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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Setting Up New Disk to Transfer All Old Preferences.
brucepearson - Mar 21, 2005 - 12:30 pm
I'm a recent Mac convert, very keen about it, but a low tech intermediate user. Desiring more disk space, I put a new Maxtor Ultra ATA/133 300 GB internal hard drive in my G4 Mac Desktop (running Panther, with a 60GB original disk).
How can I restore all my preferences and properties on the new drive? I want the look and feel of my current system when I configure the Maxtor as my new boot drive.
What happens now is that just a "generic" computer comes up. The desktop is faithfully reproduced, but I get a "generic" dock. I can launch my programs from the applications folder, but they act like I just installed them - not the way they do when I boot from my original 60GB drive. For example, Word (Office Mac vX) comes up WITHOUT my toolbar preferences. ITunes walks thru the welcome screens, agree to terms off use, etc. Stickies launches no notes. I don't see my bookmarks in Safari.
To set up the newly installed drive, I used Disk Utility and verified it sucessfully. I used CarbonCopy Cloner v2.3 thinking I was cloning my entire disk to the new larger drive, and I made it the new boot drive in System Preferences. All this seems to work, but my long worked out preferences don't appear.
It would take ages to rebuild my Entourage Email, the dock, my bookmarks, etc. manually. I don't even know how to do it for Entourage, especially as it syncs with my Clie handheld.
Someone must have run in to this. I would be very grateful for any suggestions (before I try something dumb). Can I do it with Disk Utility \ Restore? Can I force CarbonCopy Cloner to transfer something they are not transferring now? Is there a subset of preference files I need to manually copy from my original disc to the new drive?
Thanks for any help you can offer.
How can I restore all my preferences and properties on the new drive? I want the look and feel of my current system when I configure the Maxtor as my new boot drive.
What happens now is that just a "generic" computer comes up. The desktop is faithfully reproduced, but I get a "generic" dock. I can launch my programs from the applications folder, but they act like I just installed them - not the way they do when I boot from my original 60GB drive. For example, Word (Office Mac vX) comes up WITHOUT my toolbar preferences. ITunes walks thru the welcome screens, agree to terms off use, etc. Stickies launches no notes. I don't see my bookmarks in Safari.
To set up the newly installed drive, I used Disk Utility and verified it sucessfully. I used CarbonCopy Cloner v2.3 thinking I was cloning my entire disk to the new larger drive, and I made it the new boot drive in System Preferences. All this seems to work, but my long worked out preferences don't appear.
It would take ages to rebuild my Entourage Email, the dock, my bookmarks, etc. manually. I don't even know how to do it for Entourage, especially as it syncs with my Clie handheld.
Someone must have run in to this. I would be very grateful for any suggestions (before I try something dumb). Can I do it with Disk Utility \ Restore? Can I force CarbonCopy Cloner to transfer something they are not transferring now? Is there a subset of preference files I need to manually copy from my original disc to the new drive?
Thanks for any help you can offer.
kainjow - Mar 21, 2005 - 1:29 pm
Hi Bruce,
Mac OS X applications store their preferences mainly in 2 different locations:
~/Library/Preferences/com...plist
~/Library/Application Support/
~ is a shortcut to your home folder, which would be /Users/
For example, Apple's Dock preferences are stored in the location ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist. You can copy these files into the same location on your new hard drive. However, I would suggest you copy and install all applications that you do not have on your new hard drive from your old hard drive or from CD's.
Safari prefs are stored in ~/Library/Application Support/Safari, so you could copy that folder onto the same folder in your new hard drive.
iTunes music is stored in ~/Library/Application Support/Music/iTunes - be careful this copy may take a while.
Microsoft Word settings are stored in ~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/ - I do not use Entourage but I would assume their settings are stored in the same folder.
Stickies are stored in ~/Library/StickiesDatabase
You could attempt to use CarbonCopyCloner, but if you a method with more control and a little safer, I would suggest copying the files yourself.
If you have any questions let me know.
Kevin
Mac OS X applications store their preferences mainly in 2 different locations:
~/Library/Preferences/com.
~/Library/Application Support/
~ is a shortcut to your home folder, which would be /Users/
For example, Apple's Dock preferences are stored in the location ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist. You can copy these files into the same location on your new hard drive. However, I would suggest you copy and install all applications that you do not have on your new hard drive from your old hard drive or from CD's.
Safari prefs are stored in ~/Library/Application Support/Safari, so you could copy that folder onto the same folder in your new hard drive.
iTunes music is stored in ~/Library/Application Support/Music/iTunes - be careful this copy may take a while.
Microsoft Word settings are stored in ~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/ - I do not use Entourage but I would assume their settings are stored in the same folder.
Stickies are stored in ~/Library/StickiesDatabase
You could attempt to use CarbonCopyCloner, but if you a method with more control and a little safer, I would suggest copying the files yourself.
If you have any questions let me know.
Kevin
brucepearson - Mar 26, 2005 - 10:35 pm
Dear Kevin
Many thanks for your response to help me. A found a good method that solved the problem, and would like to share it. Maybe it can help someone else who adds a new bigger internal drive and wants to make it their boot drive AND reinstate all their normal personal preferences and links.
1. I Installed the new internal drive following my "Setting Up Your PowerMac G4" manual. (It was essential to remove a single screw through a tab that holds the hard drive bracket in place. This was not mentioned in the apple instructions).
2. I launched Disc Utility and repaired permisions on my original (source) drive.
3. On the desktop, I named my new (target) drive with a personal name.
4. I launched the most uptodate version of CarbonCopy Cloner (CCC), and from it, I downloaded PSync. Had to follow the accompanyng notes carefully, to install the Panther-compatible version. This cleared a box in CCC I needed to get the proper results.
5. I Restarted the computer.
6. I Ran CCC, entering the original drive as the source and the new drive as the target.
7. I unlocked the "clone" button with my Apple password, and pressed it to run the "clone" process overnight.
8. In the morning, seeing the "clone was successful" message, I restarted my computer.
9.In System Prefereces - Startup Disc, I selected my new drive to be the startup boot disk.
10. I resarted the computer and got a normal login window. When I logged in, my personal dock reappeared on the new window (desktop).
11. After a fewminutes time, I found I could launch Safari, Itunes, Stickies, etc, all with the right look and feel of my prior personal preferces. After a five minute grace period, even Word, Excel and Entourage fell into line. I could even sync my Palm Pilot with Entourage.
12. Now I have a new internal large-capacity disk in my Mac G4 and it serves as my boot disk. It has all the same custom features and connections I had built up in my original hard drive's programs.
13. I'm going to work with this now, but without erasing my original hard drive yet. I need to confirm I'm completely back in business with my new system.
Your note provided valuable information on preference filees which I will keep. However, this method avoided the daunting task of copying and pasting each preference file to the new drive.
I do thank you again for your prompt and thoughtful reply to my original issue.
Sincerely
Bruce Pearson
Many thanks for your response to help me. A found a good method that solved the problem, and would like to share it. Maybe it can help someone else who adds a new bigger internal drive and wants to make it their boot drive AND reinstate all their normal personal preferences and links.
1. I Installed the new internal drive following my "Setting Up Your PowerMac G4" manual. (It was essential to remove a single screw through a tab that holds the hard drive bracket in place. This was not mentioned in the apple instructions).
2. I launched Disc Utility and repaired permisions on my original (source) drive.
3. On the desktop, I named my new (target) drive with a personal name.
4. I launched the most uptodate version of CarbonCopy Cloner (CCC), and from it, I downloaded PSync. Had to follow the accompanyng notes carefully, to install the Panther-compatible version. This cleared a box in CCC I needed to get the proper results.
5. I Restarted the computer.
6. I Ran CCC, entering the original drive as the source and the new drive as the target.
7. I unlocked the "clone" button with my Apple password, and pressed it to run the "clone" process overnight.
8. In the morning, seeing the "clone was successful" message, I restarted my computer.
9.In System Prefereces - Startup Disc, I selected my new drive to be the startup boot disk.
10. I resarted the computer and got a normal login window. When I logged in, my personal dock reappeared on the new window (desktop).
11. After a fewminutes time, I found I could launch Safari, Itunes, Stickies, etc, all with the right look and feel of my prior personal preferces. After a five minute grace period, even Word, Excel and Entourage fell into line. I could even sync my Palm Pilot with Entourage.
12. Now I have a new internal large-capacity disk in my Mac G4 and it serves as my boot disk. It has all the same custom features and connections I had built up in my original hard drive's programs.
13. I'm going to work with this now, but without erasing my original hard drive yet. I need to confirm I'm completely back in business with my new system.
Your note provided valuable information on preference filees which I will keep. However, this method avoided the daunting task of copying and pasting each preference file to the new drive.
I do thank you again for your prompt and thoughtful reply to my original issue.
Sincerely
Bruce Pearson
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