Need help w/ transition to a new Mac!!

nuxnamon · Post by **nuxnamon** » Tue May 27, 2008 6:37 pm

Hi all,

I am getting a new macpro and was just wondering was is the best/smothest way to transfer all my files.. I am currently using a older mac g5 and I am givng that to my girlfriend along with all the drives (1. system drive 2. audio drive).. All my music programs are installed in the system drive but all my projects, live sets, audio files, samples are installed in the audio drive. I know i will have to re-install all my programs on the macpro but my question is, can I just copy the whole audio drive from the old computer to a new dedicated audio drive in the new computer or is there something else I have to do. I am just afraid that once I start opening live sets on the new computer, I will get the "sample is missing/offline" message because it doesn't know where to look for the samples. Is there a trick to this? any help would be great.. thank you..

doc holiday · Post by **doc holiday** » Tue May 27, 2008 7:20 pm

it should be as easy as that.
keep the drives named the same.
I'll let you know next week, i'm retiring my G4 also. mbp is in the mail!

ubermnd · Post by **ubermnd** » Tue May 27, 2008 7:23 pm

What you can do is set up your partitions on the new mbp. I have a partition for programs and a separate partition for all audio and other data.

Then you can connect your laptop directly to your G5 using a firewire cable. (Hold down T when you start the laptop up and it will appear as an external drive on your G5 desktop).

Then you could simply copy the whole drive over, or, if you're worried about file paths etc you could open your projects in live on the G5 and then "Collect all and Save" them straight to a new location on the laptop. This should save all the samples and other files associated with the project into one place so you shouldn't have any trouble opening them.

Whatever you do I strongly advise you to make full back ups of everything first. DVDs are cheap and should be enough to store your most important projects. Unless you have an extra external drive of course.

Hope this helps

kabuki · Post by **kabuki** » Tue May 27, 2008 7:49 pm

As I always suggest to new computer owners, back up all of your old files. ALL of them. You will nevr know when you made a booboo and deleted your favorite track. Connection a FW cable and restarting the old computer while holding down T will open the old computer as a slaved FW drive. THen just drag the files you want to the new computer. Fast and easy.

Then remember to drag the slaved HD ICON (the orange FW icon, NOT the contents of it) to the trash to dismount the HD and then unplug it to keep the old HD from getting wrecked.

congrats.

Dr. TaaDow · Post by **Dr. TaaDow** » Tue May 27, 2008 7:50 pm

Another way is to plug both systems into a router (wired or wireless, whichever you use) or hub (wired of course) and just share the files/folders you want to transfer and move them over. A very simple way to do it.

doc holiday · Post by **doc holiday** » Tue May 27, 2008 7:56 pm

kabuki wrote:As I always suggest to new computer owners, back up all of your old files. ALL of them.

of course!!
backup often
good advice there, for anyone regardless on moving to a new system or not!

nuxnamon · Post by **nuxnamon** » Tue May 27, 2008 7:57 pm

thanks for the responses..

1st, I've always read that it's always a good idea to have programs installed on a separate drive from the drive in which you save all your work and your files.. So I don't know if it's a good idea to partion the drive on the mac pro.. What i was going to do was take my existing audio drive (internal) and get a external 3.5 inch case and just plug that in by usb to the new mac pro and copy the files to a new dedicated internal drive.. All programs will be installed in the stock internal drive that comes with the mac pro.. I thought about "collect all and save" but I guess I was thinking of using that as a last resort.

Another question.. most of the software/plug-ins I use comes with 2 licenses. Currently, I have one license of each software on a macbook and the other on the G5 that I am giving my girlfriend.. Do I just call software/customer support and tell them that I want to transfer a license from the G5 to the macpro? I wanted to leave all my software on the old G5 so my gf can use it since she's caught the production bug..

kabuki · Post by **kabuki** » Tue May 27, 2008 7:59 pm

nuxnamon wrote:thanks for the responses..

1st, I've always read that it's always a good idea to have programs installed on a separate drive from the drive in which you save all your work and your files.. So I don't know if it's a good idea to partion the drive on the mac pro.. What i was going to do was take my existing audio drive (internal) and get a external 3.5 inch case and just plug that in by usb to the new mac pro and copy the files to a new dedicated internal drive.. All programs will be installed in the stock internal drive that comes with the mac pro.. I thought about "collect all and save" but I guess I was thinking of using that as a last resort.

Another question.. most of the software/plug-ins I use comes with 2 licenses. Currently, I have one license of each software on a macbook and the other on the G5 that I am giving my girlfriend.. Do I just call software/customer support and tell them that I want to transfer a license from the G5 to the macpro? I wanted to leave all my software on the old G5 so my gf can use it since she's caught the production bug..

yes.

And don't forget to de-authorize you tiTunes account from the old rig. I always forget to do that.