Migrating from Time Machine backup of 1TB old Intel Mac to new Silicon Mac with less storage

[hajime]

Hi, in the past 10+ years I always bought Mac with 1TB SSD. Whenever I bought a new Mac, I used Time Machine to migrate everything (applications and data) to the internal SSD of a new Mac. That was done in the Intel Mac Era.

In case I buy a Silicon Mac with 256 or 512GB SSD, is it easy to ask Time Machine to copy those applications to the main internal SSD of a new Silicon Mac while separately, copy those user data to a new external SSD connected to the new Silicon Mac?

Also, during such process, what will happen to applications I backed up in Intel Mac Era? Will Silicon Mac automatically replaces them with the latest Silicon Mac version or they will be run in Rosetta mode until I manually replace the Intel version by Silicon Mac version?

 

[Ben J.]

When doing a big jump like that, Intel to ARM, and old macOS to new (remember a new apple silicon mac will not be able to use older versions OS than it was shipped with), so much will change that I think the best strategy is to install everything from scratch, and manually copy user files. It will take some time, but it will most likely become a much more stable system than if you import older versions of apps and library content.

I've been using macs and transferring stuff between models and os versions for over three decades, and I fondly remember not many years ago when we could make disk images and copy complete boot-disks between macs, but those days are gone.

To your questions; no, the Migration Assistant will not be able to put certain files/folders on another disk, and no, it will certainly not automatically update your apps.

 

[cthompson94]

I agree with Ben J. that is a huge jump and basically you would need to sift through stuff you want anyway with not enough storage on the new Mac to even handle all of the files. The old apps wouldn't just automatically be replaced either unless the devs have it so if the program detects Apple Silicon then it prompts to download that version instead so they would run through Rosetta until you manually search and see if there is a Apple Silicon version.

Of course I would keep your TM backups for however long you feel is necessary just in case you forget to move something over, but I also think a fresh start is best

 

[hajime]

Thanks. I shall do as both of you suggested. Two issues:

1. As mentioned, I always bought Macs with 1TB SSD in the past. I always assigned half to Bootcamp and half to MacOS. As I recall, the last Intel Mac I had (i9 MacBook Pro 16") used about 400-430GB. Of course I could move some unimportant stuffs off to an external SSD to reduce the storage size. Apple messed up my workflow as I cannot have MacOS, Windows and Linux on the same machine. Given that the main software I need for work are available only in Windows and Thunderbolt 5 equipped MacBook Pro could be available next year, I am not so motivated to invest on a high-end MacBook Pro 16" for the time being. After working at home mostly on a PC for three years during the pandemic, the 16" screen on the Silicon MacBook Pro feels somewhat small. I would still must prefer the screen size of a 17" MacBook Pro. Currently, it is more like buying a Mac for its OS (GUI and security). In case of buying a Mini M2 as a stepping stone machine and as a NAS with external SSD, is it recommended to get a 256GB, 512GB or 1TB internal SSD in this case? Perhaps application on internal SSD and user data on external one? I know some people recommend getting only 256GB and buy an external NVMe SSD instead.

2. I would like to continue to use an old version of 1password which I had for Intel Mac. I don't like its recent version which is subscription based. I don't have the installer anymore. For that single app, is there a good way to move it to a Silicon Mac and make it runs even under Rosetta?

 

[Basic75]

In case I buy a Silicon Mac

For the record, every Mac ever built uses silicon chips, including the main processor.

What the other said about the Apps is true, though I'd add that most, if not all, Apps from the App Store should be ARM native, and that other applications you installed or updated recently might be "Universal 2" binaries that include ARM and x86 executables and would work natively on either architecture.