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Antr7

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 26, 2015
49
4
Is anyone using a cable for their transfer from a 16 pro to 17 pro. I usually use the phone to phone wireless connection and it takes a few hours. I have about 600gb of data to transfer and I am debating if using an Amazon Basics 40gbps usb c cable to transfer it would decrease the transfer time. Has anyone seen a significantly faster transfer time using a cable vs wireless?
 
I used an Apple TB4 cable to transfer ~500GB after charging both the source 16PM and the new 17PM to 100%, because I remember last year or the year before the phones would drain each other attempting to suck charge from the other. Seems Apple has fixed this, once the transfer starts, charging stops on both. I had both sat on an ice pack for cooling, which worked wonders. The first estimate it showed me when you select wired transfer said about 4.5 hours, but real time it took almost exactly two hours.

Honestly it was the best and fastest it’s ever been for me, because while even an encrypted Finder backup would preserve most data/settings, the phone would still have to sync my 200gb of locally-stored music after restoring the backup for 2 hours. The phone-to-phone moved all my music over without a subsequent Finder sync, saving those extra couple hours.

The only things that still needed post-transfer work were moving my cell plan over, apps downloading, and logging back in to banking apps. Even a handful of my Apple Pay cards automatically added without me entering the security codes. The Watch switchover happened without me even noticing.

Best setup ever.
 
I used an Apple TB4 cable to transfer ~500GB after charging both the source 16PM and the new 17PM to 100%, because I remember last year or the year before the phones would drain each other attempting to suck charge from the other. Seems Apple has fixed this, once the transfer starts, charging stops on both. I had both sat on an ice pack for cooling, which worked wonders. The first estimate it showed me when you select wired transfer said about 4.5 hours, but real time it took almost exactly two hours.

Honestly it was the best and fastest it’s ever been for me, because while even an encrypted Finder backup would preserve most data/settings, the phone would still have to sync my 200gb of locally-stored music after restoring the backup for 2 hours. The phone-to-phone moved all my music over without a subsequent Finder sync, saving those extra couple hours.

The only things that still needed post-transfer work were moving my cell plan over, apps downloading, and logging back in to banking apps. Even a handful of my Apple Pay cards automatically added without me entering the security codes. The Watch switchover happened without me even noticing.

Best setup ever.

That is great to hear. I am going to go this route this year. How were the battery percentages after it finished? I am debating if I need to borrow a MagSafe charger from someone before starting
 
That is great to hear. I am going to go this route this year. How were the battery percentages after it finished? I am debating if I need to borrow a MagSafe charger from someone before starting
61-63% for both.

The 17 PM would “register” it was on a MagSafe charger when I put it on it while the transfer was ongoing, but it didn’t actually appear to charge. The 16 PM didn’t even acknowledge the charger existed when I tried it too. The wireless charging circuitry is cut off when USB-C cables are connected, generally, so it didn’t surprise me.
 
I used a Spigen Thunderbolt cable of some sort, using 256GB Pro phone and it took a while to transfer. I think estimate was fairly close, at 10:36 it said 36 minutes left, and I left the phones alone and transfer was done at 11:13, but it might have finished a few minutes earlier because I got tired of watching it and left. The 16 Pro Max was charging the 17 Pro Max though.
 
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