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 Migration Assistant's summary window. |
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| Developer(s) | Apple Inc. |
| Stable release | 3.0 (318) / August 28, 2009 |
| Operating system | Mac OS X |
| Type | utility |
| Website | Apple - Mac OS X Leopard |
Migration Assistant is a utility by Apple Inc. that copies user accounts, user files, applications, printer and fax descriptions (printer and fax drivers), network settings and other system and user settings from one Macintosh computer to another, or a full drive backup created by applications such as SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner, or starting with Mac OS X Leopard, the Migration Assistant can transfer this information from the most recent Time Machine backup on an external storage device connected via FireWire or USB or Ethernet on a Share Point. It can be used during initial setup of a new computer or run manually on a system that has already been set up. It may be used multiple times to copy only applications, user account(s), or settings. Its primary purpose is to duplicate the contents and configuration of an existing computer user account(s) on a new one.
The Migration Assistant does not transfer the operating system of the old computer to the new one. Similarly, applications and utilities bundled by Apple with the operating system (e.g. Safari) are not transferred, based on the assumption that the newer machine has the same or newer version already installed. However, settings for these applications (e.g. bookmarks) are transferred. It is located at /Applications/Utilities/Migration Assistant.app. Migration Assistant is run from the newer computer, with the older one connected to it by Ethernet cable, over a network, or by FireWire cable and running the older computer in Target Disk Mode.
Best practice is to use Migration Assistant during the setup process and copy from another Mac, or a full backup of another Mac connected via FireWire. You can migrate individual user accounts, applications, settings, or other data. If you are migrating due to system-wide issues, it is best to copy only user accounts, and reinstall applications with the original installation process, and write settings down and re-enter them manually. At least one account you migrate should be an administration level account, or create one after you have migrated user accounts.
It is important to note that to migrate a user account protected via FileVault, it can only be migrated during the initial Setup Assistant process of a new Mac, or the first time Mac OS X is started after a fresh install of the operating system. It can not be done later by going to Migration Assistant application in the Applications/Utilities folder.
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Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (January 2009) |
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