Migration from Air to iMac

[reuptake]

What is the easiest method of connecting MacBook Air to iMac? I'm planning to migrate to iMac and I don't want to do it via WiFi. I don't have Ethernet adapter for MBA. What cable should I get, that is not too expensive?

 

[Rok73]

You would need a Thunderbolt cable for that. Shouldn't be more than 10 bucks from a 3rd party seller.

 

[reuptake]

Sorry for dummy question: do I put the cable into display port slot on MBA?

 

[CoastalOR]

OP: It is hard to answer your question without knowing what year the MBA and iMac are so we can determine what ports you have available. The Thunderbolt cable option will not work unless you MBA is new enough to have Thunderbolt.

You could also use Migration Assistant by connecting your Time Machine backup from the MBA to the iMac.

 

[reuptake]

It's MacBookAir6,2 (bought 3 years ago) and I plan to purchase new iMac.

 

[Weaselboy]

It's MacBookAir6,2 (bought 3 years ago) and I plan to purchase new iMac.

The new iMac does not have a Thunderbolt connection like the Air does, so you would need the Apple USB-C to TB adaptor, then a TB cable on top of that. That is a bunch of money for something you will only use once.

You can import (migrate) from a Time Machine backup. Do you have a Time Machine backup on an external USB drive? Just plug that into the new iMac and import from there.

 

[Boyd01]

You can import (migrate) from a Time Machine backup.

Also works well with a Carbon Copy clone of your old computer. 🙂

 

[Weaselboy]

Also works well with a Carbon Copy clone of your old computer. 🙂

Yep... that would work. Or you could even clone the Air drive to an external drive using Disk Utility's restore feature, and migrate from that.