Moving from one computer to another. Not having to reinstall plugins. How?

[wreckthisplace]

Hey all

I'm sure this has been asked before. I was wondering if anyone can recommend the best way (if there is a best way) to migrate from one computer to another. I'm looking to move my recording setup from my laptop to my mac pro. I would love to be able to migrate all of my plugins and apps that I use within pro tools to my Mac Pro but not have to move everything over. Meaning I understand I could most likely Time Machine back up my laptop and simply move it over to my Mac Pro but I don't want to have a carbon copy of my laptop put on my Mac Pro.

Any idea what needs to be backed up and moved over in order for all of my plugins and audio apps to run smoothly on my mac pro without having to install them all again?

Any help asap would be much appreciated.


Thanks!

[tomric]

What about starting the old mac into target mode, connecting both using a firewire cable and using the migration assistant during the initial setup of your new mac ? (you can import the data from a Time Machine backup or external drive as well)
This ends up with your new installation of OSX on the Mac Pro containing users, settings, applications and data from your old Mac

If you already completed the setup process you can simply start the assistant from within your utilities folder (inside applications).

[wreckthisplace]

Hey

Thanks for the reply.

If I choose to use Time Machine, I'm wondering what settings, folders etc I would have to migrate back over in order for all of my programs and plugins to work. I don't want to migrate my entire system or all of my apps but if I have to import all of my apps I guess I could just delete the ones I want.

Would anyone know exactly what key folders, settings etc I'd have to migrate back over in order for all of my plugins and software to work?


Thanks

[aasteveo]

Sometimes it depends on the plugins individually. But the folder that reads your Pro Tools plugin files will be here:

HD>Library>Application Support>Digidesign>Plugins

Note that this is the Library folder from the hard drive and NOT the USER, with the little house icon.

If you have AU plugs you use in Logic, they will be here:

HD>Library>Audio>Plug-Ins>Components

There is also a folder in that plug-ins folder for VST plugins.

Theoretically if you copy those files, it should work. But again, it depends on each plugin. I know for a fact that Waves plugins like to put themselves in the Applications folder, which always bothered me. And some other plugins like to put settings and presets in the Application Support folder.

I would recommend making a list of all your plugins and doing a spotlight search for each, then see if they have files lying around. And definitely check to see if they work, presets and all, before moving onto the next.