Migrating Messages to New Mac

[john123]

I’ve tried and Googled so many things, but I can’t seem to accomplish on Ventura what was easy on previous OS versions.

I want to move my existing Messages over — and not much else — into a clean install. I do not use iCloud Messages.

Copying over the Messages directory in the user Library folder isn’t working; it did with Big Sur. I also tried copying the large iChat folder in Containers. And of course I’ve moved over (what I think are) all the Preferences. No joy.

Any ideas?

 

[chabig]

I take it you didn’t use Migration Assistant to set up the new machine? Even so, you might try running it now and see whether Messages can migrate. Uncheck everything else.

 

[john123]

Unfortunately it didn’t give me the option. There was no drop-down carat or anything like that for my user. It was presented as an all-or-nothing checkbox.

 

[chabig]

It has been a few years since I last migrated, but it has never been all or nothing. Here is Apple’s support page for migration assistant.

Transfer to a new Mac with Migration Assistant - Apple Support

Use Migration Assistant to copy your files from another computer.

support.apple.com

Beyond that, I don’t know where Messages data are stored, nor how to move them over. Someone else will have to help.

 

[chabig]

Another idea…on the old machine turn on iCloud messages. Let it sync. Then on the new Mac, turn on iCloud messages. Let it sync. Once you’re satisfied with everything, turn off iCloud messages on both machines. Or leave iCloud messages on. It’s very convenient to have all devices synced.

 

[john123]

Unfortunately I've tried that, and iCloud Messages is only sync'ing back about 6 months. There's some old stuff from 2012-2015 in there too. But the 8 years in between isn't copying. That's with turning iCloud Messages on both on my Mac and on my iPhone.

Edit: it's now going further back just with lots of long stops and starts. There will be no data added over many hours, and all of a sudden, bam, a couple gigs get uploaded. So quirky.

 

[john123]

It has been a few years since I last migrated, but it has never been all or nothing. Here is Apple’s support page for migration assistant.

An interesting thing I discovered on this: it looks like all-or-nothing while it's calculating the directory size. Only once it's done that does the dropdown carat appear.