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Feasibility of the migration assistant?

F

FortWorthMac

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Well finally decided it was time for a new iMac. I have a 5 year old 24inch and ordered a 27inch from Amazon.

My question is the feasibility of the migration assistant. How well does it work? And I guess the fastest way to accomplish the migration. My old iMac does not have the Thunderport or whatever it's called.

Thanks
David
 
There are multiple ways to connect the systems. Also, if you have a current Time Machine backup, Migration Assistant should be able to copy from that as well.
 
FortWorthMac said:
Well finally decided it was time for a new iMac. I have a 5 year old 24inch and ordered a 27inch from Amazon.

My question is the feasibility of the migration assistant. How well does it work? And I guess the fastest way to accomplish the migration. My old iMac does not have the Thunderport or whatever it's called.

Thanks
David
Click to expand...

Both machines have GB ethernet, so I think that would be fastest. Just connect an ethernet cable directly between the two and run MA. It works quite well.

Make sure you run MA as part of the setup process and not after you have created the account as that causes duplicate folders and all sorts of problems. You old account will be created on the new machine as part of MA.

As Bear mentioned, if you have a Time Machine backup on an USB external, that can be used as the MA source also.
 
Weaselboy said:
Both machines have GB ethernet, so I think that would be fastest. Just connect an ethernet cable directly between the two and run MA. It works quite well.
Click to expand...

Question in regards to that. Back in my old Windows IT days one would have to use a "cross over" ethernet cable to hook up two machines together. Is that not the case here?
 
FortWorthMac said:
Question in regards to that. Back in my old Windows IT days one would have to use a "cross over" ethernet cable to hook up two machines together. Is that not the case here?
Click to expand...
Macs as I recall do not need those corssover cables. Nor do most systems these days.
 
Bear said:
Macs as I recall do not need those corssover cables. Nor do most systems these days.
Click to expand...

Exactly. The ethernet port will sense it is a direct connection and handle it for you. No crossover cable needed.

I still have an orange crossover cable sitting in a drawer I just can't bring myself to throw away though. 🙂
 
Another vote here for Ethernet. I just used MA via Ethernet to migrate from my old Mac mini to my new iMac without a hitch. It took around 30 minutes to transfer all of my data, applications, and settings. Good luck, and enjoy your new iMac 😀
 
MultiFinder17 said:
Another vote here for Ethernet. I just used MA via Ethernet to migrate from my old Mac mini to my new iMac without a hitch. It took around 30 minutes to transfer all of my data, applications, and settings. Good luck, and enjoy your new iMac 😀
Click to expand...

Thanks.

I got a little confused reading the apple support page. So let me try and clarify since you just did it.

I simply run the ethernet cable between BOTH iMacs.

This line on the support page confused me: "o use Ethernet for migration, connect the two computers with a single Ethernet cable; you don't need to connect the computers to a hub, switch, or router. This may be faster than using a wireless connection. For the best experience, be sure to attach your source and target Macs to the wired network before you start."

If the two macs are attached via an ethernet cable, how can they then be plugged in to a wired connection?
 
Weaselboy said:
They aren't. I agree, that is very poorly worded and confusing. You just connect the ethernet cable directly between the two machines.
Click to expand...

Good and thanks. Glad it wasn't just me that was confused by it. I promise I haven't started drinking yet today. 😉
 
FortWorthMac said:
Good and thanks. Glad it wasn't just me that was confused by it. I promise I haven't started drinking yet today. 😉
Click to expand...

Haha, it's all good. As stated, just connect the two machines via ethernet directly; you can also do it over a regular wired network, which is how I did it, but either way works fine 🙂
 
Weaselboy said:
You should... it will make the time pass more quickly while you wait for the migration to finish. 😀
Click to expand...

Well the new one is coming "sometime" tomorrow via FedEx so it's going to be a loooonnnnnggggg day. But I'm sure they'll be plenty of some of Kentucky's finest enjoyed during the process.
 
Weaselboy said:
I think FedEx has it out for us. If I order say razor blade refills... BAM! 10:30 AM FedEx delivery. New Mac I desperately want.... 7:30 PM... every single time!! 😡
Click to expand...

Yeah tell me about it.

And the "estimated" delivery time tomorrow is "before 8pm". Come one really!!!??? #firstworldproblems
 
Weaselboy said:
I think FedEx has it out for us. If I order say razor blade refills... BAM! 10:30 AM FedEx delivery. New Mac I desperately want.... 7:30 PM... every single time!! 😡
Click to expand...

Sometimes I swear FedEx and UPS rush delivery of unimportant items, but when it's something you want now it comes at the very end of the day or they "forget" to drop it off and it comes the next day.
 
FortWorthMac said:
Yup, thanks.

But gotta say, and granted its only the i5, it doesn't seen as fast as I thought it would moving from a 5 year old Mac.
Click to expand...

Last couple upgrades for me felt sort of like "incremental" upgrades also. The really big and noticeable change in perceived speed came with the SSD for me.
 
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