02-06-2017, 01:08 PM
steveroberts wrote:
Getting ready to do this myself. Can you tell me what screenshots you find useful in documenting your settings?
SR
One of these days, I want to document how I do it, not only because I need to remember all the tiny steps each time, but also because it'd be a useful doc to get out there. I haven't done it yet, so here are some off-the-cuff things:
- do an exact clone of the HD you're going to pave. Aside from the obvious Documents, iTunes, and iPhoto/Photo folders you'll want to bring over, the most important is: you'll most probably need to dig in there and get tiny files that hold stuff that you didn't know even existed. You might get away just the Library folders (Home and main), but there's no need to take a chance. Create a full backup, and then restart from it to make sure it's all there and all working. When it comes time to actually hit that button that implies "you sure you want to erase 20 years of work from this hard drive?" there's always that sobering moment of what you're doing. Having a full fresh and double-checked clone will eliminate that fear.
- be sure Time Machine is backed up, too. I wouldn't use this in place of the Clone above, since the clone will be easier to access.
- I abhor iCloud, but I do use it for the basics (weird settings, Calendar, Contacts) which keeps the total about 1.5 gigs). Be sure it's backed up.
- odd files you'll want: custom dictionary (Home: Library: Spelling ... see? that's just one example of tiny little files). export Calendar, Contacts, Bookmarks, 1Password, any 3rd party System Preferences (I use SteerMouse for example, and that has a export setting function)
- aText backup, KeyMaestro backup
Screenshots:
- All applications
- Most System Preference windows (to see how I set each one up, see Location Services, Notification settings,
- Menu bar (I have a lot of stuff up there, I want a reminder of what I have.
- Keyboard: Shortcuts. I have a lot of custom keyboard shortcut settings
- Dock (I use custom icons for certain folders)
As someone mentioned earlier, the first thing I go and install is 1Password, since I store everything in there that matters. So, I make sure I have that file ready and the general passwords needed to get that up and running.
Because I use Mac Mail (versus a browser version of Gmail, etc), I get that going quickly, too. I am a Zero Inbox kind of guy, and constantly go in and thin old emails, big attachments, etc, but it still takes a few hours to cache all old Mail. I want that working in the background while I'm setting everything else up. Same with bookmarks. I install that immediately.
Hope that helps.