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Best way to migrate from old Mac to new MacBook Pro - now I am confused

donawalt

donawalt

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Original poster
Sep 10, 2015
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HI all, what's the best way to move everything from old Mac to new? I haven't gotten a new Mac in a few years, I thought it might be Migration assistant, but this Macworld article seems to imply it's restoring a Time Machine backup. I have a cable if Migration assistant is the best, but what do you think?
 
donawalt said:
HI all, what's the best way to move everything from old Mac to new? I haven't gotten a new Mac in a few years, I thought it might be Migration assistant, but this Macworld article seems to imply it's restoring a Time Machine backup. I have a cable if Migration assistant is the best, but what do you think?
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I do it manually every time. That makes it more difficult to transfer stuff you don't use.
 
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I would really like to know this too. Have a mb pro 13in with 1tb(early 2015) and an iMac. Need to move pics and music, my number 1 concern! I am a classical guitarist and have 200gb of recordings I don’t want to lose and the pics and videos I have made are critical. Have a 14 in base with 1tb coming. What’s the best way to move all this over?
 
In the past I've always restored from Time Machine backup or used Migration Assistant (physical or wireless connection between the two devices). This year I'm 100% setting up as new and manually transferring files/config stuff I need from my old machine, additionally I will install all software from source rather than transfer.

This is to ensure I bring along minimal bloat from years of Intel based Mac use. I would suggest doing the same if you have the resources to do so.
 
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fa8362 said:
I do it manually every time. That makes it more difficult to transfer stuff you don't use.
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I just made the point to not use time machine because I dont want the last 3 years junk moved to my new machine. Backed things up manually to a external SSD I will move what I need 1 by 1
 
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What cable if any do you need to manually move it over. I do want to do a restore. Way too much bloat. Tia for any help.
 
terryw1 said:
What cable if any do you need to manually move it over. I do want to do a restore. Way too much bloat. Tia for any help.
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It's just a Thunderbolt to Thunderbolt connector (if that's what your old Mac has too). You can actually use that to make one Mac's drive look like an external drive to another Mac too.
 
terryw1 said:
What cable if any do you need to manually move it over. I do want to do a restore. Way too much bloat. Tia for any help.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming you mean you *don't* want to do a restore?

If you want to manually transfer files you can use AirDrop or an external HDD to transfer files.
 
This is my first upgrade. My current 2015 MBP was my first. So I am also going through my first Mac-to-Mac upgrade. I'm going to do it manually as I absolutely don't want all the apps currently on my Mac to come over. I have all my music on an SD card thats always in my MBP (thank god the new one brought that back). The rest of my files are either in iCloud or my Synology.
 
Back to the OP please don't hijack, post a new thread thanks! Time Machine restore or Migration Assistant, which is best? Thanks!
 
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time machine has been a my choice for transferring files since snow leopard
the advantages are
total recovery,
or just drag files from an external hard drive like music, documents etc
just by going to backups>date>user> and the files are there
they even have a red arrow on programs your newer OSX can't use.

i hope this helped
 
I never transfer anything. All my documents/photos are stored in iCloud, and that way I get rid of a bunch of extraneous apps I haven't used in several years. If I don't miss it, I don't reinstall it.
 
I would still like an answer to this question. Starting from scratch is not an option for me.

So what's best: wired migration between machines or migration from a Time Machine backup?

I've heard that many people experience hiccups when going through wired migration. On the other hand, many folks seems to be happy with restoring from a Time Machine drive.
 
eoren1 said:
How do you transfer mail? I have ALL of my old emails in the 'On my Mac' folder in Mail...
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Hi

go to mail and then the folder, control click on it and then export the folder to location of you choice. Move that folder to the new Mac and then import it to mail in the same way. Done that multiple times over the years.

Josh
 
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If anyone is still wondering, here's an updated and reliable guide to migrate to the new M1 Pro/Max machines with Migration Assistant.

Update to 12.0.1 first

If you're one of the lucky folk who have just got one of the brand new MacBook Pro M1 Pro or M1 Max models, it has almost certainly come with macOS 12.0 build 21A344 pre installed, and the first thing you want to do is to update that to the release version of 12.0.1 (once it has been released). That includes some important fixes which will make life simpler, and is worth doing before you attempt any migration from another Mac or backup.
  1. Personalise and set up your primary admin user account with the same username and password as the older Mac you intend to migrate from.
  2. During personalisation, when you’re invited to migrate, don’t.
  3. On completion of personalisation and setup, install all macOS updates.
  4. When you’re then ready to migrate, connect old and new Macs using the fastest method available, such as Thunderbolt.
  5. Open Migration Assistant on each Mac.
  6. Set Migration Assistant on your new Mac to receive the migration, and that on the old Mac to be the source.
  7. When you’re asked whether to create a new user or replace the existing user, select to replace the primary admin user.
  8. On completion, make any adjustments to settings, etc., and ensure that it’s properly connected to iCloud.
  9. Make the first backup from your new Mac.
This was particularly important last year with the first M1 models. Hopefully the fixes in 12.0.1 won’t prove as crucial as those in 11.0.1 were.
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More info about migrating safely here:

The advantage of migrating later, after you’ve personalised and configured your new Mac, is that it’s most likely to be most successful when performed by the latest version of the migration software. If your new Mac has 11.4 pre-installed, then it’s better to update it to 11.6 or later, or even 12 before migrating. With a new Mac, the only way you can do that is to migrate after installing the update.
Click to expand...

What I am going to do for extra safety is:
  1. Clone the Intel Catalina mac with SuperDuper! - free stable version available for Catalina, Beta for Big Sur.
  2. Complete Time Machine Backup on Intel Catalina to a separate drive
  3. Update Intel Catalina mac to Monterey
  4. Migrate with Migration Assistant
This way, if anything goes wrong, I can just push the cloned hard drive with Catalina back into the Intel Mac and start from scratch.

To push the cloned drive into the Catalina Mac I will boot the mac in recovery mode and use a terminal tool like Rsync or other. Still doing research on this one.

I hope this will help future peeps looking for a solution!
 
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terryw1 said:
Thanks! Will use an external drive.
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I always use an external drive on the few times I do it. However, let me suggest that you use a NEW external drive(or one that was erased new), and then make a brand new time machine copy. Migration has gotten much more complicated for the application, and having multiple backups on the back drive makes it even more complicated.

Make a complete new backup on the new or newly erased drive. I can always use some additional storage so I bought a $49 WD at Walmart. Partitioned it for 550 gb(my new drive is 512) for the new back up, and then two other partitions for my photos and movies. I then made a brand new back up from my old late 2013 MBP. I plan to use that.
 
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zarathu said:
I always use an external drive on the few times I do it. However, let me suggest that you use a NEW external drive(or one that was erased new), and then make a brand new time machine copy. Migration has gotten much more complicated for the application, and having multiple backups on the back drive makes it even more complicated.

Make a complete new backup on the new or newly erased drive. I can always use some additional storage so I bought a $49 WD at Walmart. Partitioned it for 550 gb(my new drive is 512) for the new back up, and then two other partitions for my photos and movies. I then made a brand new back up from my old late 2013 MBP. I plan to use that.
Click to expand...
Good idea, thanks!
 
Adding.... you will need to wipe the drive when you are done and reformat it for the new back up
 
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