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Migration Assistant

D

dugzy33

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 30, 2019
11
8
Just got my new iMac.
I was wondering what the best way to migrate from my MacBook Air that has time machine on an external drive would be?
Can I just plug the external drive into my new mac?

I've only had the air for 8 months and don’t have a bunch of stuff but I do want to have the same setup.
thanks.
Doug
 
I did Mac to Mac and migration assistant worked for me going from a very old 2011 iMac to a 2020 iMac. I left it overnight and all my data seems to be where it should be on the new Mac.
 
I did migration assistant for the first time from a late 2015 Fusion Drive iMac to 2020 iMac, all under 10.15.6. Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter then Thunderbolt 2 cable and Target Disk Mode.
 
pldelisle said:
Manually copy your files from one Mac to the other is always the best way. I never trusted migration assistants.
Click to expand...

I did this when I upgraded to a new MBP from a 2011 or so MBP. Manually moved things and in the process realized there was a lot i just didn't need or want anymore.

New iMac should be here today or tomorrow and ill be doing the same when I transfer things from my late 2014 iMac. It's always nice to start fresh. Only thing I'll use migration assistant for probably is mail.
 
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dugzy33 said:
Just got my new iMac.
I was wondering what the best way to migrate from my MacBook Air that has time machine on an external drive would be?
Can I just plug the external drive into my new mac?
Click to expand...

Yep just plug your external drive into your new iMac and during the initial startup of your new Mac it will ask you if you want to transfer information from a time machine backup - just select your external drive. I have always used migration assistant and it has always worked fine, particularly as your Air is still relatively new, you will not be moving too much old junk onto your new Mac. It is the easiest way to set up a new Mac.

Edit - don’t use a time machine backup for a migration if you can use the old Mac instead. See below.
 
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Fishrrman's "you can do it!" routine for migrating to a new Mac:

If you follow my instructions below, I guarantee a success rate of 98%:
PRINT OUT these instructions and check them off as you go along.

1. BEFORE you do anything else, run a "final" backup on your old Mac. Use an external drive for this. It can be either TM or a cloned backup using CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper. I prefer CCC.
I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO NOT USE TM AS YOUR "MIGRATION EXTERNAL DRIVE". INSTEAD, USE EITHER CCC OR SD. Things will go better this way!
2. Shut down the old Mac and disconnect the external drive
3. Take the new Mac out of the box and set it up on the table. DO NOT PRESS THE POWER ON BUTTON until step 8 (read on). You don't want to begin setup until "the right moment".
4. If you're using an external display, connect the display using the usb-c/VGA adapter/cable that you have
5. Connect the keyboard and mouse if you use them. I STRONGLY SUGGEST that you connect them DIRECTLY to the Mac.
6. If you use a hub, leave it DISCONNECTED for now
7. Connect your backup drive -- use a usb-c adapter if needed.

OK, we're ready-to-go, so let's get goin':
8. Press the power on button for the first time.
9. The new Mac may ask for help "finding" the keyboard, just follow instructions.
10. Begin setup. At the appropriate moment, setup assistant will ask if you wish to migrate from another Mac or drive. YES, you want to do this.
11. "Aim" setup assistant at the external backup. Setup assistant will need a little time to "digest it all". BE PATIENT and give setup assistant the time it needs.
12. You will now see a list of things that can be migrated, such as applications, accounts, settings and data.
13. I suggest that you select ALL of them.
14. Let setup assistant "do its thing". It's going to TAKE A WHILE to move things over. Again, be patient. If you have a lot "of stuff", it will take a lot of time!
15. When done, you should see the login screen. Go ahead and login.
16. Once logged in, things should look pretty much as they looked on your old Mac.
17. You should check all your apps. Some may not run, and may require upgrading.
18. You can set aside the old backup, or ... "repurpose it" to become the backup for the new Mac. I'd keep the old one around for a week or so, at least.
 
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Sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote my previous post, I completely agree with @Fishrrman. Don’t use a time machine backup with Migration Assistant, use your Air as the Migration Assistant source ( you will need to have both machines on the same network). Looking at @Fishrrman advice he suggests using a carbon copy cloner backup rather than the Air itself. I am sure he has a good reason, but I have never had a problem using Migration assistant from one Mac to another (I presume a directly connected copy of the system drive will allow a quicker migration).
 
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This does not really answer the OP, but may be useful for those planning to use migration assistant to transfer from an old imac to a new 2020 imac:
I can highly recommend interconnecting the two machines directly with an ethernet cable. It automatically detected the ethernet connection (you don't need to do anything to activate it) and used that instead of the "peer-to-peer" wifi connection, and reported a transfer rate of about 100MB/s. It transferred my 400GB in less than hour, with no issues at all.
 
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I hope this isn't too maive a question. Is migration assistant recommended if coming from an older mac using Catalina that has some OS glitches? In other words, are you better off starting from scratch and just transferring data over, or is it not an issue because the new computer starts with a clean version of the OS?
 
jazzer15 said:
I hope this isn't too maive a question. Is migration assistant recommended if coming from an older mac using Catalina that has some OS glitches? In other words, are you better off starting from scratch and just transferring data over, or is it not an issue because the new computer starts with a clean version of the OS?
Click to expand...

Depends on the "glitches" you are referring to. Can you elaborate? Knowing what those glitches are would help everyone advise you.

But in general, it's always nice to start from scratch to get rid of built up cruft from over the years.
 
jazzer15 said:
I hope this isn't too maive a question. Is migration assistant recommended if coming from an older mac using Catalina that has some OS glitches? In other words, are you better off starting from scratch and just transferring data over, or is it not an issue because the new computer starts with a clean version of the OS?
Click to expand...

That describes my situation exactly. I had an old machine with 500 gb, 150 gb free, with some OS glitches from 6 years of updates.

I decided to do a clean install and just copy over files I wanted to keep going forward. Many settings, passwords, browsing history were automatically transferred via iCloud. I also freed up 130 gb of space.

Why would it be an issue?
 
Menthol said:
Depends on the "glitches" you are referring to. Can you elaborate? Knowing what those glitches are would help everyone advise you.

But in general, it's always nice to start from scratch to get rid of built up cruft from over the years.
Click to expand...

Most of the problem has to do with Mail, so I guess it's not really an OS glitch as much as probably a setting problem or something within mail. I never had any problems prior to upgrading to Catalina. I also have an app or 2 that crashes from time to time, but I believe that is probably an app issue rather than anything to do with the system software.
 
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Mikeeee said:
That describes my situation exactly. I had an old machine with 500 gb, 150 gb free, with some OS glitches from 6 years of updates.

I decided to do a clean install and just copy over files I wanted to keep going forward. Many settings, passwords, browsing history were automatically transferred via iCloud. I also freed up 130 gb of space.

Why would it be an issue?
Click to expand...

The clean install wouldn't be an issue, just a little time consuming. What I was asking was whether using migration assistant is essentially a clean install from the perspective of settings and things operating under the hood. I've never used it before when changing computers. But I gather after 3 OS upgrades I would probably be bringing a lot of unnecessary, potentially problematic stuff over for no reason and manually transferring over data and setting things up myself mannually might be the safer bet.
 
jazzer15 said:
The clean install wouldn't be an issue, just a little time consuming. What I was asking was whether using migration assistant is essentially a clean install from the perspective of settings and things operating under the hood. I've never used it before when changing computers. But I gather after 3 OS upgrades I would probably be bringing a lot of unnecessary, potentially problematic stuff over for no reason and manually transferring over data and setting things up myself mannually might be the safer bet.
Click to expand...
What you can do is first try the migration assistant to transfer everything over, as this is a huge timesaver not having to install apps, drivers etc. etc. Then see if you still have the same glitches. If you do, then use Recovery to start completely over from fresh and do a clean install. There is no risk in trying the Migration Assistant.
 
lowfreq said:
I did this when I upgraded to a new MBP from a 2011 or so MBP. Manually moved things and in the process realized there was a lot i just didn't need or want anymore.

New iMac should be here today or tomorrow and ill be doing the same when I transfer things from my late 2014 iMac. It's always nice to start fresh. Only thing I'll use migration assistant for probably is mail.
Click to expand...

I second this. Sure it takes time to do it manually, but i found as i was doing it last time there was a ton of stuff i ended up deciding to not bring over. It makes you actually think about what you do and don't need to bring over to the new machine. Also there's a lot of random junk files that i wouldn't have noticed get moved over if i let Migration Assistant do it. It may be placebo, but i feel like doing it manually and otherwise having a fresh start results in your system functioning better than it would if you just blanket copy over all the junk and garbage that's collected in your downloads folder and your documents folder and old settings files and all that.
 
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I just signed in to my new Mac with my iCloud credentials. This copied over most of my settings including my email settings. Most of my documents are on iCloud or on my NAS with my larger files. I am manually reinstalling my apps and will be pulling down my source code repos from Github, Bitbucket etc.
 
Hi All

So Im trying to using migration assistant to transfer things (mainly mail) over from my 2014 iMac and am using the wired ethernet connection but the indicator lights are yellow and MA on the new iMac is not recognizing the old iMac. Suggestions?
 
lowfreq said:
Hi All

So Im trying to using migration assistant to transfer things (mainly mail) over from my 2014 iMac and am using the wired ethernet connection but the indicator lights are yellow and MA on the new iMac is not recognizing the old iMac. Suggestions?
Click to expand...

It is possible to connect two Macs via Ethernet Cable, but it is not as simple as just plugging the leads in, you have to create a network in Network Settings and enable sharing as well. To be honest I would just make sure that both are on the same Wifi Network, it is much easier than messing about with network settings, although the transfer may take a little longer.

If you really do want to use Ethernet you can take a look at the instructions here. If you scroll down the page you will see a 2nd way of doing it that is a little simpler.
 
James Craner said:
It is possible to connect two Macs via Ethernet Cable, but it is not as simple as just plugging the leads in, you have to create a network in Network Settings and enable sharing as well. To be honest I would just make sure that both are on the same Wifi Network, it is much easier than messing about with network settings, although the transfer may take a little longer.

If you really do want to use Ethernet you can take a look at the instructions here. If you scroll down the page you will see a 2nd way of doing it that is a little simpler.
Click to expand...

I would just use two ethernet cables, one from each Mac, to the router.
 
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