Migrating Data to new M1 MBP

[deeddawg]

all in one adapter dongle with USB A for the external drive so I can restore time machine into the new m1 mac

Lots of choices on the market - generally the good stuff isn't cheap.

I own a Caldigit TS3+ which is superb as a single-cable Thunderbolt/USBC docking solution. Ain't cheap though.

I also own this hub - I chose it for the long cable so it can sit in one spot at my desk and provide both power plus external HDMI monitor connection. It's just HDMI+power-passthru+four-USBA, though it works pretty well. Note that the USBA ports are 5Gbps, not 10GBps, so I'm seeing ~330MBps on an external SSD vs. the ~780MBps I see on a 10Gbps connection.

LENTION 3.3FT Long Cable USB C Multiport Hub with 4K HDMI, 4 USB 3.0, Type C Charging Compatible 2023-2016 MacBook Pro, New Mac Air/iMac/Mac Mini, More, Stable Driver Adapter (C35-1M, Space Gray)

LENTION USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter with 4K HDMI, 4-Port USB 3.0 and Power Delivery (3.3FT)

www.amazon.com

 

[walterpaisley]

I am getting ready to purchase an M1 MBA. I have a VERY OLD Mid 2010 MBP i7 dual core 2.66 GHz that is running OS X High Sierra all updates installed, no other OS Higher officially supported. The only thing I care about on this old machine is iTunes or now called the Music app and iBooks. I do have Time Machine backups thru a FireWire 800 external drive and the same drive also has USB 2.0. This MBP doesn’t have USB 3.0. What would be the best to migrate this off to an M1 MBA? Thru the external Time Machine backup drive or do Target Disk mode to the old MBP? If target disk mode is recommended, how would the connection be? Is it thru USB, FireWire 800, or thru a crossover ethernet cable? This would be my first migration on a Mac. So any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Easiest process would be to back up the 2010 machine to an external drive that supports firewire (for the 2010 machine) and USB 3.0 for the new MBA. Carbon Cloner Copy works great and has a free fully-functional demo peiod.

Once you've backed up the MBP plug the drive into the MBA. Run through the base system setup process on the MBA and when you get to the option to transfer data this is where you select your external drive. Migration assistant should see the drive and you can start the tranfer from there.

 

[pop2video]

Lots of choices on the market - generally the good stuff isn't cheap.

I own a Caldigit TS3+ which is superb as a single-cable Thunderbolt/USBC docking solution. Ain't cheap though.

I also own this hub - I chose it for the long cable so it can sit in one spot at my desk and provide both power plus external HDMI monitor connection. It's just HDMI+power-passthru+four-USBA, though it works pretty well. Note that the USBA ports are 5Gbps, not 10GBps, so I'm seeing ~330MBps on an external SSD vs. the ~780MBps I see on a 10Gbps connection.

LENTION 3.3FT Long Cable USB C Multiport Hub with 4K HDMI, 4 USB 3.0, Type C Charging Compatible 2023-2016 MacBook Pro, New Mac Air/iMac/Mac Mini, More, Stable Driver Adapter (C35-1M, Space Gray)

LENTION USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter with 4K HDMI, 4-Port USB 3.0 and Power Delivery (3.3FT)

www.amazon.com

Yeah thanks I actually have the verbatim dongle and the usb c to usb a. I’m wondering if anyone actually tried with external drive time machine transfer to m1 MacBook and not being brick

 

[chakrasan]

I am getting ready to purchase an M1 MBA. I have a VERY OLD Mid 2010 MBP i7 dual core 2.66 GHz that is running OS X High Sierra all updates installed, no other OS Higher officially supported. The only thing I care about on this old machine is iTunes or now called the Music app and iBooks. I do have Time Machine backups thru a FireWire 800 external drive and the same drive also has USB 2.0. This MBP doesn’t have USB 3.0. What would be the best to migrate this off to an M1 MBA? Thru the external Time Machine backup drive or do Target Disk mode to the old MBP? If target disk mode is recommended, how would the connection be? Is it thru USB, FireWire 800, or thru a crossover ethernet cable? This would be my first migration on a Mac. So any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Did you ever see a response to your question? I just bought a new MBP M1 and I want to migrate my old MBP (late 2011) to it. Not sure how to???

 

[Johnny907]

Migrating was effectively the same as any other Mac in the past. Power it on, connect to my network, select latest Time Machine backup from my NAS and then wait an hour or two for it to download and install. I considered making a new backup to an external SSD to speed things up but eh, it took less than two hours over an ethernet connection so I started it before leaving the house on a Costco run and it was done when I got home.

 

[lcubed]

Did you ever see a response to your question? I just bought a new MBP M1 and I want to migrate my old MBP (late 2011) to it. Not sure how to???

i did exactly that migration from a MacBook Pro 8,1 to my new MBP M1.

i had migrated the internal drive years ago to an SSD, but that shouldn't matter.

i ordered the cheapest usb 3.0 enclosure

UGREEN 2.5" Hard Drive Enclosure USB C 3.1 Gen 2 to SATA III 6Gbps for SSD HDD 9.5 7mm External Hard Drive Disk Case with UASP Compatible with WD Seagate Toshiba Samsung Hitachi PS4 Xbox Router

Great Portability for Your 2.5" Hard Drive. Ideal for harnessing your old 2.5" HDD and SSD hard drive as an external USB drive, the USB-C hard drive enclosure will provide you with greater convenience of use and versatility of digital data storage. An ideal choice for digital lovers, movie lovers...

www.amazon.com

and popped open the old MBP by removing the small philips screws from the bottom.
remove a couple of more screws to release the SATA 2.5" drive.

install into the enclosure and use the included USB 3.0 cable to attach to the M1.

boot the new M1, and select the migration assistant from drive option.

worked like a charm transferring all my selected data.

hope this helps

 

[Clausewitz]

If it is mere files you are looking to transfer then I have only one word: Cloud.

 

[Modernape]

Did you ever see a response to your question? I just bought a new MBP M1 and I want to migrate my old MBP (late 2011) to it. Not sure how to???

Ethernet cable from the old Mac, via an Ethernet-to-USB-C adapter into new Mac. Migration assistant from there.

 

[chakrasan]

After reading much about this the last couple of days, here is what I think(?) I want to do: I wanted to buy a SSD External drive anyway (looking at the Samsung T7, or the Sandisk Extreme Pro?) so get one and format it Apple Extended journaled from the 2011 MBP, and doing a TM backup of the 2011 MBP to it. Then use Migration Assistant on the M1 and bring that in from the Time Machine backup on the external. If all goes well, and the M1 is up and running, I'll reformat the external to APFS and use it only with the new M1. Am I thinking straight? Missing something? Thanks for your help! The M1 has shipped from China...won't be delivered until the 12th.

 

[lcubed]

After reading much about this the last couple of days, here is what I think(?) I want to do: I wanted to buy a SSD External drive anyway (looking at the Samsung T7, or the Sandisk Extreme Pro?) so get one and format it Apple Extended journaled from the 2011 MBP, and doing a TM backup of the 2011 MBP to it. Then use Migration Assistant on the M1 and bring that in from the Time Machine backup on the external. If all goes well, and the M1 is up and running, I'll reformat the external to APFS and use it only with the new M1. Am I thinking straight? Missing something? Thanks for your help! The M1 has shipped from China...won't be delivered until the 12th.

the limitation is copying from the old MBP to the new T7.
there are no really fast ports between that mac and the external SSD.

for the amount of time required to create the time machine backup,
it's far faster to transfer the internal drive to an external enclosure
and plug that in into the M1 mac.

if resources allow, i would buy both the T7 and the external enclosure.

look on the OWC website for their SSD installer video.
on a scale of 1 to 10, access to the MBP8,1 internal drive is about 1.

 

[chakrasan]

the limitation is copying from the old MBP to the new T7.
there are no really fast ports between that mac and the external SSD.

for the amount of time required to create the time machine backup,
it's far faster to transfer the internal drive to an external enclosure
and plug that in into the M1 mac.

if resources allow, i would buy both the T7 and the external enclosure.

look on the OWC website for their SSD installer video.
on a scale of 1 to 10, access to the MBP8,1 internal drive is about 1.

Thanks. I see your point, but I have plenty of time! LOL. I'll consider that option.

 

[jsoto]

jsoto said:
I am getting ready to purchase an M1 MBA. I have a VERY OLD Mid 2010 MBP i7 dual core 2.66 GHz that is running OS X High Sierra all updates installed, no other OS Higher officially supported. The only thing I care about on this old machine is iTunes or now called the Music app and iBooks. I do have Time Machine backups thru a FireWire 800 external drive and the same drive also has USB 2.0. This MBP doesn’t have USB 3.0. What would be the best to migrate this off to an M1 MBA? Thru the external Time Machine backup drive or do Target Disk mode to the old MBP? If target disk mode is recommended, how would the connection be? Is it thru USB, FireWire 800, or thru a crossover ethernet cable? This would be my first migration on a Mac. So any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Did you ever see a response to your question? I just bought a new MBP M1 and I want to migrate my old MBP (late 2011) to it. Not sure how to??

Hello this is what I did. My old 2010 MBP was using iCloud. So I did not use the migration assistant and I just copied all my files to iCloud Drive. My Photos were already on iCloud. So I just let iCloud download all my content what I want to the M1 MBP. I then just migrated my iTunes over to the M1. I did a complete posting on how I did the iTunes migration. Everything worked out well Basically did the full migration without using Migration assistant. Just used iCloud and only manually migrated iTunes. I do have Apple Music and iTunes Match. Here is how I did the iTunes part. The rest was all iCloud no fuss with that. It worked out really well.

Migrating iTunes Library from MBP on High Sierra to MBA M1 on Big Sur with iCloud Music Library, iTunes Match, & Apple Music Subscriptions?

It looks fine. I proceeded with deauthorizing the computer and signed out of the Music app. The Music App now is clean. I am now going to copy my media over and try importing my iTunes library via the Option-Start Music and choose my iTunes Library file for importing.

forums.macrumors.com

 

[chakrasan]

Hello this is what I did. My old 2010 MBP was using iCloud. So I did not use the migration assistant and I just copied all my files to iCloud Drive. My Photos were already on iCloud. So I just let iCloud download all my content what I want to the M1 MBP. I then just migrated my iTunes over to the M1. I did a complete posting on how I did the iTunes migration. Everything worked out well Basically did the full migration without using Migration assistant. Just used iCloud and only manually migrated iTunes. I do have Apple Music and iTunes Match. Here is how I did the iTunes part. The rest was all iCloud no fuss with that. It worked out really well.

Migrating iTunes Library from MBP on High Sierra to MBA M1 on Big Sur with iCloud Music Library, iTunes Match, & Apple Music Subscriptions?

It looks fine. I proceeded with deauthorizing the computer and signed out of the Music app. The Music App now is clean. I am now going to copy my media over and try importing my iTunes library via the Option-Start Music and choose my iTunes Library file for importing.

forums.macrumors.com

Thanks. I too am using iCloud for everything I can, but I need to migrate over a whole bunch of applications that are also on my old MBP as well. Can't do that from iCloud...right?

 

[jsoto]

Thanks. I too am using iCloud for everything I can, but I need to migrate over a whole bunch of applications that are also on my old MBP as well. Can't do that from iCloud...right?

I'll be honest this was my first MAC upgrade. I am well versed in Windows as I am an IT Admin for my company. I assumed you cannot migrate applications over on a MAC only data, I may be wrong?? For applications you would need the installers to install the applications over to the new MAC. If they are Mac App Store applications well those are pretty easy to reinstall. For any purchased applications you would need the installers and the appropriate software key if required. In my case I had all the installers and keys so reinstallation of software was not an issue for my part. I also did not want to use Migration Assistant as my original 2010 was on Snow Leopard and did every Mac OS upgrade up to High Sierra on it and never did a clean install just upgrades all the way thru that is a lot of years without a clean install worked liked a champ. For the M1 I wanted to start fresh and not bring any old stuff or lingering stuff over. So I only installed the applications that I use and need. The data was all taken care via iCloud. Only manual part was just the iTunes migration. I did even have to do that as I have Apple Music with iCloud Music Library, but I like having all my music on my local machine, that way I can burn up a music CD for when I want to and unplug and just go old school.

 

[MorganB]

I'll be honest this was my first MAC upgrade. I am well versed in Windows as I am an IT Admin for my company. I assumed you cannot migrate applications over on a MAC only data, I may be wrong?? For applications you would need the installers to install the applications over to the new MAC. If they are Mac App Store applications well those are pretty easy to reinstall. For any purchased applications you would need the installers and the appropriate software key if required. In my case I had all the installers and keys so reinstallation of software was not an issue for my part. I also did not want to use Migration Assistant as my original 2010 was on Snow Leopard and did every Mac OS upgrade up to High Sierra on it and never did a clean install just upgrades all the way thru that is a lot of years without a clean install worked liked a champ. For the M1 I wanted to start fresh and not bring any old stuff or lingering stuff over. So I only installed the applications that I use and need. The data was all taken care via iCloud. Only manual part was just the iTunes migration. I did even have to do that as I have Apple Music with iCloud Music Library, but I like having all my music on my local machine, that way I can burn up a music CD for when I want to and unplug and just go old school.

You can migrate applications. It migrates everything basically and makes a mirror image on your new drive. The only catch with apps is some that require keys notice that its a new computer so you need to enter your key again to activate on the new device.

 

[KPOM]

I'll be honest this was my first MAC upgrade. I am well versed in Windows as I am an IT Admin for my company. I assumed you cannot migrate applications over on a MAC only data, I may be wrong?? For applications you would need the installers to install the applications over to the new MAC.

As the other poster said, apps migrate as well, though you may need to re-enter license keys (and de-activate them on your old Mac, or contact the vendor to "reset" them). Migration Assistant is one of the best features of macOS. Migrating to a new Mac takes minutes with the right tools.

You can migrate over wi-fi, but it's much faster if you clone your old Mac's drive to an external SSD, or put your old Mac in Target Disk Mode (assuming it has a Thunderbolt port) and connect it to your new Mac. Migration Assistant took about 15 minutes to transfer over 200GB of data and apps from a backup of my old Mac.

 

[Robert McNewbie]

As the other poster said, apps migrate as well, .....

I had hard time to imagine how that may work. How the Intel Office apps would migrate to become Universal Office apps to my M1? So I decided to use the iCloud for content and Keychain "migration" and I installed the apps from store / web. Not all apps, some that I did not use or replaced. It's true that this way I had to spend some time to configure the settings of the apps to my liking but this gave me the opportunity to have a look tho the recent upgrades of these apps.

 

[KPOM]

I had hard time to imagine how that may work. How the Intel Office apps would migrate to become Universal Office apps to my M1? So I decided to use the iCloud for content and Keychain "migration" and I installed the apps from store / web. Not all apps, some that I did not use or replaced. It's true that this way I had to spend some time to configure the settings of the apps to my liking but this gave me the opportunity to have a look tho the recent upgrades of these apps.

I migrated from an Intel MacBook Pro to an M1 MacBook Air on November 17 ("Day 1") with no issues. The next time the apps updated, if there was an M1 version available it would install.