Data migration from MacStudio M1 to MacMini M4

[Giuanniello]

Long story short, a friend got a new Mini, still has to switch it on, he wants to transfer data, probably just music and pictures, no iCloud, from the old Studio to the new Mini, I remember back in time with a FW cable connect the two, start up the old one in Target mode and then copy it all, what's the route now, can you do that with a usb-c cable and migration assistant or only through wifi?

Thank you

 

[QuarterSwede]

If using Photos and Apple Music, ensure all other files are in iCloud (Documents) and just sign in to the M4 and let it sync. There's nothing else to do. Transferring is largely unnecessary these days with everything in the cloud.

Migration Assistant does still work if they want to go old school. Wildy, it will take longer than just iCloud sync on a broadband connection.

 

[!!!]

I remember back in time with a FW cable connect the two, start up the old one in Target mode and then copy it all, what's the route now, can you do that with a usb-c cable

Yes, just with Thunderbolt instead. Wi-Fi and Ethernet will work as well. I strongly recommend using TB, though, transferring thousands of small files over the network is a headache. Migrating from a Time Machine backup or clone is also an option.

If using Photos and Apple Music, ensure all other files are in iCloud (Documents) and just sign in to the M4 and let it sync. There's nothing else to do. Transferring is largely unnecessary these days with everything in the cloud.

I don't know, I feel like most people who own a Mac, especially a Studio, are going to have more files than can just be in the cloud.

Migration Assistant does still work if they want to go old school. Wildy, it will take longer than just iCloud sync on a broadband connection.

MA will work quite fast with a thunderbolt connection (as opposed to network). One day you may be surprised to find that iCloud has hidden bandwidth limits that will trigger and leave you confused as to why everything stopped syncing. Apple provides no public documentation of what this is, and provides no indication to the user that's what's happening. Good luck with your iCloud someone else's computer!

 

[QuarterSwede]

Yes, just with Thunderbolt instead. Wi-Fi and Ethernet will work as well. I strongly recommend using TB, though, transferring thousands of small files over the network is a headache. Migrating from a Time Machine backup or clone is also an option.

I don't know, I feel like most people who own a Mac, especially a Studio, are going to have more files than can just be in the cloud.

MA will work quite fast with a thunderbolt connection (as opposed to network). One day you may be surprised to find that iCloud has hidden bandwidth limits that will trigger and leave you confused as to why everything stopped syncing. Apple provides no public documentation of what this is, and provides no indication to the user that's what's happening. Good luck with your iCloud someone else's computer!

People with a Mac Studio probably have an external drive(s) too.

 

[Fishrrman]

I'll offer "my way".
Follow these instructions, and I guarantee a success rate of 99%.

First, you'll need an external drive large enough to hold the contents of your friend's old Mac.

You'll need CarbonCopyCloner. It's free to download and use for 30 days, so this will cost you nothing.

What to do next:
- get the new Mac ready, but DO NOT press the power on button yet.
- put CCC on the old Mac Studio and connect the external drive
- use CCC to clone the contents of the Studio to the external drive

Then...
- take the drive to the new Mini and connect it.
- NOW press the power on button
- begin setup. When setup assistant asks if you wish to migrate from another drive, YES, you do.
- "point the way" to the external drive and give SA some time to "digest" everything.

Now...
- setup assistant will present you with a list of stuff that can be migrated:
applications
accounts
data
settings

I suggest you migrate everything.

- let SA do its job. It will take a while.
- when done, your friend should be able to log into his account, just as before. So... do this and "take a look around" to see if things are where they should be.

Good luck.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

USB-C or Ethernet will do nicely. Note that you should skip setting up Wi-Fi on the new one if prompted and just go the Ethernet route; Migration Assistant seems to work slower and defer to Wi-Fi if it's been set up, in my experience, even if both devices are on Ethernet.

Transfer to a new Mac with Migration Assistant - Apple Support (CA)

Migration Assistant transfers documents, apps, user accounts, and settings from one Mac to another. It doesn’t delete information from your old Mac or replace the operating system (macOS) on your new Mac.

support.apple.com

 

[ignatius345]

Yes, just with Thunderbolt instead. Wi-Fi and Ethernet will work as well. I strongly recommend using TB, though, transferring thousands of small files over the network is a headache. Migrating from a Time Machine backup or clone is also an option.

Yep. It’s a dead simple operation and will yield not just the files, but also all of the settings from the old machine. Migration Assistant does an amazing job.

If using Photos and Apple Music, ensure all other files are in iCloud (Documents) and just sign in to the M4 and let it sync. There's nothing else to do. Transferring is largely unnecessary these days with everything in the cloud.

Migration Assistant does still work if they want to go old school. Wildy, it will take longer than just iCloud sync on a broadband connection.

This doesn’t pass the common sense test.

First of all, what about settings and things that don’t get synced over iCloud or whatever? Hardly true that it’s “largely unnecessary” and it’s definitely not true that “everything is in the cloud”.

Second, if you’ve got a few hundred GB of media and files, it’s going to transfer much faster and much more reliably connecting the machines together or using a backup than to wait for everything to get downloaded from a server somewhere. Especially if the user is already making backups (which everyone should be doing) -- then all they have to do is make one last quick incremental backup and then move the drive over to the new Mac.

Third, you’re also assuming the user has the cloud storage space to copy everything, and assuming the user is 100% certain everything has been fully uploaded from the original Mac. If any of that is untrue and the old machine gets wiped, they've just lost data.

The iCloud way is definitely an option if you’re very lazy and want a partial copy of your data, but the best practice to do this is locally so you get a nearly seamless transfer of every single thing that was set up on the old Mac.

 

[Ray2]

People with a Mac Studio probably have an external drive(s) too.

Yes, like 14tb of primary data of which maybe 30gb is in the cloud.

 

[Ray2]

I'll offer "my way".
Follow these instructions, and I guarantee a success rate of 99%.

First, you'll need an external drive large enough to hold the contents of your friend's old Mac.

You'll need CarbonCopyCloner. It's free to download and use for 30 days, so this will cost you nothing.

What to do next:
- get the new Mac ready, but DO NOT press the power on button yet.
- put CCC on the old Mac Studio and connect the external drive
- use CCC to clone the contents of the Studio to the external drive

Then...
- take the drive to the new Mini and connect it.
- NOW press the power on button
- begin setup. When setup assistant asks if you wish to migrate from another drive, YES, you do.
- "point the way" to the external drive and give SA some time to "digest" everything.

Now...
- setup assistant will present you with a list of stuff that can be migrated:
applications
accounts
data
settings

I suggest you migrate everything.

- let SA do its job. It will take a while.
- when done, your friend should be able to log into his account, just as before. So... do this and "take a look around" to see if things are where they should be.

Good luck.

While I use SuperDuper!, this is the way.