View Single Post
  #3  
Old 06-15-2009, 11:29 PM
chris_johnsen chris_johnsen is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 79
The "initial boot" migration is special in that it has a better chance or migrating everything with as few changes as possible. Migrations can be done after that, but they may not work as well (among other things, a later migration may not be able to assign the same numeric user ID to an account as was used in the original system).

If the machine has already been through its first boot, you can reinstall the OS to the internal drive to re-enable the "initial boot" prompting and migration.

During the initial boot you will be prompted for various stuff like time zone, Internet connection, and whether you have an previous Mac from which you would like to copy your data. This last item is the "initial boot migration" option. Instead of connecting another Mac (booted into FireWire Target Disk Mode), just connect the backup made by SuperDuper! (target disk mode makes the other machine look pretty much like a FireWire disk, your SuperDuper! backup disk will function in the same manner).

If you are just replacing an internal disk (keeping the rest of the hardware the same), there is no need to go through a clean install and migration. Instead, boot off the backup and use SuperDuper! to copy it (the backup) to the new drive. If you have an convenient external adapter, you can even do the copy before physically swapping the old internal disk and the new internal disk (unless your internal disk has failed in a way that prevents operation of the system as a whole (like it did for me)).
Reply With Quote