Tech Notes From The Trenches

I just bought a new Macbook Pro 2.53GHz and I had a hard time migrating from my old Macbook Pro. I followed the steps suggested by migration assistant but it failed many times.

• Attempt #1: I tried to transfer about 100GB over wifi. Bad idea! That will take days (probably) – I canceled this attempt.
• Attempt #2: I tried to transfer just user data (SSH keys, basic user information), no documents over wifi. This failed again. The assistant wouldn’t tell me how much time was left! I canceled this attempt.
• Attempt #3: I got an Ethernet cable and started transferring everything over LAN. This also was taking forever! I canceled this attempt.
• Attempt #4: I borrowed a Firewire cable. I connected them. I followed the steps and I transferred the entire account from the old Macbook to the new one. Finally!

By the way, a regular Firewire cable won’t work! You need a Firewire that adapts Firewire 400 to 800.

A few things I learned after using the migration assistant:

• Migration over Wifi, bad idea. Maybe a good idea for less than 1GB.
• Migration over Ethernet, bad idea. Maybe a good idea for less than 1GB.
• Migration over Firewire, the only way to go for 100GB of data.

In spite of all the troubles I had, I’m very happy about the migration. When it worked, it rocked! All my data (music, documents, settings, projects and configurations) is now in my new Macbook Pro. I can continue working as usual (although I know I’ll have problems with my programming environment, but that’s another post)

Also, just a suggestion, do a backup to an external drive before you start the migration. (just in case)