Using Same External Storage Drive With New Mac Studio

[Gmouse]

My main computer was a 2020 iMac 27" with Intel CPU and I had a RAID-1 4 GB external Thunderbolt 3 drive connected to it for additional storage. I just upgraded to a 2023 Mac Studio w/M2 Ultra, and want to use the same external drive with it. Although I am using the same username/password on both computes so things are the same...I screwed up and the actual account names are not the same (so the two User Folders have different names). Both computers are on same version macOS Sonoma 14.0.

Can I just eject and unplug the external drive and plug it in to the new computer and it will seamlessly work, or will I be locked out of the drive and have to logon to it with the old account name or something? The external drive is not encrypted. I CAN temporarily copy the storage drive files to the old computer HD, then attach the drive to the new computer and reformat it and all...but would rather not if I don't need to.

Thanks!

 

[BrianBaughn]

The drive should mount on the new Mac Studio without any issues. A seamless transition depends on for what you have been using the drive.

One simple example: If you had aliases or symbolic links on your iMac pointing to folders on the external…those would have to be redone.

 

[Fishrrman]

"Although I am using the same username/password on both computers so things are the same...I screwed up and the actual account names are not the same (so the two User Folders have different names)."

Sounds like you didn't do "a proper migration".
This is what happens when folks are "overly enthusiastic" and open/try to set up their new Macs without paying attention to migration as offered by the setup assistant.

I think you need to resolve the problem with the old/new user accounts before going further.

 

[xraydoc]

My main computer was a 2020 iMac 27" with Intel CPU and I had a RAID-1 4 GB external Thunderbolt 3 drive connected to it for additional storage. I just upgraded to a 2023 Mac Studio w/M2 Ultra, and want to use the same external drive with it. Although I am using the same username/password on both computes so things are the same...I screwed up and the actual account names are not the same (so the two User Folders have different names). Both computers are on same version macOS Sonoma 14.0.

Can I just eject and unplug the external drive and plug it in to the new computer and it will seamlessly work, or will I be locked out of the drive and have to logon to it with the old account name or something? The external drive is not encrypted. I CAN temporarily copy the storage drive files to the old computer HD, then attach the drive to the new computer and reformat it and all...but would rather not if I don't need to.

Thanks!

Why can't you just plug the drive into the new machine and go? Unless you've set up some hard links or very specific file access privileges, I don't see why it wouldn't just work, regardless of the usernames on the computer.