19 replies to this topic

[HippoHen]

Hello

So after having an IPad for a while and loving it, I decided to make the big step and jump to a macbook Air. I have been without a computer for some time! Anyway when I bought it it had a dent out of the box so a replacement was given (after a long car journey!). Now I have realised that the second one also has one on the underside :-( I have been using it for a week and have some work and software on it that I would like to keep. After going to an apple store today they have told me that I need to put all my stuff on an external harddrive so that it can all be transferred to the now 3rd MacBook Air. Is it just a simple case of plugging an external harddrive and dragging the stuff I want to keep on to it (does that make sense)? I know this May seem like a really stupid question and you may well be asking yourself why the hell does this guy have a mac!?! The truth is I haven't had a laptop for ages (I vowed I'd never get one again after uni) and I felt that I was getting left behind in the technology world and as I had an ipad and loved it I thought it would be best to keep with an apple product. So far the experience is not going well, when I went in store today they made me feel like I had inconvenienced them when infact I live miles from a bloody apple store and this will be my 3rd one as they keep giving me dented/scratched ones!!

Any help with how I can transfer all my stuff would be great thanks

[Moggyton]

Im pretty sure an external hard drive would do the job. That or a memory stick, although ive never used an apple laptop before... Ive given up with them after ios 7 for the iphones

[HippoHen]

Yes but how do I get all the software which I've installed across. If only it was simple like backing up your iphone or what not. Although it probably is and I'm just being thicko!

[Moggyton]

Is there cloud storage on macs? That could work

[smev]

Is it just a simple case of plugging an external harddrive and dragging the stuff I want to keep on to it (does that make sense)?

 

For files yes, for software you'll just have to install from discs/internet installers as usual. Some small programs are self contained and can be swapped across in one go.

[HarrysMini]

You could do a Time Machine backup.

[Quincy Sparks]

If you haven't installed any third party software - i.e.. the macbook just has the software that came with it, then as others have said, you could simply copy your files (documents / music / photos / video) etc to an external drive (or usb stick if you have one with enough capacity)

 

Personally, if there's alot of data on it, I'd plug in an external drive and switch on 'Time Machine' - the circular arrow icon in the menubar top right - and let that back up your entire machine. Take that to the apple store and they can restore that data to the new mac for you.

 

In all honesty, they should be able to simply 'migrate' all your data from the old mac to the new one as there's a specific step in setting up the macOS for the first time that enables this, but there may be a reason why that can't happen, hence them requesting the external drive.

[eero]

I'd call the dealer quite incompetent. Its not an Apple labelled dealer, just someone selling Apple stuff?

 

There are two options available:

 

Get an external hard drive and set it up as a Time Machine backup. Then you can restore this onto the new computer. Files, applications and everything. Should work without any hassle. Good thing about this is that you will have a backup drive and it would be wise to back up your data regularly. Time Machine utility makes this quite automagically.

 

But in your case, and I'm amazed the store did not recommend this, the best solution is Migration Assistant - a tool built into the OS X just for what you need. No need for an external hard drive or anything, can be done via network (even ad hoc). firewire (faster) or thunderbolt (blazingly fast).

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4889

Edited by eero, 24 September 2013 - 07:39 AM.

[Black.Ghost]

Like others have said, the Time Machine back up system is good. If however, you use a HD that has already be used on a Windows PC, just be aware that there is a chance you will need to reformat it depending on how it has been done in the past. Basically, the file types are different. In order to make a HD work with both Mac and Windows, it needs to be formatted in the FAT 32 format. If you have anything on the HD already, you need to back that somewhere first! Its a bit of pain but it should work fine. If you are buying a brand new HD it will be really straight forward. 

 

I assume you have just bought the latest Air? I bought mine in 2011 and I still love it! So nice to use, so light and portable and still perfectly quick enough for what I need. Best decision I made computing wise was spending the extra money. Especially as I can use Office on here perfectly fine!

 

Just PM me if you need any help on this. Good luck.

[HippoHen]

Hey guys thanks for all your help on this., really appreciate it.

Yeh I'm starting to think apple are pretty useless, I mean when I took the first one back they swapped it over but they weren't exactly apologetic and I had driven bloody miles to get it back. Also when I tried to take the second one back they were pretty useless, and when I asked for help in transferring my stuff across I got the answer "it's pretty easy" in a pretty sarcastic way! So I pretty much left and hoped that the friendly people of tmf would help I felt that they just didn't seem to realise I'd never really used a mac before and that this thing was bloody expensive and I didn't think it was great that I was gonna have to buy an external harddrive!

The nearest apple store (different store than one above) is a long way from me so today I booked a train after work to visit it. This morning my harddrive arrived so I was all ready to do a time machine back up. So around about 3pm I started it and it said it was gonna take 17hours! so I left it and thought that I would just transfer the files I needed over!
Anyway I get to the store and they swapped the unit round and seemed quite sorry to hear about what I've been through! Anyway happy days I check before I left the store that it had no scratches and didn't
So I get home and realised that I hadn't transferred office mac across! I'm gutted :-( is there anyway I can get this back or am I gonna have to pay through the nose for it?

Thanks again for all the help!

Edited by HippoHen, 25 September 2013 - 08:58 PM.

[Ripple]

If they've still got your hdd in the apple store you can just drag the office files from one machine to another (the only benefit of OSX imo) and it will all still work fine

 

Apple are worse than useless when it comes to customers data. I work for an independent IT company and we can sustain one of our engineers purely on the data backup work we get referred from the local Apple store.

Also, imho, Time Machine backup is pretty poor too. Had plenty of cases where the data is corrupted when the customer finally needs to get something back from it. DO NOT RELY ON TIME MACHINE BACKUP ONLY

if you want a bit of advice, stick with an external HDD for your data and keep it up to date.

[Black.Ghost]

I'm glad you put that second paragraph in. I ordered mine through the website, and after a bit the HD gave up the ghost. The laptop just wouldn't boot. Somehow it had been corrupted. I phoned Apple and they collected it the next day, had it back within 3 with a new HD (they didn't tell me they were going to do this so I lost a lot of stuff I needed which was really frustrating). They were polite and friendly.

 

My gf had problems with her iPhone. Took it to the Apple store in Soton, and they were brilliant. Still in warranty so they changed it there and then for a new one, no questions asked.

 

Many people dislike Apple and I can understand why. But the one thing they cannot be faulted for is customer service. The problem is these independent stores who simply aren't part of Apple and operate on a different philosophy which can be quite damaging for Apple. I have never heard anyone complain about customer service from there, and I even believe that if you search this forum there is a thread somewhere about it.

 

Glad you got your problems sorted. 

[HippoHen]

Just to add both stores I mentioned were apple stores not dealers! Also this new macbook air appears to have a faulty trackpad............. Brilliant. Looks like its gonna be another 10 pounds on a train fare to get this sorted.

[firstforward]

I'm glad you put that second paragraph in. I ordered mine through the website, and after a bit the HD gave up the ghost. The laptop just wouldn't boot. Somehow it had been corrupted. I phoned Apple and they collected it the next day, had it back within 3 with a new HD (they didn't tell me they were going to do this so I lost a lot of stuff I needed which was really frustrating). They were polite and friendly.

 

My gf had problems with her iPhone. Took it to the Apple store in Soton, and they were brilliant. Still in warranty so they changed it there and then for a new one, no questions asked.

 

Many people dislike Apple and I can understand why. But the one thing they cannot be faulted for is customer service. The problem is these independent stores who simply aren't part of Apple and operate on a different philosophy which can be quite damaging for Apple. I have never heard anyone complain about customer service from there, and I even believe that if you search this forum there is a thread somewhere about it.

 

Glad you got your problems sorted. 

 

 

That is NOT correct, you did NOT get a new iPhone. My partner was told exactly the same, and I questioned the statement that it was brand new and after a lot of arguing they confessed that the outer cover is BRAND NEW but the guts are from other replaced handsets that have been returned....but checked as working OK, or refurbished if you like that word as CLEARLY apple do not like that "refurbished" word brandished about in their vocabulary. Apple are misleading customers very poorly on this point in my opinion. Do you really want innards of a phone that somebody has had to their ear or mouth......not me.

[MINI MAD RKH]

This is shocking Customer Service considering the cost of the damn things, I would think the shop would be able to do all of this very easily for u

 

& selling you 3 dodgy ones in the 1st place beggars belief

Edited by MINI MAD RKH, 26 September 2013 - 04:13 PM.