After some recent encouragement from friends at freeway talk (!) I took the plunge and upgraded to a new(er) iMac - running Yosemite.
My question isn’t about Freeway, but about the Yosemite file structure. I wanted to clone my Photoshop CS3 installation to the new disk, but it doesn’t seem to have the same file structure. Quite a lot of my Photoshop preferences are currently (under 10.6.8) in Users > Me > Library > Preferences. But under Yosemite there doesn’t even seem to be a ‘library’ folder under the user, let alone a ‘preferences’ one.
Under Yosemite there’s a HardDrive > Library, and a System > Library … both of which are also present in Snow Leopard. But the ‘user’ library is missing from Yosemite. That’s where most of my application preferences are in Snow Leopard!
Does it matter where preference files are placed?
(before you say it…no, I can’t reinstall from the disks as I don’t have them any more, hence the clone approach).
Any illumination on the new Mac file system structure welcome.
After some recent encouragement from friends at freeway talk (!) I took the plunge and upgraded to a new(er) iMac - running Yosemite.
My question isn’t about Freeway, but about the Yosemite file structure. I wanted to clone my Photoshop CS3 installation to the new disk, but it doesn’t seem to have the same file structure. Quite a lot of my Photoshop preferences are currently (under 10.6.8) in Users > Me > Library > Preferences. But under Yosemite there doesn’t even seem to be a ‘library’ folder under the user, let alone a ‘preferences’ one.
Under Yosemite there’s a HardDrive > Library, and a System > Library … both of which are also present in Snow Leopard. But the ‘user’ library is missing from Yosemite. That’s where most of my application preferences are in Snow Leopard!
Does it matter where preference files are placed?
(before you say it…no, I can’t reinstall from the disks as I don’t have them any more, hence the clone approach).
Any illumination on the new Mac file system structure welcome.
Thanks.
Your Library is still there; Apple just prevent users from seeing things that they think you don’t need to see. I think that using ‘Go to Folder’ with the option key may help. From reading Mac list post I gather that the later the OS the more is hidden and the more convoluted it is to get round the limitations.
o, I can’t reinstall from the disks as I don’t have them any more, hence the clone approach).
Migration Assistant would do this for you.
David
Thanks for that idea, Dave, I tried it. It wasn’t very selective - I had to migrate ALL my applications, it wouldn’t let me choose just one. Took for blooming ages, too. (about 1.5hrs for 26gb). However, it did seem to transfer all the correct bits and pieces.
Sadly, on opening Photoshop CS3 it says the licensing has expired. In fact none of my Adobe suite will open. Seems odd that this should arise under the Yosemite install but is fine under SnowLeopard . I thought I was ‘cloning’ apps… seems not!
Well that makes the Yosemite side of things a bit dead in the water, really - I’ll just have to plough on under Snow Leopard. Which I’m quite happy with for everyday work - but it does obviously stop me ‘pushing the envelope’
On 5 Oct 2016, 10:20 pm, David Ledger wrote:
Your Library is still there; Apple just prevent users from seeing things that they think you don’t need to see. I think that using ‘Go to Folder’ with the option key may help. From reading Mac list post I gather that the later the OS the more is hidden and the more convoluted it is to get round the limitations.
That’s an idea, David, thanks. Coming from Snow Leopard I’m used to being able to access the internals. Sad to see that there is obviously a dumbing-down going on, but I guess that’s the way it’s all heading.
Having tried the migration assistant route that Delta Dave suggested, I’m now stuck with gigabytes of unusable apps. So now have to look for an app to uninstall them all again!
If anyone mentions the word ‘seamless’ I will scream…
The added benefit is that I’ve cloned my way through three MacBook Pros this way and have brought the setup and applications with me each time. Having said that the Macs are almost identical (all MacBook Pros) so you may have issues if you try and cross over to an iMac from a MacBook for example. Once you are up and running on the new Mac you can then upgrade the OS on either the internal or external HD and check that the software runs as expected.
Regards,
Tim.
Well, indeed I have cloned the old iMac onto a partition of the new iMac (so the new one has two partitions, one running Yosemite, one Snow Leopard). The entire Snow Leopard ‘clone’ runs fine…I’m writing to you on it now.
Unfortunately, I don’t want to clone the whole of the old iMac to the new Yosemite partition - just a few chosen apps. Migration Assistant wouldn’t let me choose apps, it just migrated the lot…with failure of the Adobe programmes on a license issue, apparently.
I perhaps could clone just Photoshop to the Yosemite partition, see what happens. that’s if I knew all the bits and pieces that make up the Photoshop application, i.e. all its associated files in application support, preferences and wherever else. But I don’t know that, so not sure what to choose to clone!
I’m not sure why that last message didn’t come through although all I was going to say was that it may be worth cloning the whole hard drive and simply removing the software you don’t want from the clone once the job is done. A bitwise clone o the HD will copy everything including the hidden license files that you are searching for to copy to your new Mac.
Regards,
Tim.
Hi Tim, I might have to do as you suggest - not looking forward to the removal job, though!
David, yes I think Adobe have gone all ‘dark’, too. I find it distinctly unattractive and ‘difficult’. Which is why I really want my CS3 back! Can’t argue with the Affinity price, though, you’re dead right there!
… I think Adobe have gone all ‘dark’, too. I find it distinctly unattractive and ‘difficult’.
All excuses.
Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign (CC) have all the possibility to set your workspace up to your liking - so nothing keeps you away from purchasing good and modern software.
