Migration assistant with externally mounted linked drives

[rjalex]

I just received my new Mac Mini M4 which will replace my 2020 Mac Mini M1.

As the latter only had a 256GB SSD in time I did add some external SSD and mounted them on my home as follows:

bob ~ $ ls -latr | grep ^l
lrwxr-xr-x 1 bob staff 23 8 Dec 2023 Movies -> /Volumes/500GBT5/Movies
lrwxr-xr-x 1 bob staff 25 8 Dec 2023 Pictures -> /Volumes/500GBT5/Pictures
lrwxr-xr-x 1 bob staff 33 8 Dec 2023 stanza_resources -> /Volumes/500GBT5/stanza_resources
lrwxr-xr-x 1 bob staff 20 29 Dec 2023 code -> /Volumes/2TBWDB/code
lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 bob staff 25 29 Dec 2023 Downloads -> /Volumes/2TBWDB/Downloads

So I have the:
/Volumes/500GBT5 with my movies and pictures mounted on my ~/Movies and ~/Pictures respectively and some AI libraries on ~/stanza_resources

and my super important /Volumes/2TBWDB with ~/code and ~/Downloads

If I attach the new Mac Mini M4 to the network and run Migration assistant with the disks still attached to the M1, will it try copying all that on the M4 internal SSD? This would will it up completely.

But if I run Migration assistant without the SSDs attached to the M1, then how will I need to proceed?

Thanks a lot and srry for my confusion

 

[Grumpus]

Take a look at Transfer to a new Mac with Migration Assistant, specifically the Select the information to transfer image. Note that beside the user name Danny Rico there is a '>' and a checkbox. If you click the '>' beside your username, it will expand out to show subfolders. You should be able to tell from the listed sizes what and how much data will be transferred and you can check/uncheck folders accordingly. I would guess that with the external drives unattached the symbolic links will be transferred (obviously the linked-to data couldn't be). Worst case, you might have to redo the links after the transfer is complete.

Using the network will be very slow. Consider using a Time Machine or other backup if at all possible.

 

[rjalex]

Thanks. What I cannot fully wrap my mind around is that if I keep the volumes as they are now on the M1, I guess the MA will try to copy their contents too on the new M4 internal SSD which would be flooding it.

So maybe I have to deselect all currently linked directories or unmount the columes and THEN run the MA ???

I have a CCC backup volume, so you're suggesting I use that instead, right?

Thanks a bunch.

 

[Grumpus]

So maybe I have to deselect all currently linked directories or unmount the columes and THEN run the MA ???

Yes.

I have a CCC backup volume, so you're suggesting I use that instead, right?

That's what I would do. At the point in MA where you select the data to be transferred, click the '>' next to your username to expand the contents, then uncheck any folders or files you don't want copied. I'm not a CCC user, but I would guess that your CCC backup doesn't actually contain a copy of your external drives anyway. After the migration is complete, attach your external drives to the new machine and redo the symlinks if necessary.

 

[rjalex]

Worked as a charm. Thanks a lot