Time machine restore question

[Combat squirrel]

Hi, im moving from a MBP to a mac mini as it suits my needs.

However iv a lot of iweb stuff and lightroom stuff setup just the way I want it, also Iphoto library (which is on an external drive not local)

If when i get my mini i restore a previous time machine back up to it, will it make everything totally the same ? even the location of my iphoto library being on an external drive ? (drobo so thats not changing)

Im just hoping to keep pointless fiddling and messing to a minimum, I just want to carry on using it as if nothing changed, bar the mac its running on.

EDIT: Also all the software I have ? lightroom, CS4, open office etc, will that be still there as if nothing happened ?

 

[NickK]

The TM restore from my old 5400rpm drive when replacing it in my MBP with an SSD:

1. TM backup (select from menu)
2. shutdown
3. replace HD with blank SSD
4. Boot from SL disk
5. Select restore from TM
6. Go and make a cuppa.. well a few as it restores completely
7. Machines starts as if nothing had ever happened

So I'm guessing that your settings should be stored under your /User (ie /Users/NickK/Library) so that should be restored from TM.

Not done a cross-machine though.

 

[JimTheNim]

Bare in mind also that the Time Machine back up that you have performed is tagged to the MAC address of your MBP.

You may find your Mini being labelled as an MBP! (I had this issue when moving from my Air to my MBP).

You may also need to format the TM hard drive once you are copied over, so that you can use it again for the Mini.

 

[Feek]

If you have a spare external drive you could just SuperDuper! your MBP onto it and then SuperDuper! it all back onto the Mini. That way you can be sure it'll work without having the possible cross-machine TM issue.