Seeking for advice and recommendation in migration from an old Macbook Pro to a new M

Dear all,

I would like to seek for the advise and recommendation in migrating all my stuff in Macbook Pro - Mac OS X V10.6.4 + XP (run under Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac) to my new Macbook Pro unibody:

Here is my current configuration (from year 2008):

Macbook Pro 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB memory 667 MHz.
Mac OS X V10.6.4
Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac Build 5.0.9376 (Revision 599993; August 27, 2010)
Virtual machine: Windows XP SP3

At the very first beginning (before purchased Parallels Desktop), I was using the bootcamp to run Windows XP for during business and later I found Parallels suited my need because I could ran both XP and Mac OS at the same time, then I used Parallels to capture my XP from bootcamp (I did it once by luck and I forgot the procedure already) and they co-existed happily.

Now I bought a new Macbook Pro (unibody) i7, 2.66GHz with 8GB memory 1066 Mhz. The technical staff from the shop helped me to transfer the Mac OS from my old Macbook Pro to new Macbook Pro without problem by using the "migration assistant" via a Firewire cable. However, the "migration assistant" did not transfer the Windows XP virtual machine to my new Macbook Pro altogether.

I have read through some documents mentioned about the Parallels Transporter and Acronis True image...etc, but not sure which is best fit for me:

1. In my new Macbook Pro, I would like to reserve the Bootcamp Windows XP so that I can boot the Mac to Windows XP environment when it is needed.
2. Also, during my daily use, I would like to have Mac OS and Windows XP (running via Parallels Desktop for Mac) running concurrently.

Appreciated if someone can share his/her experience (steps, cables required, additional softwares? etc) and guide me through for the migration as I cannot afford any data loss for the Windows XP cause those are company data.

Thanks & best regards,
William-TK

 

Use BootCamp Assistant to create the Windows XP partition on the new Mac but do not install Windows.

Connect your old Mac to the new Mac using a FireWire cable so that you have direct access to the old Mac's hard disk.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1661

Use WinClone or similar utility to copy your old Windows XP to the new Mac's Windows XP partition (I don't think Disk Utility works to make a bootable Windows which is why utilities like WinClone were created). Or you could make a new virtual machine on your new Mac that uses the Boot Camp partition on the old Mac and use Parallels Transporter between that VM and a new VM that points to the Boot Camp partition on the new Mac. Or you could have a single new VM that uses both the old Boot Camp partition and the new Boot Camp partition and uses a Windows utility to clone from the old Boot Camp partition to the new Boot Camp partition.

 

Hi Joevt,

Thanks for your opinion. I will thinking to try the Winclone in this way first:

I have an USB 500GB Baffalo 2.5 external harddisk connected to my old Macbook Pro, I am starting the Winclone to "clone" the Bootcamp XP partition to that external harddisk, and will connect the USB disk to the new Macbook Pro with Winclone installed and do a restore in the new Bootcamp partition of the new Macbook Pro (will do it after homed).

Thank you again and will keep you updated.

Best regards,
William-TK