Migrating to a new iMac - some (silly) questions

[QuiteGrumpy]

I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here as my new iMac 24 doesn't arrive for at least 4 weeks, but I want to have a plan for when it does...

I want to have clear in my mind the best way to set the computer up and transfer photos and documents from my current iMac. I'm not interested in bringing software across, I'll download that all freshly from the app store.

I realise that this process should be pretty simple, but I have a photo library of some 33,000 photos and videos which are hugely important to me so I just want to make sure I don't do something stupid and mess the carefully created order of my photo library (or worse, lose it all!) as it has taken me a decade to build it up.

All my photos are kept in Apple's Photos app and synched across all my devices via 2TB of iCloud storage. All of my documents and files on the current Mac are also all backed up in iCloud.

I believe I essentially have two options for setting up the new iMac.

1. Use Migration Assistant
2. Set up as new, sign in to iCloud, and let everything download.

I think I favour the second option, it seems cleanest! However, given I have around 700GB of data used on my current computer (my current one is 1TB Fusion, new one is 1TB SSD; I'll add more storage with an external SSD if/when I need to), I don't know if this will take a huge amount of time (weeks maybe?). Pretty sure I have limitless downloads through my internet provider though.

I wonder if Migration Assistant would be quicker, but I'd be worried it could confuse things by creating two Photo's libraries and document libraries all trying to back up to iCloud? My iMac is set so that all original photos live on the Fusion drive (while iPhone and iPad just have optimised storage on). Would iCloud recognise that this is the same library being moved across the two computers?

I appreciate this is likely a very simple question, with a very obvious answer... but I want to be extra sure I get it right as I would be gutted to somehow mess up my photos library by doing something daft!

Thanks for any help/reassurance anyone can provide.

 

[4sallypat]

When I got the first M1 (Mini) in November on launch dat, I followed your same steps.
I had a Catalina 16" MBP that I wanted to transfer everything too....

At first I tried the iCloud sign in during setup, but did not complete and stopped midway - maybe it was wireless hiccups ? My M1 iMac on order - may try ethernet connection.

Then I tried the DMG snapshot I took of the MBP and tried to use Disk Utility to restore the image - failed. APFS were the formats on both sides so I am mystified to this day.

Lastly, after setting up the M1 to the desktop, I used Migration Assistant using my Time machine backup of the MBP.

Success!

Everything went well except for some obscure programs that are not AS native (nor Rosetta2) would not run...

 

[QuiteGrumpy]

When I got first M1 (Mini) in November, I followed your same steps.
I had a Catalina 16" MBP that I wanted to transfer everything too....

At first I tried the iCloud sign in during setup, but did not complete and stopped midway - maybe it was wireless hiccups ? My M1 iMac on order - may try ethernet connection.

Then I tried the DMG snapshot I took of the MBP and tried to use Disk Utility to restore the image - failed. APFS were the formats on both sides so I am mystified to this day.

Lastly, after setting up the M1 to the desktop, I used Migration Assistant using my Time machine backup of the MBP.

Success!

Everything went well except for some obscure programs that are not AS native (nor Rosetta2) would not run...

Thanks for your answer. So, no problems with iCloud recognising that you created a duplicate Photos library with Migration Assistant?

I haven't got a Time Machine Back Up presently (trusting it all to iCloud), so maybe need to get myself a new external drive and create one.

Thanks

 

[fivenotrump]

[...]

I haven't got a Time Machine Back Up presently (trusting it all to iCloud), so maybe need to get myself a new external drive and create one.

yes you do: not 'maybe'!

 

[KeithJenner]

I always set up new computers or devices from new. It gives the opportunity to review things and not install anything that you don't want to bring across. However, this is obviously personal choice.

iCloud makes this very easy to transfer your documents, but as you say, this can be quite time consuming to download everything (total music library, documents and photos are around 2TB for me).

Therefore, I copy across the photo library and music files (which ensures that I have my originals rather than any mismatched cloud copies on my main Mac). Then when I open those apps and turn on iCloud it merges the two identical libraries which saves clogging up your internet for hours/days.

The same can be done with documents.

I've never had any problem doing it this way.

Edit - And yes, get an external for backup. Relying on one backup, especially iCloud which isn't really a backup service, is fairly risky. I have everything on iCloud, a local time machine and also an online backup service.

 

[QuiteGrumpy]

I always set up new computers or devices from new. It gives the opportunity to review things and not install anything that you don't want to bring across. However, this is obviously personal choice.

iCloud makes this very easy to transfer your documents, but as you say, this can be quite time consuming to download everything (total music library, documents and photos are around 2TB for me).

Therefore, I copy across the photo library and music files (which ensures that I have my originals rather than any mismatched cloud copies on my main Mac). Then when I open those apps and turn on iCloud it merges the two identical libraries which saves clogging up your internet for hours/days.

The same can be done with documents.

I've never had any problem doing it this way.

Edit - And yes, get an external for backup. Relying on one backup, especially iCloud which isn't really a backup service, is fairly risky. I have everything on iCloud, a local time machine and also an online backup service.

Great, this is what I’ll do. Reassured that iCloud recognises the identical library and merges. And as you say, if I’ve got a Time Machine backup that’s an extra level of confidence that I won’t lose everything. Final question, do you migrate from the old Mac or from the time machine backup? Does it matter which? Thanks 😊

 

[KeithJenner]

Great, this is what I’ll do. Reassured that iCloud recognises the identical library and merges. And as you say, if I’ve got a Time Machine backup that’s an extra level of confidence that I won’t lose everything. Final question, do you migrate from the old Mac or from the time machine backup? Does it matter which? Thanks 😊

I literally just copy the files across (either over wifi or using an external drive). Music and video files go into the "automatically add to" directories, the rest to the relevant locations.

 

[iDave]

I always set up new computers or devices from new. It gives the opportunity to review things and not install anything that you don't want to bring across. However, this is obviously personal choice.

Haven't done that for many years but I think it's time to do it this time. It'll take many extra hours but it's time to do some major decluttering.