Transfer 2012 mbp's system to 2016 mbp possible?

[sneak3]

Hey guys.

I have here what seems to be a simple question but I have no idea and have no way to test it before committing.

I have a fat macbook pro mid 2012 and I wanted to run a time machine, put it all in an external hdd, SELL the mbp, buy the new 2016 mbp and then finally transfer everything back to the new machine to continue my work uninterrupted.

Is that possible at all? If so, can I keep my mid 2012 machine in El Capitan or do I need to update to sierra in order to perform such action?

 

[chabig]

What I would do is this:

1) Clone your current system to an external hard drive
2) When you first start the new MBP it'll give you the option to migrate from an older machine--do it from the external drive
3) There is no step three

Even better, avoid the external drive by migrating your old MBP to the new MBP directly first. Then sell the old MBP.

 

[rawweb]

Time machine is incredible at migrating your computer flawlessly. Grab an external drive and back the 2012 up using Time Machine via system preferences. Plug the drive into the new machine and during the setup process, you can migrate everything from your old machine. It will literally be like nothing happened. If you never had to do this before, it's one of the best reasons for owning a Mac. If you've already set up the new Mac, just launch Migration Assistant from spotlight, and the same process will engage.

 

[sneak3]

What I would do is this:

1) Clone your current system to an external hard drive
2) When you first start the new MBP it'll give you the option to migrate from an older machine--do it from the external drive
3) There is no step three

You can avoid the external drive by migrating your old MBP to the new MBP directly first. Then sell the old MBP.

I have to sell it first, unfortunately.

So by clone you mean timemachine, right?


And guys, what about the fact 2016 models should not be running with El Capitan?

 

[rawweb]

I have to sell it first, unfortunately.

So by clone you mean timemachine, right?


And guys, what about the fact 2016 models should not be running with El Capitan?

Migration assistant won't care if you're running El Capitan. It was built to just this. Get the external drive and backup everything using Time Machine in system preferences. You'll be golden.

 

[DeltaMac]

If your time machine backup was from Snow Leopard, or something older, then that might be challenging.
But, one version newer, El Capitan to Sierra, as others have said, should be no problem at all.

 

[sneak3]

Thanks guys, case closed!

 

[chabig]

So by clone you mean timemachine, right?

That's one way, but a simpler way is to just "clone" the internal drive to an external drive. Think of time machine as a repository of backups, while a clone is a file for file duplicate hard drive. The clone is simpler because it doesn't carry the overhead associated with a system of backups. Here is good webpage that discusses how to do it using three free tools:

http://www.macinstruct.com/node/147

 

[rawweb]

That's one way, but a simpler way is to just "clone" the internal drive to an external drive. Think of time machine as a repository of backups, while a clone is a file for file duplicate hard drive. The clone is simpler because it doesn't carry the overhead associated with a system of backups. Here is good webpage that discusses how to do it using three free tools:

http://www.macinstruct.com/node/147

One run of time machine and OP is done. It's really the least complicated way to do it, don't you agree?

I say use the tools already available to you, no reason to complicate further.