Moving files to a new computer: Clean install versus transferring by FireWire

I picked up a new 24-inch iMac the other day and this time, instead of transferring over all my programs and documents by FireWire from the one it replaced, I opted to do a clean install of all the programs and the other files that I wanted.

My thinking was a clean install is, well, cleaner. No mixed up permissions, older versions, dead files.

But it sure is a lot of work, taking pretty much the entire weekend. When I bought a new MacBook Air a couple of months ago, it took less than a half hour to transfer what I wanted from a desktop via FireWire.

If you get a new computer this Christmas and have the option of cabling the new to the old, I think I’d recommend you go that way to move your application and files.

By doing the manual transfer of loading each program from the DVD or downloading it again from the Internet, I’ve found perhaps the biggest reason why a computer-to-compurer transfer is much better. Three of the programs I use a lot now demand I make a new purchase after download. I’m unable to transfer my original code.

When I transferred them to my MacBook Air by cable, they worked just fine.

Oh well. Lessons learned. Everything is now on my new machine.

I wish I could say everything was fine. But the new iMac has a really loud fan. Apparently, it’s a frequent problem. I tried the most common suggestion I found on forums – removing the power cord from the back of the iMac waiting 15 seconds to reset the power systemand before plugging it back in. No luck.

Talked to Apple Support. They had me reset the parameters by shutting down and then, on restart, holding the Option-Command-P and R keys all down at once until there was a second set of chimes. Didn’t seem to help.

Next step is to take it in for service.