My New Mac Mini - A Quick Question about my Old iMac

[turnipfarmer]

Hey Guys

I have got my new Mac Mini and will set it up this week.

Now this is my only 2nd Mac, is there a certain order I have to setup my new Mac Mini and how to wipe my old iMac before selling?

Basically do I transfer what I need from old iMac etc onto external hard drives then deregister from iTunes, sign out of iCloud, sign out of imessage, reset NVRAM, reinstall new OSX? It mentions on the Apple website to unpair the mouse and keyboard but how would I do that if I need to use it on the iMac? Also I want to use these on the Mac Mini so how is best to do this?

Or

Do I setup the Mac Mini first, get all the bits up and running on this and then sort the old iMac for selling? My only worry in doing it this way is could there be conflicts in not deregistering bits on old iMac?

This might sound like few silly questions but I want to move to the new computer in the most simplest and easiest way possible.

 

[iluvmacs99]

Here are the steps when we prepared Macs for resale through our non-profit computer recycling facility thrift store, when I used to work for them as a Mac tech.

1, Clone the internal drive of the iMac computer to an external drive using Carbon Copy Cloner (30 days free trial)
2, deregister icloud and itunes on the iMac
3. deregister imessage on the iMac
4, Use disk utility when re-installing a new OS ontop of the iMac and select 7 pass formatting on your iMac's internal drive. This is the same as using DBAN to wipe the entire drive so no private files can be recovered.
5, After OS is installed, unpair the keyboard first and then unpair the mouse if you plan to re-sell the iMac without a keyboard and mouse. Keep them paired if you want to include them with the sale
6, Set up your new Mini with icloud, music app (no itunes in Catalina) and imessage
7, Attach your external drive to the Mini and use the migration assistant in the utilities folder to migrate your backup copy of your iMac on the external drive and it will migrate applications and files that are compatible with the Mac Mini to the Mini. This process is automated.

Hope this helps.

 

[Fishrrman]

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.

 

[Boyd01]

See this thread regarding moving your data

Quickest Way to Transfer Data from 2009 i7 iMac to 2018 Mac Mini?

I'm wondering if running Sierra in Parallels might be the best way to keep using 32-bit apps when I finally make the switch to a new Mac? Thinking about replacing two old Macs a Windows PC with one fully-loaded Mini with Parallels. Could really help keep the cost of this upgrade down if I can...

forums.macrumors.com

I will add, however, that I just got a new Mini and decided not to use the Migration Assistant approach (as I've done in the past). It went well, but definitely involved more work. Exported/imported all my Safari bookmarks but needed to manually re-enter all my web passwords, which was rather tedious.

For software, the things I got from the App Store (like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, etc) were simple enough. Have not decided how many of those big documents I actually want to move to the new machine. Office 365 was also quite simple to setup, and for Photoshop I finally gave up and signed up for their Photography plan and the current version is a big improvement over my ancient CS-3. I created a MacOS Sierra virtual machine with Parallels for my other legacy software. That works really well, but was a bit of a pain to setup.

So, it depends on your situation and needs. If your setup is pretty simple, Migration Assistant is very easy and has worked well for me in the past. Either way, I wouldn't make any changes to your old Mac until you've used the new one for awhile. That will give you backup in case you have problem or missed anything. And before you wipe the old Mac, I suggest that you make a clone with Carbon Copy and put that disk away somewhere, "just in case". This is what I always do and it has been a lifesaver a couple times.