New iMac

[jcarter]

The new 27 inch iMac I gave to my grandson a while ago, is now back here. He built a couple of amazing PCs, and now has no use for the Mac.

I want to give my 24(10.5. inch to my husband, keep the other new 27(10.10.5), but want to transfer some apps, only a few documents, all the music, and pictures to the one which just arrived.
I put it back to factory new, so its empty at the moment of any of my stuff.

I just bought a Seagate 1 TB ext HD, but I dont want to transfer everything, just pick and choose.

Is the best way to do this, to copy the entire hard drive, pick out what I want before I plug it into the 27? Or to put into a folder only what I want to transfer, copy that, then move it?
The apps on the 24 are rather old, and I want the apps from the new/other 27 instead. Assuming that I can transfer those at a later date.

Sort of complex for my old brain, but I know you people here will have a good way to suggest for me to do this.

Thanks in advance,,,,,,,,


Then we will have a few Macs and a PC or 2 to donate to the guy who fixes up computers for the kids in the high school who cant afford anything.

[jchuzi]

Is the OS on the new Mac pristine, meaning no accounts set up or anything else? If that's the case, I would use Setup Assistant (which launches automatically the first time that you start the computer) and migrate everything. You can discard stuff later and you won't have locked yourself out of anything that you might want but forgot to transfer.

If the new Mac already has accounts set up, you can launch Migration Assistant and, essentially, do the same thing. In any case, read Move your content to a new Mac.

The advantage of doing one of the above (rather than copying from one drive to another) is that all related preference files and other necessary items will be automatically transferred.

That's what I would do. (My 2¢.)

[jcarter]

Thank You!
I have already moved about 4000 pictures from my iPhone, and some stuff over, and set up the account.
So will go ahead with Migration Assistant instead of Setup Assistant.
Glad you warned me about that.

Thats an excellent tutorial, will follow it exactly.

The OS is 10.5.8.  When I check update available, all I see is iTunes needed.

The HD should be here soon, and in the meantime, I will go thru the hard drive of this computer and delete a lot of the old junk.
The important thing will be the settings, email settings, pictures, and music.
And some documents.

[Paddy]

I would suggest updating the OS too, Jane. (I'm a bit confused - you said that the 27" has 10.10.5, which is the current OS, but then in your last post say it's 10.5.8, which at 6 years old, is somewhat out of date. Which is it?)

[jchuzi]

Paddy,

Jane said, in her first post, "I want to give my 24(10.5. inch to my husband, keep the other new 27(10.10.5)". Evidently, the last post refers to the older (24 inch) iMac.

[jchuzi]

Jane:

I don't know how you will be connecting the old iMac to the new, but here's a tip:

I tried the Ethernet method and it didn't work. My new iMac kept searching for the old computer but couldn't find it. I decided to use the Target Mode method but, unfortunately, the new iMac didn't have a Firewire port, and the old computer didn't have a Thunderbolt port.

Apple to the rescue! I used an Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter attached to a Firewire 800 cable and all was well.

[jcarter]

Yes, the 24 inch one is 10.5.8. Its a great machine, and my husband said the 27 would be too big for his desk and office. And he wants the 24.  He doesn't use Adobe products nor anything that has to be state of the art, or really fast.
He uses it mostly for studying, research, and email.

They both have firewire and ethernet, but think Migration Assistant would work well with the external HD easier.
I will plug the external HD into the 24, and transfer its contents to the ext HD, then move all that stuff to the newer 27. Then empty the ext HD, load it up with what my husband wants from his old 20 inch one, then transfer all that to the now empty 24. But I would like to update the OS first, not sure if I can however.

Having 10.5.8 seems to limit me to any software upgrades, I tried it and the only thing it says that I can upgrade to is a higher version of iTunes, which we dont need.
Guess this 24 is too old for any OS upgrades, and the browsers all say "out of date", but when I try to update them, they say the OS is too old and thats that.

[jchuzi]

Which 24 inch is it? If it's the mid 2007 model or later, it can handle any of the newer OS's. In order to upgrade to Yosemite (or El Capitán, to be released September 30), you'll have to upgrade to Snow Leopard first. Read Upgrade to OS X Yosemite. Free on the Mac App Store. for complete instructions.

[jcarter]

Looks like I can upgrade the 24!
Here are 2 screenshots so that you can look just to make sure.

[jcarter]

Just called my local Mac store, they dont sell the snow leopard discs, but will upgrade my 24 for $130.
So I looked online in the Apple shop, and I can purchase one for $19.99.
Is that the proper way to do it?

I thought I could download it, but the app store has nothing like that.

Looks like I can do this and then restore this 24 to factory standards, then migrate my husband's stuff from his old 20 to the external HD, then to this one.

https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/1000...nstructions.pdf

[jchuzi]

You're good to go. As to the cost, my advanced math skills tell me that $19.99 is cheaper than $130. I wouldn't pay that exorbitant price.

You need to do this before Sept. 30, however. If Apple runs true to form, Yosemite will no longer be available after that date, and you'll have to go with El Capitán. Both are free, but I, for one, don't plan on upgrading to EC until it's at least at version 10.11.2. I like to see that the bugs have been worked out and that developers of my favorite apps have had a chance to update them.

[jcarter]

I better order the disk today.
Here is what my husband's computer is.
I will revert it to factory standards, and donate it to the guy who fixes computers up for the kids in our high school who cant afford anything.

[jchuzi]

That machine can handle any OS up to 10.7.5. Instead of reverting to factory standards, why not install 10.6? You're ordering it anyway and the recipient will have a more recent OS than 10.4.7 (the one that it came with).

EDIT: Be sure to erase the internal drive before installing the OS. Use the option to write zeroes. IMHO, doing a seven-way or 35-way pass is not necessary (and very time-consuming).

[jcarter]

Just ordered the disk, and will follow your instructions exactly.
THank you!!!!!