New iMac - Restore Timemachine or Fresh Install of All Softwares?

[BRoySound]

Hi, New here to this side of the forum, so if there are any other threads on the same issue, please do direct to that....

Got a new iMac
I'm preferring Fresh Install over Restoring the old iMac Backup

1 - old imac had 2tb and it had almost 800 GB backed up on timemachine, new imac has 1 tb, almost 800gb will take up 80% on a new imac....
2 - Many Softwares like Omnisphere and others will anyways need fresh activation as they will not work instantly on a new machine as they are locked to Machine ID, have to do the same exact work of activating them one by one....

My Question is
1 - Now that I have to use all my Serial numbers and C/R on a new Machine....Do I have to deactivate Softwares from my previous Machine by contacting the Developers (note - old iMac is dead, so can't do that from there)...few like NI and Plugin-Alliance have that option in "My Account" on their website, so no problem there....

2 - Do I have the option in Restore App to backup just 1 or 2 ticked softwares like Logic 9 and Keymap pro? (I'm new to restoring backups)

3 - If more questions, I'll edit it later

Any help is appreciated
Cheers
BR

[Michael L]

#2: Yes. If you Restore, you can click the folders you want to copy. You can Google to see the procedure to Restore specific folders. That is the simplest. As you may know, apps and plugins can put their support files in the HD Library, User Library, Documents or Music folders so you may want to first see what-is-where. However, if you go into Time Machine, you will see that it shows all your folders just like in Finder so you can copy over only what you want which is like a fresh install. And you can download installers for anything that doesn't work. Or you can delete old files in Time Machine and then restore those folders. But warning: I do not have the latest MacOS, so YMMV!

#1: So many developers, I think its difficult to generalize. If you have many plugs from one developer, someone with that knowledge can advise.

[BRoySound]

#2: Yes. If you Restore, you can click the folders you want to copy. You can Google to see the procedure to Restore specific folders. That is the simplest. As you may know, apps and plugins can put their support files in the HD Library, User Library, Documents or Music folders so you may want to first see what-is-where. However, if you go into Time Machine, you will see that it shows all your folders just like in Finder so you can copy over only what you want which is like a fresh install. And you can download installers for anything that doesn't work. Or you can delete old files in Time Machine and then restore those folders.

#1: So many developers, I think its difficult to generalize. If you have many plugs from one developer, someone with that knowledge can advise.

That's Brilliant......Thank you so much.......I didn't know that you could Restore files and folders independently......so if i just get that specific app and all the documents related to that app from different locations, it could work......Logic 9 , Keymap Pro, Alchemy are all abandoned, as long as the copy protection is not Machine Locked, I have a good chance of getting them restored as a fresh install on my new Mac....

Thanks a lot
Cheers
BR

[Michael L]

Try just copying all the Alchemy files into the same place on your new machine. Other people have done it & it works . Otherwise scan & add banks, or use your Camel installer as last resort.