[Ti] Upgrading to new Powerbook

[b]

e. wu paused, thought it over, and spoke thusly:

>Yippee! I have a new Powerbook on order. Here's my question, I have 
>an older Powerbook G4 with OS X 10.2.6 and a nice fast & roomy hd I 
>want to *keep*. Can anyone advise on what the best method would be 
>to upgrade when I get the new Powerbook?
>
>Since the new Powerbooks run on 10.2.7 and I'm assuming there's no 
>10.2.6-to-10.2.7 upgrade that comes with it, how would I go about 
>"installing" my *old* hd into the new laptop and somehow get both 
>10.2.7 on it as well as all my current programs and settings in as 
>few steps as possible?
>
>Best regards,
>Ed

Congratulations on the new one.

My advice will be argued with by some, and probably not 'liked' by many:

Forget about "Moving your old Home Folder".

Leave all of your old Preferences behind.

Never mind importing the old Application Support folders.

In other words: Re-install every one of your third-party apps. 
(Meaning: anything that isn't part of the new PowerBooks Installer. 
Save your Documents, mp3s (if you have them), pictures, etc. Save 
database files. (Examples: Mail, or Eudora folders, Extensis 
Portfolio catalogs, self-written AppleScript Studio scripts, Palm 
Desktop databases, etc).

Move only your databases, etc onto the internal drive of the new Mac, 
and then boot into OS 9 (use an OS 9 Installer CD if you have to) and 
wipe the old drive, using a zero-out option. Start fresh. Remnants of 
10.2.6 and the newer 10.2.7 do not get along very well.

After the old, 'roomy' drive is re-initialized, set it up slowly, 
carefully, the way you want it, with your older apps (freshly 
re-installed, not copied over). Then move your d-base files (mail 
folders, contact list d-bases, etc), to your new Documents folder, 
and begin the one-at-a-time launching and re-serializing of your new 
(old) apps on your roomy drive.

Most of your serial numbers, codes, etc, are either on the boxes, or 
in email files that you still have. Reinstall everything, clean, and 
one-by-one, re-enter your authorization codes. It's the only way to 
go. When completed, run Repair Permissions, reboot, verify Repair 
Permissions, and then de-frag the drive.

A lot of us (myself, mainly) find it hard to resist dumping huge 
images of the old drives, and getting 'rolling' as quickly as 
possible... bad move, nearly every time. Slow and steady, and 
thorough. Your new system will be happy, you'll be happy.  :=)

~flipper