Time Machine is a great backup tool but it can cause some challenges when you leave ISB and want to move your files to a new Mac. This is because our ISB laptops are closely tied to our ISB systems. They work great when your are here but you don’t want your new laptop checking in with ISB’s servers when you’re on the other side of the planet!

This tutorial shows how to move the files you need from a Time Machine Backup to a new computer without getting the files that will tie it to ISB’s servers.

Note: This tutorial assumes you have already started up your new laptop and have an account. If you haven’t, do that now before going on to the rest of this tutorial.

Step 1: Open the external hard drive that houses the Time Machine backup folder (Backups.backupdb)

Step 2: Open Backups.backupdb and navigate to the Latest folder.

Step 3: Drill down to find your Users folder. (Have a look at the picture to see how I drilled down to Mr. Hamada’s User folder.) Leave this window open.

 

 

Step 4: Open a new Finder window. From the Go menu choose Home to open your Home folder on your new Mac. Position the two open windows side-by-side so you can see them both.

 

Step 5: On the Time Machine drive open the Desktop folder. Select all the files in the folder and copy them to to the Desktop folder on the new laptop. Repeat this for the rest of the folders in your User folder.

Note Do not copy programs from the Applications folder to your new Mac. Your new Mac should have the most up-to-date version of all the software already on it. If you find you need an app that didn’t come with your new computer, it’s best to download a new copy from the internet.