Migrating to a new mac. Clone or Time Machine?

[Tex-Twil]

Hi,
I will be migrating my MacBook Pro mid 2015 to a 2018 model. Is it better to restore from a time machine or to clone and restore the entire SSD to the new mac? I suppose that restoring a cloned SSD could maybe create some driver incompatibility as the hardware is different between those two macs as opposed to the time machine would restore only "user" data.

cheers,
Tex

 

[MBAir2010]

timjobs machine for the win!

 

[Ruggy]

Hi,
I will be migrating my MacBook Pro mid 2015 to a 2018 model. Is it better to restore from a time machine or to clone and restore the entire SSD to the new mac? I suppose that restoring a cloned SSD could maybe create some driver incompatibility as the hardware is different between those two macs as opposed to the time machine would restore only "user" data.

cheers,
Tex

I think you've answered your own question. I would just safeguard the data- and make sure as much is backed up to the cloud as possible-download and install any programs you need and then transfer the data across.
If you use the cloud for back-up then nearly everything will just pop up anyway when you log into apple-bookmarks, contacts, mail, photos music library....There isn't much else to do in my experience.
Besides driver issues as you said, I'll bet you've got loads of mess and rubbish you can do without so why not take your time and make sure you only transfer what you really need. There's no hurry if it's working is there? Maybe you can transfer everything to an external drive first if that's easier and you have one.
It's a good opportunity to reorganise some things too.
I haven't had a lot of luck with Time machine on a new machine either. Maybe it was me and it was a few years ago but but it wouldn't let me transfer anything to the new drive. It's great for when everything is working on the same drive but your drive needs exactly the same user name or something. I never worked it out but I've never really trusted it again.
Good luck.

 

[GGJstudios]

This may be useful: How to move your content to a new Mac

 

[Tex-Twil]

ok thanks for your answers, I think it's clear now

 

[Fishrrman]

I recommend a cloned backup instead of a TM backup.
Reason: the process will probably go much faster.

I also recommend that you read and follow these instructions:
#15
Read the followup posts and you'll see how it worked for that user.

 

[Tex-Twil]

I recommend a cloned backup instead of a TM backup.
Reason: the process will probably go much faster.

I also recommend that you read and follow these instructions:
#15
Read the followup posts and you'll see how it worked for that user.

ok thanks. You recommend a cloned backup but you link to a TM instructions It's ok though, I'll go with TM backup / restore

 

[Ruggy]

The problem with Time Machine is it doesn't give you access to individual files and it can only be interpreted by Time Machine nothing else. It puts everything into an image which a name like '45377789'.
Plus, it has security on it and if it decides you don't have user rights for some reason, then you have no access to your data and any attempt to access it corrupts the backup and it's gone.
It's great for an everyday back up for when you've deleted a file but if you really want to back up your data, then you need to have individual files that can be read by anything and not rely only on time machine
It's easy enough these days with SD cards costing a few dollars for 64B to copy and transfer data. I can't see why you don't start with a new OS and not have problems as you already pointed out, copy the stuff you know you want and gradually copy the rest across as you need it. You'll probably find there's loads of stuff you don't need and never use.
Sure, it's the quick way just to copy all your junk from one place to the next, but it isn't the best way.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote in #7 above:
"You recommend a cloned backup but you link to a TM instructions It's ok though, I'll go with TM backup / restore"

Yes, because I didn't feel like re-writing or editing the previous post...

I suggest using a cloned backup (for migrating) because it may go considerably faster.

TM will still get the job done.

 

[lexvo]

Today I migrated to my new iMac using a Carbon copy cloner backup (clone). It went all very smooth and everything is running fine