I got a new macbook pro. During the initial startup the machine asked me if I wanted to import my information from my old mac. Of course I said yes. I figured that it would be pretty easy to do and, in fact, it was. All things considered, my experience with Migration Assistant software was good. This isn’t my complaint.
My biggest complaint is that the Migration Assistant requires a firewire cable to connect both machines. I understand that this is the best way to transfer the files between the two macs, the problem is that if you don’t have a firewire 6-pin to 6-pin (firewire 400) or 9-pin to 9-pin (firewire 800), you’re gonna pay dearly for the cable. I found the Belkin version of the cable at my local retail computer place and it cost me $40USD. I got the 14 ft Belkin Firewire 800 cable. They had a six foot one, but it was still $30.
If you’re going to use OSX Migration Assistant, be ready to buy a cable. It’s not a common cable and you likely won’t have it. I may use it again in the future, but the cost did sting a little bit.
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OK, This is the most stupid thing i’ve ever heard!
[J!] on June 25th, 2007 at 6:15 am | Link
[quote comment=”262″]OK, This is the most stupid thing i’ve ever heard![/quote]
Any comments as to why you think it’s stupid? Do you not agree with Migration Assistant, how it works, or the fact that it requires an expensive cable (not included with the macbook) to get it to work?
Expensive cable? You can get it for $20 at an apple store. And a firewire cable is required because you have to put the computer in target disk mode, which will only work over firewire… Of all things to complain about, this is pretty petty. Apple includes this awesome software to make it easy to move to a new machine and your upset over a cable?
Wow on August 20th, 2007 at 12:19 am | Link
Actually this is a pretty common cable. If you’ve ever had to connect an external hard drive up to you Mac to backup your data, you will have got on of these cable with the drive (unless the drive is USB only).
Also you should shop around to find the best deal for these cables. I have a local dollar store about 10 mins walk away from where I live, and guess what? They sell them there for a dollar (no kidding!).
Mike on October 22nd, 2007 at 2:07 am | Link
I agree — requiring an expensive cable that most Mac users don’t have, and probably will never use again, is sloppy. I’m glad Migration Assistant exists, but the specialty requirement seems very un-Apple.
Oh, and the dollar-store FireWire cable deal sounds like bull**** to me.
Mark on November 27th, 2007 at 8:37 am | Link
My Firewire 400 (6-pin to 6 pin) cost me $5 (6ft cable) from my neighbourhood computer shop. There was a 3ft one that cost $3.
The $1 cable sounds possible to me…
You can easily get them online for around $5 or less (cables for computers or pccables)… or even at expensive amazon for $2.47 (http://www.amazon.com/IEEE-1394-Firewire-Cable-Translucent/dp/B000E8HUNS/ref=pd_bbs_9?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1197294065&sr=8-9)
I could easily buy 10 cables for $30…
Thomas on December 10th, 2007 at 6:43 am | Link
Wait… To resolve your complaint, Apple would need to include a (supposedly) expensive cable with every Mac they sold. How does this make sense? Is it your suggestion that we all pay the extra cost because you can’t find a $10 firewire cable like the rest of us? Silly.
John on January 12th, 2008 at 6:37 pm | Link
It sounds like you guys are getting awesome deals on firewire cables. Good for you. Which begs a couple of questions.
Apple would pay probably in the neighborhood of 1-3 dollars (OR LESS) for the cable in question (based on a street price of $10, or $3, or $1). Why don’t the just put it in the box? Which begs more questions…
Apparently it is a cable that people need regularly for things on their mac like external drives (as one poster pointed out). Why isn’t it included?
Why should somebody who is upgrading from another mac product - that of course didn’t have a firewire cable included - be rewarded for their loyalty to apple by having to go out and buy, or order, a firewire cable?
The last thing I want to hear when I shell out top dollar for an APPLE product is that I have to go purchase a cable that to use software which is “awesome” (another posters words) and is a selling-point for Apple. Nope, I want to set up my new mac and start using it.
Instead, Apple, the master of making everything easy, doesn’t think it is necessary to include the cable.
Which begs my last question (and solution). Why not make migration assistant work with usb 2.0? I REALIZE IT IS FAR INFERIOR TO FIREWIRE and would take much longer. But nearly everybody has that cable.
Or, Apple could include a firewire cable in the box with every mac.
I’ve got a hundred of these cables laying around, they come with every drive I buy. Anyone need one just email me. fo free. lame-o complaint by the way.
jeremy Solterbeck on January 22nd, 2008 at 1:34 pm | Link
HA
MacAddict said:
“Apparently it is a cable that people need regularly for things on their mac like external drives (as one poster pointed out). Why isn’t it included?
Why should somebody who is upgrading from another mac product - that of course didn’t have a firewire cable included - be rewarded for their loyalty to apple by having to go out and buy, or order, a firewire cable?”
So MacAddict, by your reasoning they should also include a USB cable, DVI cable, VGA cable, Ethernet Cable and TOS-Link audio cables? I have all those ports on my Macbook Pro…
The cables are cheap, I can find them for much less then $40, hell, even the big box stores sell them for $20 here. Smaller computer shops have ‘em for less. I think I must have 4 or 5 of them around and I’ve never bought 1 separately.
The cable is not a “speciality” cable any more then any of those other cables I mentioned above. Is it something in a “regular” users toolbox, maybe not, but it’s certainly not a speciality cable.
The reason Apple doesn’t include a firewire cable is the same reason printer manufacturers no longer include the USB cable… it does affect the bottom line. Sure, let’s say it’s 50 cents per, times that by 1 million and you have a $500,000 savings, that comes out to a very good chunk of change.
Besides, look at the cost of USB cables, they are just as absurd but I don’t see anyone complaining about those being a requirement for hooking up a printer.
Andre on February 5th, 2008 at 11:20 am | Link
Are you serious?!?
G B on March 26th, 2008 at 9:07 pm | Link
I’ve just unpacked my new iMac and it’s syncing very slowly over Firewire 400. I did have a Firewire 400 cable knocking round, but sadly not a Firewire 800 cable, so it looks like I’m going to have to wait about 20 hours for the sync to complete. Which is disappointing as I want to play with my new toy; but if I didn’t have the cable, I’d have to mail-order one and wait a couple of days before I could use my new, expensive computer. Hardly earth-shattering, but a bit annoying.
I really don’t think it would cost Apple megabucks to throw in a Firewire 800 cable, in the scheme of things, particularly as the computer itself cost me 1300 quid ($2700 or so). You’re looking at less than 0.1% of the purchase cost. The damn box would have cost more than that; it’s not going to send Apple bankrupt, and it would stop me (and the rest of you) moaning.
I can’t see how USB 2 would help, as USB cables tend to be host-peripheral, and you’d need a host-host cable to connect 2 Macs, which would be even more hassle to get hold of.
David on June 2nd, 2008 at 8:22 am | Link
Hey, you don’t need to run a FireWire cable to use Migration Assistant! You can use the network connection between the two machines.
You can even use wireless, but beware that it is very slow compared to a wired network.
hootiehoo!
hootiehoo on June 22nd, 2008 at 7:22 am | Link
Please give me a break! If you can’t afford a $20 cable you can’t afford a computer. I’ve been in the computer industry with some of the hardware “giants” and remember the days when we sold SCSI cables for astronomical prices.
Everyone thinks they should get this stuff for free these days. So, welcome India, China, Bulgaria, to destroy the industry the USA created. Now our programmers would make more money being plumbers. I’m sorry I ever got into this business. It’s ugly now and you can take the “Science” out of Computer Science. It’s all about Wall Street. Get over it.
mo
martyo on July 23rd, 2008 at 11:15 am | Link
OK i have a Question when you use the program does it leave all of your info on the old computer?
K_pan on July 30th, 2008 at 11:32 am | Link
“OK i have a Question when you use the program does it leave all of your info on the old computer?”
If you are asking, does the migration assistant leave all the info on your old computer, then yes. At least it is supposed to and that’s how it worked for me.
Just picked up a 6pin-6pin for 99 cents on clearance. Look around
PcHsAmBa on August 21st, 2008 at 9:46 pm | Link
I have to agree with this complaint, since I found it while looking for a work-around for this Firewire cable requirement. Although there seems to be a cadre of elitez that have Firewire cables coming out their arses, it does seem contrary to Apple’s “ready-to-go” facade that you would require a component not included to move the contents of one Mac to another (or a network). For sure, it will not break the bank to buy one, but it’s complaint-worthy to have to halt proceedings to dig one up out of school because the Migration assistant is not flexible (even to allow Firewire to USB 2.0, for instance).
Po Lazarus on August 27th, 2008 at 6:26 pm | Link
And if you happen to have an old iSight camera around from before the built-in camera–it comes with the double-ended firewire cable!
barbara on August 30th, 2008 at 7:55 am | Link
It’s bit like complaining that your bottle of wine did not come with a corkscrew. Yes I know IKEA supplies you with tools when you buy their furniture but at some point you will have a whole box of duplicate tools. Same with cables, I probably have about 15 USB cables and 8 Firewire cables. Supplying a USB or Firewire cable with every Mac would just add another one to the pile.
El Aura on October 15th, 2008 at 10:31 am | Link
I gotta agree that this is a pretty lame complaint. Firewire cables are not expensive nor are they exotic. If someone paid $40 for a firewire cable, as the author did, then they are just not a wise or careful shopper.
Marcos on November 18th, 2008 at 11:06 am | Link