop it in place on the new Mac. And you won’t need to upgrade to El Cap first to do that. I believe the latest iTunes will even run on Lion! And, yes, USB 2.0 will work just fine on USB 3.0 — albeit at USB 2.0 speeds. (edit: no I’m wrong. iTunes 12.3.1 requires Mtn. Lion 10.8.5, but that’s okay, you can still do what you want.)
2) There is a work-around to run an older version of iPhoto on a newer Mac, but it’s a bit of a pain to implement. You REALLY need to want to run that old version to make it worth the extra steps involved (you need to open the iPhoto package file, then go to Contents > MacOS and double-click the iPhoto file found within.) It works! Really! But do you really want to do that every time? No.
Are you sure you don’t have iPhoto listed in Mac App Store > Purchases? Apple “gave” copies to new Mac owners in recent years. You may have claimed it, but never downloaded. Check!
The second 1) The iPhoto libraries can be imported into Photos. No problem. You’ll need to do each separately, but you can bring them in. See my email reply for other options.
The second 2) Yes! You can uncheck EVERYTHING except the Pictures folder if you’d like. To be honest, I think if you’re going to do that, you may just want to manually copy it over instead. But it will work!
Hope that helps!
Mike