Anyone successfully migrated to M2 Mac Mini using Migration Assistant?

[tevion5]

Yes, Migration Assistant worked very well over Thunderbolt transferring from my M1 Mac mini to my new M2 Pro Mac mini. And before that, Mac Pro to Mac Studio, and Mac Studio to M1 Mac mini!

Only oddities have been having to do the Rosetta first time conversion on Intel apps for the new CPU (takes 1-30 seconds, not a big deal) and refreshing the licenses on some of my AU audio plugins. Otherwise very fast, easy and successful.

 

[twynne]

Once again, my advice:
The BEST way to "migrate" from old to new is by using a CLONED BACKUP on an external drive.
Even better than using a tm backup.

Just my "advice".
One can take it or leave it.
(it's worth what you paid for it)

As per note above, that was tried and failed as well. I'm reasonably certain now that this was nothing to do with the method or device used, but something buried in the migrated data/settings. The point where it failed consistently was 'updating system settings', which is done *after* everything has moved.

 

[Fishrrman]

"The point where it failed consistently was 'updating system settings', which is done *after* everything has moved."

I will guess a single "corrupted" file, or perhaps a few like that...

 

[Miat]

My belief is that most of the time when people think migration or software install or upgrade has failed, those people don’t realize how long the process might take. They lose patience and end up interrupting the migration/installation/upgrade.

I didn't terminate the process, the computer did. My attempts simply ended with something like 'Migrating this account has failed'.

I took it as a sign from the IT Gods that a full manual migration (including resetting prefs, etc) was the smart move when transferring to a new hardware and software architecture (Intel/Catalina to AS/Ventura).

Sure, it is time consuming and fiddly. But it is the only way to guarantee it is as clean as possible. After using Migration Assistant 3 times (I think) over the years, and maybe 15 years since my last full manual migration, I didn't want to spend much time sorting out legacy hangovers and conflicts. Time to flush the 15 years of accumulated crud.

No regrets so far.

 

[watakoola]

Could there be a problem migrating between former Intel Macs to Apple Silicon Macs because the change in software architecture introduces an additional fault line?

I recently exchanged my 2019 Intel iMac for a new M2 Mini and used the chance for a “clean” start and migrated my user data manually and/or using iCloud to avoid transferring the old “intel bit’s n bop’s“ that accumulated in the last 10 years of migrating between machines. Certainly not an option for everyone, I know.

This!
My Intel mini fried itself to death, so waiting on a new M2. A clean/new install of your software, especially to a totally new hardware model (Apple Silicon), just seems the smart way to do it.

 

[mr_jomo]

Gave up using the MA yesterday - kept hanging at OS update ( '30 minutes remaining' ).

Updated the OS manually and started from scratch instead. Have all but 5 macOS settings changed and all data in the cloud, so not much of a bother 🤣.

 

[icemantx]

If you do a clean install, how would you migrate all of your iCloud files so that they do not get downloaded again?

I have a few hundred GB of data synced with iCloud on my late 2014 iMac I’m replacing soon. I do not want to chew up my Comcast data plan with my new Mac mini by downloading everything again or the reverse and upload everything if I copy over manually that is already in iCloud.

 

[wickedpapercut]

Also looking for advice on how to setup new M2 mini without using Migration Assistant or cloning software. How to move photos, music, favorites, licensed applications, etc., from 2012 mini without all of the Intel debris and thousands of system files that have long since been unnecessary? Is this documented anywhere?

 

[Fishrrman]

"Also looking for advice on how to setup new M2 mini without using Migration Assistant or cloning software. How to move photos, music, favorites, licensed applications, etc., from 2012 mini without all of the Intel debris and thousands of system files that have long since been unnecessary? Is this documented anywhere?"

One can do a "manual migration".
I've done it myself.

But it's an order-of-magnitude more complicated than migration using Apple's setup assistant (during "first boot").

First off, you'll need pencil and paper and clipboard.

Next, you'll need a cloned backup of your (old) drive, so the backup can be mounted "in the finder" and accessed like any other drive.

Next, you'll need to take steps to overcome permissions problems between your "old" account on the old Mac, and the new account on the new one. Even if you use the same username and password, the new Mac is still going to see your old data as "foreign".

Then, you'll need to know where everything's supposed to go (including support and preference files). This is what the clipboard is for.

Finally, you'll need some time. A day, or two... or more.

Are you game for all this?

 

[icemantx]

"Also looking for advice on how to setup new M2 mini without using Migration Assistant or cloning software. How to move photos, music, favorites, licensed applications, etc., from 2012 mini without all of the Intel debris and thousands of system files that have long since been unnecessary? Is this documented anywhere?"

One can do a "manual migration".
I've done it myself.

But it's an order-of-magnitude more complicated than migration using Apple's setup assistant (during "first boot").

First off, you'll need pencil and paper and clipboard.

Next, you'll need a cloned backup of your (old) drive, so the backup can be mounted "in the finder" and accessed like any other drive.

Next, you'll need to take steps to overcome permissions problems between your "old" account on the old Mac, and the new account on the new one. Even if you use the same username and password, the new Mac is still going to see your old data as "foreign".

Then, you'll need to know where everything's supposed to go (including support and preference files). This is what the clipboard is for.

Finally, you'll need some time. A day, or two... or more.

Are you game for all this?

Can you just migrate the user data, not the apps and legacy files from who knows how long ago and then would that leave the old stuff behind? (Unsure what is in the library that would come over that’s useless).

I’m personally not that interested in a complicated migration, but at the same time I would like to limit the baggage I bring over as well.

 

[kirbyrun]

To my surprise and delight, I had no trouble migrating from a 2015 27" iMac to my M2 mini. I say surprise and delight because every other time I've tried Migration Assistant, it's flaked out on me, but this time it worked perfectly.

Sorry for your trouble. I know how much it sucks.

 

[icemantx]

To my surprise and delight, I had no trouble migrating from a 2015 27" iMac to my M2 mini. I say surprise and delight because every other time I've tried Migration Assistant, it's flaked out on me, but this time it worked perfectly.

Sorry for your trouble. I know how much it sucks.

How did you do it? Direct connection? Time Machine backup?

 

[DotCom2]

Question:
I will be using migration assistant once I take delivery of my new mini, coming from a late 2014 iMac 5k with a cheesy 3TB fusion drive. I am seeing that Carbon Copy Cloner is reporting there are errors on the Mac HD. I have not run First Aid as of yet, (scared to do it) but I was wondering if having drive errors can cause Migration Assistant issues? I have both CCC backup and TM backups.

 

[kirbyrun]

How did you do it? Direct connection? Time Machine backup?

I had an ethernet cable between the Macs, but Migration Assistant decided that a peer-to-peer wifi network was faster and went with that.

 

[Fishrrman]

dotcom wrote:
"Carbon Copy Cloner is reporting there are errors on the Mac HD"

Have you successfully run CCC to create a backup?

CCC is very good regarding disk/file errors. If it encounters a "bad file", it will skip over it and keep going. At the end of the cloning process, it will give you a log with a list of files that were skipped (if any).

If CCC is working, I would reckon the backup it creates for you will do as well as anything else (or better) when it's time to migrate.

 

[DotCom2]

dotcom wrote:
"Carbon Copy Cloner is reporting there are errors on the Mac HD"

Have you successfully run CCC to create a backup?

CCC is very good regarding disk/file errors. If it encounters a "bad file", it will skip over it and keep going. At the end of the cloning process, it will give you a log with a list of files that were skipped (if any).

If CCC is working, I would reckon the backup it creates for you will do as well as anything else (or better) when it's time to migrate.

Yes, I am still getting a CCC backup.
THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!

 

[icemantx]

What is the advantage of using migration assistant and connecting directly to your old Mac as opposed to using a Time Machine backup to migrate when setting up the new Mac mini?

 

[Soondae]

What is the advantage of using migration assistant and connecting directly to your old Mac as opposed to using a Time Machine backup to migrate when setting up the new Mac mini?

I am curious about this question as well, I have always just moved data from old Time Machine backup to the new machine with no issues? Granted though I have only gone Intel to Intel.

 

[gnohz]

Can you just migrate the user data, not the apps and legacy files from who knows how long ago and then would that leave the old stuff behind? (Unsure what is in the library that would come over that’s useless).

I’m personally not that interested in a complicated migration, but at the same time I would like to limit the baggage I bring over as well.

Curious to find out about this as well as I'm going from MM2018 to M2 Pro😅 The files should be able to be copied over relatively easily by doing it manually. The settings, preferences etc are what I suspect will give me a headache😂

 

[wickedpapercut]

Following up on my earlier message, I opted to use Migration Assistant to move from my 2012 mini to the new M2 mini. I did a peer-to-peer connection over wifi and it took about 4 hours to complete. I only found a few quirks after starting to use the new mini. Those were mostly due to my previous use of an external SSD as the system disk for the old mini and now using the internal SSD as the system.

Many thanks to Fishrrman for convincing me that this would be much easier than a manual migration.

 

[icemantx]

Following up on my earlier message, I opted to use Migration Assistant to move from my 2012 mini to the new M2 mini. I did a peer-to-peer connection over wifi and it took about 4 hours to complete. I only found a few quirks after starting to use the new mini. Those were mostly due to my previous use of an external SSD as the system disk for the old mini and now using the internal SSD as the system.

Many thanks to Fishrrman for convincing me that this would be much easier than a manual migration.

Good to hear it worked well for you. What did you migrate from your old machine to limit the legacy clutter?

 

[icemantx]

When using migration assistant, how would I go about cleanly just migrating my iCloud Photo Library, Mail (includes emails saved to my Mac) and iCloud Documents to my new M2 Pro Mac Mini and nothing else? Can I do this on setup of the new Mac initially when booting it up? Or should this be done after initial setup when running migration assistant?

I can manually install any apps I need fresh as I have the keys.

I do not want to bring over any legacy Intel related stuff or garbage related to apps I no longer have installed (which date back to my 2009 iMac that I migrated to my now retiring late 2014 5k iMac).

 

[adamcarvell]

Following up on my earlier message, I opted to use Migration Assistant to move from my 2012 mini to the new M2 mini. I did a peer-to-peer connection over wifi and it took about 4 hours to complete. I only found a few quirks after starting to use the new mini. Those were mostly due to my previous use of an external SSD as the system disk for the old mini and now using the internal SSD as the system.

Many thanks to Fishrrman for convincing me that this would be much easier than a manual migration.

What were the quirks?. I’m also going to be getting a new M2 coming from the 2012 mini. My boot disc fir the 2012 is also an external ssd.

 

[fischersd]

I had to use my TM external drive for the migration assistant to work - even had my 2018 (Intel) MBP and the mini both on Ethernet as well as the same wifi - just wouldn't connect.

Afterwards, everything works fine.

Also, didn't encounter any of the network anomalies people were talking about - both the wifi and ethernet test out fine.

 

[vkd]

Two or three times I've tried using MA on my ancient Intel iMac; each one failed. On the other hand I've restored my full backup using CCC twice now without a single hitch. Even the other week, I did a full CCC backup, formatted and installed a fresh copy of Ventura 13.2, ran MA which copied about 16GB to a temporary folder then shut the machine down. Rather than waste even more time, I simply restored the same backup with CCC, it took a few hours as my USB is only v2.0 but --- no tears were shed

My advice is now to just forget it (MA), it reminds one of the olden days of MS-W*!?*!!s - "nothing works, even after fiddling with it for hours on end."