New DAW - can I use time machine for backup of my old iMac?

[mandodon]

When I switched HDs in my MB Pro, I used carbon copy cloner. Everything came through just like it was on the old drive. Might be worth getting an external drive for the carbon copy if the time machine doesn't work like you need it to. Can't have too many backups anyway.

[Joe Porto]

Time machine should work fine. I would suggest reinstalling the OS, then use Migration Assistant to restore Applications, User Data, and System Settings.

Certain plugins, whose copy protection are tied to specific hardware (usually the HD) may require reauthorization.

The aforementioned Carbon Copy Cloner is a great tool, and superior for daily incremental backups of specific data.

[keyboardwizard]

Thanks a lot for your replies. Think i will do both then.

[pdiddy boy]

Although all the suggestions above would work perfectly on a "Real Mac" depending on your Hackintosh configuration this may not work easily. Hackintosh systems can be a lot more complex systems to build depending on your configuration and I'm yet to hear of a system that would boot a native Mac hard drive even then the next question arises as to how would you insert the boot EFI to your carbon copy cloned drive.

[gdoubleyou]

I use Carbon Copy, because it retains all authorizations.