How "clean" is it to use Migration Assistant to configure a new Mac?

[Yoms]

Hi,

Imagine you a have a newly purchased Mac with the latest version of macOS and an old Mac that you configured nicely over time (i.e all System, Safari, Finder, etc. preferences configured to taste).

Using Migration Assistant, will it blindly transfer everything from the older Mac to the new one? If yes, that would mean that if some files were slightly corrupt/unstable/[your choice] (which can happen over time) on the old Mac, they will also be on the new Mac.
OR
Will Migration Assistant only use the old Mac as a base in order to mirror the useful settings from the old Mac to the new Mac, thus avoiding transferring corrupt settings/files/whatever to the new Mac?

That's what I mean by "How "clean" is it to use Migration Assistant".

Thanks a lot,

PS: my question only concerns settings, not images, music, videos and documents that are merely a copy-paste.

 

[Fishrrman]

If all you're going to transfer is settings, my -guess- is that MA will transfer over all the settings it finds (in the old account) to the new one.

It will be up to you to "sort things out" once the settings are migrated.

If you have some settings that you know "aren't right" on the old Mac, I suggest you go into your user preferences folder and delete them BEFORE you migrate.

 

[steve knight]

all the bugs my Mac mini was suffering from came over when I migrated it to my iMac. I had to start fresh to get rid of them.

 

[Yoms]

all the bugs my Mac mini was suffering from came over when I migrated it to my iMac. I had to start fresh to get rid of them.

Hey, thanks for the input. So basically, it seems it's more scenario one. Sadly.