Migration Assistant: FW 800, is it faster?
I am currently transferring my 300 GB of data from my current 24" iMac to my new 24" iMac. I got the big idea to use a FW 800 cable and it has been going for about 4 hours. Progress is being made but this is taking a long time.
So I ask, does using the FW 800 port give any speed advantage over the FW 400 port when migrating?
So I ask, does using the FW 800 port give any speed advantage over the FW 400 port when migrating?
Comments
Let us know how long it finally takes to get all the stuff transfered.
It'll be an interesting real world kinda test result.
BTW, when I initially cloned my hard drive to my external USB drive it took a little over an hour and it only had 30 gbs of data. I used superduper. The susequent 'smart' backups go much quicker. I wish I could remember the exact time. You're moving a shit load of data around though.
I am currently transferring my 300 GB of data from my current 24" iMac to my new 24" iMac. I got the big idea to use a FW 800 cable and it has been going for about 4 hours. Progress is being made but this is taking a long time.
So I ask, does using the FW 800 port give any speed advantage over the FW 400 port when migrating?
Do you have a FW 800 port on both ends?
Migration Assistant takes care of all that - that is one reason it is so slow - it is making sure that the new account and Home folder it is filling has the proper file permissions.
So you can try it - but I have found that using the Migration Assistant is the least likely to have you wind up with a mess like a Home folder that doesn't show the Home icon, messed up permissions, etc.
There will usually be a couple of files that MA claims it could not transfer. These can be reinstalled.
The best way to use MA is during the setup process - BEFORE you have made your Home folder. Let MA just make a new Home folder that is a copy of the one on the old computer.
If you have already run Setup and already have a (empty) Home folder with the name you want to use, I would recommend removing it before running MA. To do this, make a temporary user account, give it Admin, log into it, delete the other account, then run MA. You may have to go into NetInfo Manager and remove the group that the deleted account was assigned (HOT TIP - SAVE IT).
The last thing I'd like to do is confuse anyone or cause problems with their computer, but I have NEVER gotten migration assistant to work properly while in the initial setup process. I always launch it later when I'm already done with the setup assistant; I find that it's much faster and more reliable this way. Anyone agree?
Well, it only took more than 7 hours to complete my migration.
It took 2 hours to move my mini to my old 24" iMac.
Not the quickest way, but it beats getting a new Windows machine and have to do that from scratch.
Now, bring on the Leopard.
Well, it only took more than 7 hours to complete my migration.
It took 2 hours to move my mini to my old 24" iMac.
Not the quickest way, but it beats getting a new Windows machine and have to do that from scratch.
Windows does have something similar to Migration Assistant, but it's not as good. I don't think it copies the apps at all.
Why doesn't Apple include a peer to peer ethernet solution for this....
Because that would be a lot harder to set up, not to mention slower. Reaching FW 800 speeds with Gigabit Ethernet is unusual.
I just finished upgrading a hard drive on a G4 pb 1Ghz. Using MA on 96 GB took 85 minutes on FW400. I always install the system then software updates then restart before connecting the target drive. I have never had a problem doing it this way. Also there were only 10 additional apps that were on the drive. I am not sure if it takes more time to install an app over picture or excel files.
Wow. I may have to do that next time.
I also wanted to mention that I used my backup external HDD to move the mini contents over to the 24" iMac so I didn't loose any time on my machine at work. So it does work on external hdd's for those that wondering.