Upgrading from 256g to 128g problem?

[emembee]

Moved from another forum as no response, hope this is correct place?

I am upgrading from am older MBP with 256 SSD Drive to a newer MBP nTB 128 SSD and am wondering what happens to my data. My current drive is nearly half full according to My finder which says I have 140g free but what happens when I add data, which I will keep in iCloud? I can see there is a big mobiledocs folder plus a lot of other stuff in my library and don’t understand how there will be enough space, or does Apple handle it all transparently?

I am nervous at moving to something smaller but my actual data is relatively small, photos and music and documents are no more than about 30 gig (I don’t store or download videos) it seems most of the space is taken up by system and in the library, plus the applications.

Many thanks.

 

[avz]

I am confused: from 256 to 128 is a downshifting, not an upgrade.
I believe the bare minimum Apple sells these days is 256.

 

[emembee]

The cpu is an upgrade and I am getting 16g ram. Mint condition at v g price but am concerned about space, I do have large iCloud storage bu5 it’s all those library files tha5 confuse me!

 

[avz]

The cpu is an upgrade and I am getting 16g ram. Mint condition at v g price but am concerned about space, I do have large iCloud storage bu5 it’s all those library files tha5 confuse me!

If 128 is soldered, don’t do it, it is a downgrade. More RAM is good but CPU wouldn’t make a huge difference.

 

[emembee]

If 128 is soldered, don’t do it, it is a downgrade. More RAM is good but CPU wouldn’t make a huge difference.

Yes I understand that, the Mac is effectively being given to me by a friend. The question is if Apple can handle the lack of space with their own algorithms or would I be risking my data? I have only 30 gig max worth of documents inc photos but have iCloud 200 gig. My apps are max 20 gig. It is the Library containers and all that stuff that worries me.

 

[velocityg4]

Just put everything in iCloud on the old Mac. Then when you setup the new Mac. Choose the iClous drive and photos options to save space. Then it’ll sort itself out.

 

[emembee]

I plan to do that but can’t work out what happens to the Library folder which is 49 gig. Guess I’ll test it first with clean install to see what happens. Thanks

 

[icanhazmac]

The question is if Apple can handle the lack of space with their own algorithms or would I be risking my data?

Your MBP will not handle anything via its own "algorithms", if you don't have the space, you don't have the space and will need to compensate with either an external drive or as @velocityg4 suggested use icloud drive to store some of your data.

 

[arche3]

What is this algorithm you speaks of.

 

[mk313]

I think you'll be alight if you use iCloud. I had a similar situation upgrading from a 128 gb iPhone 7 to a 64 gb iPhone 8 a while back. I had more than 64 gigs of stuff on my 7, and I upgraded using iCloud, and it optimized storage (only downloading some photos, some docs, etc), and I had no issues at all.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Moved from another forum as no response, hope this is correct place?

I am upgrading from am older MBP with 256 SSD Drive to a newer MBP nTB 128 SSD and am wondering what happens to my data. My current drive is nearly half full according to My finder which says I have 140g free but what happens when I add data, which I will keep in iCloud? I can see there is a big mobiledocs folder plus a lot of other stuff in my library and don’t understand how there will be enough space, or does Apple handle it all transparently?

I am nervous at moving to something smaller but my actual data is relatively small, photos and music and documents are no more than about 30 gig (I don’t store or download videos) it seems most of the space is taken up by system and in the library, plus the applications.

Many thanks.

Unless you are specifically referring to your Documents and Desktop folders, your data in iCloud ought to be mostly separate from the data being used on your Mac. The only exceptions to this will be the data for Contacts, Calendar, Reminders, Notes, iCloud Photos, and your iCloud-provided e-mail account. If you only have 30GB between all of this, then you ought to be fine. That said, 128GB is seriously small and, as others have said, a downgrade in storage (even if it's otherwise an upgrade (though even then, that's probably debatable, seeing as the non-touch Bar USB-C based MacBook Pros were more closely related to the 2011-2017 MacBook Airs than they were to any pre-USB-C Retina 13" MacBook Pro).

 

[Yebubbleman]

Unless you are specifically referring to your Documents and Desktop folders, your data in iCloud ought to be mostly separate from the data being used on your Mac. The only exceptions to this will be the data for Contacts, Calendar, Reminders, Notes, iCloud Photos, and your iCloud-provided e-mail account. If you only have 30GB between all of this, then you ought to be fine. That said, 128GB is seriously small and, as others have said, a downgrade in storage (even if it's otherwise an upgrade (though even then, that's probably debatable, seeing as the non-touch Bar USB-C based MacBook Pros were more closely related to the 2011-2017 MacBook Airs than they were to any pre-USB-C Retina 13" MacBook Pro).

That all being said, the drive in that one is replaceable. There are no third party drives that I'm aware of, but you can probably find one on eBay, either standalone or currently inside a version of your Mac that is otherwise non-functional.

 

[HDFan]

A couple of concerns:

1. Remember to keep 20 to 30% of your boot drive free on the new system

2. iCloud is not a backup. Before you start this process you should have a 3-2-1 backup strategy in place.