extended files sytem attributes

[timelessbeing]

Background:
I use custom Finder tags + Saved Searches extensively to organise the thousands of files I have. I find it is much more powerful than traditional folders. No more deciding where a file should be saved to make sure I'll remember where to find it. Just dump everything into one directory and apply all applicable tags related to the content. Create as many Saved Searches as necessary for frequently used documents. Files can appear simultaneously in as many different places as necessary. My current computer is the first place I've started using this system.

Situation:
I am planning to buy a new Mac computer, and so I'll need to migrate my data over to it, and I'm concerned with preserving my system. I've never tried moving it before. I've never tested to see if my tags would show up on another machine. I don't have another Mac at the moment.

These are my presumptions:

Tags
I am guessing that file tags are attributes of the Mac file system (and comments from the File Info too?). Is this info stored within, and travels with individual files? No, it's probably stored in a separate metadata catalog which is part of the volume. Or could it also be linked to the operating system or user account? This means tags would not be preserved on FAT/exFAT/NTFS disks. My external drives are Mac formatted. But I think Apple had a few different file systems too... HFS+, APFS, journaled, non-journaled etc. Are there minimum versions? How do I make sure my external drives will preserve them? I presume that services such as Google Drive, MS OneDrive, or my personal Nextcloud server will also not preserve them. I would hope that iCloud would.

Saved Searches
These are entities unique to MacOS too. I have the same questions about them. I already know that Google drive destroys aliases.

Permissions:
I've already experienced the hell that is Time Machine the last time I had to do a recovery. I was locked out of my files and it was a nightmare getting them back. I won't repeat that mistake again. If the user account on the new computer doesn't match in some way the "owner" set on the files, am I going to have problems? Should I set the permissions on all my stuff to 'everyone' first, or is there a way to turn off permission altogether?

I would really like to hear your experiences. Thanks.

 

[dsemf]

Permissions:
I've already experienced the hell that is Time Machine the last time I had to do a recovery. I was locked out of my files and it was a nightmare getting them back. I won't repeat that mistake again. If the computer user account on the new computer doesn't match in some way the "owner" set on the files, and I going to have problems? Should set the permissions on all my stuff to 'everyone' first, or is there a way to turn off permission altogether?

I would really like to hear your experiences. Thanks.

Unix security is based on the user id. To minimize file permission issues always create users in the same order since the user id is assigned sequentially.

To see the current ids for the users, use the follow terminal command replacing <username> with the appropriate value:

dscl . -read /Users/<username> UniqueID

If you just want your id:

id

DS

 

[mfram]

One thing I found when trying to migrate to a new Mac, do NOT create an account on the new machine with the same name you intend to migrate a user with Migration Wizard. That totally screws things up. When getting the new machine either migrate your user data during the initial setup process or create another temporary account with a different name if you want to migrate your old data later.

 

[Blowback]

Goes without saying to have a stable and current backup. Can you try a small file (as inconsequential as possible) at the local library or campus? Just to see if it works? Worst case scenario : you get the machine home but can't get the transfer to work to your liking. Return or send back the MAC. You have two weeks(?) to try it out.

 

[timelessbeing]

Does my 2014 MBP have target disk mode? What cables+dongles would I need to connect to a 2019 MBP?

 

[timelessbeing]

Yes this MBP has Target Disk Mode, but only via Thuderbolt. Since Apple charges $100 for an adapter+cable which I would use once and then throw in the closer, I opted against this route. USB isn't supported, which is sad because the cable is only $12.

I ended up using Migration Assistant over wifi, and it was very easy. It took around 45 mins.

All my tags and saved searches are intact and permissions were updated seamlessly.

 

[timelessbeing]

One thing I found when trying to migrate to a new Mac, do NOT create an account on the new machine with the same name you intend to migrate a user with Migration Assistant. That totally screws things up. When getting the new machine either migrate your user data during the initial setup process or create another temporary account with a different name if you want to migrate your old data later.

I did not migrate my data during initial setup. I went ahead and created a new account (with the exact same name and password as my old computer) and then I used the computer like that for a few days. Later on I ran Migration Assistant to transfer the data and settings from old laptop. The assistant asked if I wanted to overwrite the new account I had set up, and I chose yes. I had zero issues.