Migration Assistant: FW 800, is it faster?

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
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?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    backtomacbacktomac Posts: 4,579member
    Holy crap.



    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.
  • Reply 2 of 13
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aplnub View Post


    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?
  • Reply 3 of 13
    lundylundy Posts: 4,466member
    FW 800 will amaze you in regular file transfers. The migration process is slow, though, due to the code in the Migration Assistant. It doesn't really test the FW connection. Taking several hours is normal.
  • Reply 4 of 13
    l33r0yl33r0y Posts: 94member
    Why doesn't Apple include a peer to peer ethernet solution for this....
  • Reply 5 of 13
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member
    Would there be a problem if I used a backup (external HDD) of old computer to new computer?
  • Reply 6 of 13
    lundylundy Posts: 4,466member
    You might be lucky and get a disk image to work, but there are all kinds of permissions issues you can get into. The main problem is getting the home folder to be properly registered in NetInfo.



    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).
  • Reply 7 of 13
    flinch13flinch13 Posts: 228member
    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?
  • Reply 8 of 13
    aplnubaplnub Posts: 2,605member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by flinch13 View Post


    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.
  • Reply 9 of 13
    nvidia2008nvidia2008 Posts: 9,262member
    Cool. I have a very very bad habit though from Windows days. I fresh wipe and reinstall. When Leopard comes out I'll fresh wipe and reinstall on my MacBook (specs in sig below), though I will probably get 2x2gb Kingston Applespec RAM. [core2duo MacBooks should be able to handle this, though of course only reading about 3gb RAM total in reality]
  • Reply 10 of 13
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aplnub View Post


    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.
  • Reply 11 of 13
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by l33r0y View Post


    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.
  • Reply 12 of 13
    regreg Posts: 832member
    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.
  • Reply 13 of 13
    aplnubaplnub Posts: 2,605member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by reg View Post


    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.
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