SWITCHING TO A NEW MACINTOSH FROM A WINDOWS
COMPUTER
Note: Please print and read through this documentation before your
upgrade installation appointment. Please migrate all of your data before your appointment,
and be ready with your external hard drive on the day of your upgrade installation.
To upgrade
to a new Mac from your old PC, you will need to copy your data to an external hard drive
and make note of preferences that you will want to replicate on your Mac. Create a list
of your often-used desktop shortcuts and non-standard software and utilities (not all software
on your Windows computer will also be available for Mac OS X).
Depending on how you use
your computer, you may have a lot of data on your local machine or not much at all. If
you keep most of your data on your H: drive, there is no need to copy it to an external
hard drive because you will still be able to connect to your H: drive from your new Mac. If you do keep files on your H: drive, visit: Connecting
to your DATAVOL on the Novell Network. Also note that Bookmarks/Favorites and Address Books can be saved to your H: drive if you are not planning to use an external hard drive for your migration.
Part 1: Copy your files from your old PC to
your external hard drive
- Get set up
- Copy your documents & files
- Export your browser bookmarks
- Migrate your GroupWise email archive
- Export Address Books
- Other email clients & accounts
- RefWorks/Write-N-Cite and EndNote
- Printers
- Non-Smith (non-standard) software
- Desktop
Part 2: Migrate your files to your new Mac
- Get set up
- Migrate your documents & files
- Import browser bookmarks
- GroupWise on your Mac
- Other email accounts & Apple Mail
- Import Address Books
- Desktop
Part 1: Copy your files from your old PC to your external hard drive.
Turn on and login to your old PC. Plug in and
turn on your external hard drive. It is best to begin with a blank drive. (If you cannot
use a blank drive, make a folder called usernameMigration and think of this folder
as the external hard drive whenever it is referred to from now on.)
Make the following
folders on your external hard drive:
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Old Documents
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optional: Old Pictures, Old Music, Old Movies, Old Sites
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Browser Bookmarks
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Email
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Write-N-Cite
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Old Microsoft User Data
Now you will copy all of your documents from your old PC to your external hard drive. To get started, arrange your desktop as follows:
- Right-click on the Start button
and choose Explore.
- Repeat to open a second "Explore" window.
- Arrange the two windows
so that one covers the left side of your screen and the other covers the right side of
your screen.
- Use the left-hand window to navigate on your PC (the local machine). Use the right-hand window to navigate on the external hard drive.
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Select the documents or folders that you want to copy and drag them to the Old Documents folder on your external hard drive. Most people have all of their documents in the My Documents folder (C:\Documents and Settings\smith\My Documents), but if you have used your computer differently, you will want to find your other documents and copy them as well.
Remember to check for folders in your My Documents folder, on the desktop, and at the root level of the hard drive.
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Any pictures stored on your computer should be in the My Pictures folder (C:\Documents and Settings\smith\My Documents\My Pictures). Copy these files to the Old Pictures folder on your external hard drive.
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If you have music (C:\Documents and Settings\smith\My Documents\My Music) or other media files on your computer, copy them to the Old Music and Old Movies folders on your external hard drive.
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Do the same for any websites you have created. This is the most challenging file type to transfer because if you change the name of any of your folders, or rearrange them, your sites may not work correctly when you re-import them to Dreamweaver. So, try to preserve your file structure.
Attention Dreamweaver
Users:
Dreamweaver does not store
its user preferences the same way other applications do. You will need to export your
site definitions from your old PC and re-import them on your new Mac. To export your site definitions:
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Open Dreamweaver, open the Site menu, and click Manage Sites.
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In this window, select a site name and click Export. Choose Back up my settings and click OK.
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Choose a memorable location on your H: drive to save your exported site definitions.
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Repeat these steps for each site definition you want to be able to use on your new Mac. Be sure to export all of your site definitions to the same place.
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Once you have your new Mac, open Dreamweaver and import your site definitions using the Site Manager. You will have to do this for each site, but only once.
Remember: If you normally store all your site
files on your C: drive, be sure to copy them from your C: drive to your H: or P: drive
before you give up your old computer.
Export Your Browser Bookmarks
(Favorites)
For each internet browser that you use, you will want to backup your bookmarks. (Unless the bookmarks are the same in all of your browsers, in which case you only need to backup once.)
Internet Explorer
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Open Internet Explorer.
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Go to File and choose Import and Export… then click Next to move on.
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Select Export Favorites and click Next.
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Select the folder of favorites that you want to export then click Next.
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Under"Export to a File or Address" click Browse… Navigate to your external hard drive and choose the Browser Bookmarks folder. Name the file IEbookmark.htm and click Save then Next.
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Click Finish and OK.
Firefox
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Open Firefox.
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From the Bookmarks menu choose Organize Bookmarks… to open the Bookmarks Manager.
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From the File menu choose Export. Navigate to your external hard drive and choose the Browser Bookmarks folder. Name the file FFbookmark.html and click Save
Migrate Your GroupWise Email Archive
If you use the Archive feature of GroupWise desktop, you will need to un-archive these messages to make them available on your Mac.
Check the size of your archive and inbox. If the sum of your archive and inbox is larger than 150MB (staff) or 500MB (faculty), you will need to delete old emails (and if this is not enough to get under the limit, request an email quota increase).
To check your archive size:
- Check the location of your GroupWise archive.
From the Tools menu choose Options… and
then Environment.
- Click on the File Location tab and make a note of the Archive Directory. For
most people, it will be h:\groupwise\archive\
- Navigate to this folder using Windows explorer. Right-click on the folder and choose Properties. Now you can record the size of your archive (take note of the units -- 1024KB equals 1MB).
To check your inbox size:
- In GroupWise desktop, under Tools choose Check Mailbox
Size.
- The box, "Mailbox information" shows a piechart with your Current mailbox size and the Maximum storage limit.
To migrate your archive, simply un-archive your messages. They will automatically go back to their original location in the Cabinet or Mailbox. When you choose an email client for your Mac, all of your messages will be there and you will have the opportunity to create a new archive.
Export GroupWise Address Books
If you have setup personal Address Books in GroupWise Desktop Client or you would like to export your frequent contacts, you can export them as VCF files, which are compatible with Apple's Address Book application.
If you choose to use GroupWise Desktop Client for Mac, you do not need to export your Address Books. For more information, see: Selecting an Email Client.
- Open GroupWise Desktop Client.
- Open the Address Book.
- Select the Address Book that you wish to export.
- Go to File > Export ...
- From the pop-up window, select Entire Address Book...
- In the Address Book Export window, navigate to your external hard drive. From the Save as type drop-down menu, select vCard Addresses (*.VCF). Name your export file. Click Save.
- Repeat the previous steps with all of your other personal Address Books. Do NOT try to export the Novell GroupWise Address Book or the Novell LDAP Address Book.
Other Email
Clients & Accounts
If you:
- Check non-GroupWise email accounts using an email client (GroupWise
Desktop, Thunderbird, Outlook, or Netscape Mail) OR
- Check your GroupWise email using an email client other than GroupWise
Desktop
then you may need to export your mailboxes and import them on your new Mac.
If you check your (GroupWise or non-GroupWise) email account using an email client, you will need to determine if you are accessing your account via POP3 or IMAP. POP3 downloads your messages to the inbox on your computer while IMAP synchronizes the inbox on your computer with the inbox on the server.
If the account is a POP3 account, you will need to export your emails and import them on your new Mac. If the account is IMAP (and you have not archived any of your messages), you do not need to migrate your inbox because it is stored on the server. (However, if you use IMAP and store messages on the local machine, you will need to export your archived messages.)
Depending on which email client you use, the process for exporting your inbox will be different. Use the Help documentation for your email client to export the account in "mbox" format and save this file onto the external hard drive so that you can you import your acocunts onto your Mac later.
RefWorks/Write-N-Cite and EndNote
All of your RefWorks reference data is stored on the RefWorks server, so you do not need to migrate these files. When you start using your new Mac, you will simply login to RefWorks the same way you did before.
Keeping this in mind, if you are an EndNote user, your switch to a Mac might be a good opportunity to consider switching to RefWorks at the same time. (EndNote is not a fully supported application at Smith, while RefWorks is.) However, if you want to stick with EndNote, it is available for your Mac and EndNote libraries can be opened by both PCs and Macs.
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Transfer the EndNote library file from your PC to you new Mac.
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In the EndNote program on the Macintosh, choose Open from the File menu and select Open Library. As long as the library has the .enl extension, EndNote will display it.
You cannot copy your installed network printers from your old PC to your new Mac, but you can make installing them easier by making a list of the printers that you use most often. Your printers will be installed on your new Mac when it is"installed" in your office.
Non-Smith (Non-Standard) Software
You cannot copy software applications from your
old PC to your new Mac, but you can make setting up your new Mac easier if you know which
applications you will want on your new Mac. Make a list of all of the non-Smith software
that you use on your PC.
For a list of standard software installed on all FCAP and staff computers, click
here. The list also includes a form for requesting assistance with re-installation
of non-standard applications.
If software that you use is not available for Mac OS X, you
should be aware that there are two ways of installing Windows on an Intel-based Mac:
using a virtual machine or a dual-boot utility. If you think you might need Windows on
your Mac, and to discuss the best method for your needs, please call the User Support
Center at x4487.
It is also helpful to make a list of your frequently used desktop shortcuts. You will later add these shortcuts to the Mac OS X Dock.
Almost Done…
You are now done copying data to your external hard drive. To safely remove the drive, double-click on the"Safely Remove Hardware" icon in your system tray (has a green arrow pointing left). Select your hard drive (may be called something very generic, like"USB Mass Storage Device") and click Stop and then OK. If you get an error message saying the drive is"in use", close all explorer windows and try again. Now you can unplug and turn off the drive.
Part 2: Migrate your files to your new Mac.
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Turn on and login to your new Mac using the account name that you plan on using in the future.
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Plug in and turn on your external hard drive. If it is mounted correctly, the drive will appear on your desktop with an orange icon. You can browse the drive by double-clicking the icon or opening the finder and selecting the external drive.
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Open two instances of the Finder. (To open a second Finder window, choose New Finder Window from the File menu.) Arrange the windows so that one covers the left side of your screen and the other covers the right side of your screen.
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Use the left-hand Finder window to navigate the external hard drive. Use the right-hand Finder window to navigate your new Mac (the local machine). This will keep you organized!
Migrate Your Documents & Files
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On the left, open the Old Documents folder and copy the contents of the folder to the Documents folder on your Mac (/Users/yourusername/Documents/). (Do NOT replace the entire folder.)
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If you saved any pictures, movies, music, or sites, you can transfer these files the same way. Many Mac users keep their websites in the Sites folder (/Users/yourusername/Sites/). Remember where you put your websites so that when you import your Dreamweaver site files, you can set the directory of the site correctly.
To import browser bookmarks, you will first need to choose which browser to use. (You can always import your bookmarks to more than one browser if you are not sure which one you like best.) For Macs, we recommend Safari or Firefox.
Safari
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Open Safari.
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From the File menu, choose Import Bookmarks… navigate to the Browser Bookmarks folder on your external hard drive, choose the bookmarks file, and click Import. (You may have more than one set of bookmarks if you used more than one browser on your PC.)
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Safari will automatically open the Bookmarks manager and add your imported Bookmarks to a folder titled"imported mm/dd/yy." You can re-arrange, delete, and add your old bookmarks to existing folders.
Firefox
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Open Firefox.
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From the Bookmarks menu, choose Organize Bookmarks…
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In the Bookmarks Manager window, go to the File menu and choose Import…
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Under Import Bookmarks from: choose From File and click Continue. Navigate to the Browser Bookmarks folder on your external hard drive, choose the bookmarks file, and click Open. (You may have more than one set of bookmarks if you used more than one browser on your PC.)
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You can re-arrange, delete, and add your old bookmarks to existing folders.
There is a GroupWise desktop cleint available
for Mac users, but depending on your needs, you may choose to use GroupWise WebAccess and/or
Mail (aka Apple Mail) or Thunderbird. For more information, see: Selecting
an Email Client.
If you choose to use the GroupWise desktop client, you will want to look over these articles:
Other Email Accounts & Apple Mail
If you choose to use Mail to check your GroupWise account, you can find instructions for configuring the client here: Configuring Apple Mail to Access GroupWise Messages.
To setup your non-GroupWise accounts in Mail, refer to your provider's help documents. The process will be similiar to setting up your GroupWise account in Mail, but some of the settings are different.
To import non-GroupWise mailboxes that you exported from your
PC:
- In Mail, choose Import Mailboxes from the File menu.
- Select the mail application from which you want to import your old messages. Follow the onscreen instructions.
If you use Mail to check your GroupWise email account, Apple Address Book will work with Mail to organize your contacts. To import Address Books that you exported from GroupWise Desktop Client, follow these instructions:
- Find the VCF files (exported Address Books) on your external hard drive.
- Double-click on the exported address book (ex: frequentcontacts.VCF ). Apple Address Book will launch with a dialog box asking what to do with the contacts. Click Add.
- Your imported contacts are now available in the Last Import Group and under All.
- Repeat steps 2 and 3 with all of your exported Address Books.
- For information about organizing your contacts, read the Address Book Groups section of the Configuring Apple Mail Address Book document. Once a contact is added to your Address Book, it will be available in Apple Mail as well.
Your Mac will run faster if you keep your Desktop clean. If you are in the habit of saving files on the Desktop, consider saving them to a folder on the Desktop instead.
The Dock (on the bottom of your screen) is a customizable set of shortcuts. You can add shortcuts to your most commonly-used applications to the doc by dragging the icon from your Applications folder to the Dock. You can delete a shortcut by Ctrl-clicking the application's icon and choosing "Remove From Dock."
If you have any questions about this information, please contact
the User Support Center at x4487.
