Moving files from 2009 MBP to 2023 M2 MBP. Some help required.

[Alpha Centauri]

Hi all,

it's finally happened. Time to let this old machine retire gracefully. I've chosen not to use Migration Assistant as the 2009er was running a patched (Catalina) system that was increasingly getting unstable. So my OP could become a tad longer but after 13 years I figure that's ok.

1. File Transfers. I'm assuming I can connect old and new MBP with a USB-A to USB-C and use in Target Disk mode? I've got a clone on an external that supports 3.0, so just have to purchase a USB-C cable to connect. I've had corruptions in the past using FW as Catalina didn't support its connectivity so that's out. Cannot help thinking direct connection of the machines could be safer (albeit much slower) than using an external clone, actually with a patched OS I'm not 100% that SD got it quite right. Now I'm thinking about it, I could just as easily move the internal SSD into the external SATA enclosure as that is at least 3.0 capable.

2. Password manager conundrum is being addressed in another thread I've got going at the moment.

3. Music App. Songs bought are on the new mac already. How would I go about transferring the remaining music files I had previously imported?

4. Photos. This one's tough. Raws and Jpegs I had sorted in actual folders and then referenced in a very old copy of CaptureOne11. Previous to that I started with iPhoto and Aperture, importing directly and this ended in a hot mess of previews and duplicates. I had decided to only use referenced in the future and have split pics into dated files by year/month/day. Admittedly CaptureOne was perhaps overkill for my hobby use and buying the latest version could be money wasted. I think Lightroom is subscription only, this I'm not a big fan of. So right now I'm looking for any advice for a DB manager with Raw capability and editing features that I can use as a referenced solution. Existing keywords as such aren't a problem and I'd be happy to start from fresh. I never did use Photos App in Catalina so do wonder how far it has got to use referenced with raw files.

5. Calendar, Mail, Contacts, Messages are all sorted.

6. Apps. They're obviously all 64 bit but I will DL them as a fresh install, have all the activation keys still.

Look forward to some advice and ideas.

Cheers

 

[Fishrrman]

Since you [understandably] don't want to use migration assistant for this job (because of the "age differences"), here's my suggestion:

GET AN EXTERNAL DRIVE (you probably already have one).
Create a CLONED backup on the external drive.
You can use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper for this (both are FREE to use for this purpose -- for a "one-time" job, SuperDuper is best).

REASON WHY I consider this to be "the best way":
You can now take the cloned backup to the NEW Mac, connect it, and it will mount in the finder like any other drive.
If you know where stuff is on your old internal drive, then you'll know where it is on the backup -- the two are exactly the same.

This means you can copy whatever you want from it, whether it be a file, group of files, folders, etc. (again, just as you would do with any other drive).

You WILL need to take steps to prevent permissions problems between your old and new accounts. This is easy as pie:
a. mount external drive
b. click ONE TIME on icon to select it
c. bring up the get info box (type command-i)
d. click lock at bottom of get info and enter your password (that you're using on the NEW Mac)
e. put a check into "ignore ownership on this volume"
f. close get info.
You can now copy almost anything from the backup to the new Mac, and whatever you copy will "fall under the ownership" of your NEW account.

You approach on apps is probably best (install fresh).

Can't help you with Photos and Music -- I don't use either of those apps. On my new MacBook Pro 14", I used the free "Retroactive" to install a working version of iTunes (which I use for the free internet streaming radio stations).

Good luck!

 

[brerlappin]

I agree with the above post being the best option if you don’t want to restore from Time Machine

 

[richard13]

I don't think I've ever successfully used Migration Assistant. Not because it's bad but because I see moves to a new Mac as an opportunity to remove cruft and bloat I've accumulated over the past X years. I usually just copy my data to an external drive (or other Mac) and copy back. Sometimes I've used Time Machine. But I see your situation is a little complicated. I too agree with @Fishrrman and his approach.

Maybe you've already posted this somewhere but may I ask which MBP and spec you got?

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Maybe you've already posted this somewhere but may I ask which MBP and spec you got?

My choice was limited as I couldn't go below 15" screen real estate. This only left the 16" MBP. So I got an M2 Max, 12/38/16, 2TB SSD, 64GB RAM. I couldn't wait any longer for the rumored 15" offering, and more than likely a fanless solution would have been quite adequate for my use case....but you know

M2 Pro would have been enough, upsell higher than 32 GB RAM however forces into the Max CPU. Was totally a want scenario, not need. I will run this machine however for the next 7 years but not 13 years this time.

The screen and speakers are just absolutely spectacular. Same external dimensions (much less height) than my 5,3 MBP and lighter. What's not to love.

 

[JamesMay82]

Agree with the guy above and an external and load all your files.

I'd install all the fresh apps and import music and photos into the new libraries.

I use Lightroom CC or what is now just called Lightroom and I also run a apple photos library. This is over the top and an added expense but I just do this as another back up. I use Lightroom for minor edits and apple photos is mainly just for viewing as I like how it reminds and creates mini videos and photos of the day etc.

 

[ignatius345]

Yeah, whatever you do, make sure you've got your data on minimum two drives at any given point. I agree, the best plan is:

Old Mac → External → New Mac

And then don't format the old Mac or the external drive until you're sure all is well with the new Mac. And even then, I'd leave that external drive sitting as a failsafe backup for a while, in case you unearth something that got messed up.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

You WILL need to take steps to prevent permissions problems between your old and new accounts. This is easy as pie:
a. mount external drive
b. click ONE TIME on icon to select it
c. bring up the get info box (type command-i)
d. click lock at bottom of get info and enter your password (that you're using on the NEW Mac)
e. put a check into "ignore ownership on this volume"
f. close get info.
You can now copy almost anything from the backup to the new Mac, and whatever you copy will "fall under the ownership" of your NEW account.

I would off missed this so thank you for this vital step.

Been using Super Duper with incremental capability for many years, it's great. Since running a patched OS however I'm not quite trusting of the cloning as I've seen quite large, inexplicable variances in overall file sizes. I've got a fairly recent clone. It's why I thought to perhaps remove the current internal SSD, into an ext. enclosure I have, and mount on the new MBP. All for the sake of 5 minutes, so many drives I've had in and out of this machine over the years. Bought a USB-A to USB-C adaptor today that will at least retain theoretical 5Gbps to transfer data.

Then it hit me that I'm perhaps overthinking all this.

The 8000 songs I could easily copy/paste onto a fast read/write USB-C flash drive I already have. Then, point Music App (new MBP) to it and let it natively import. The duplicates of the couple bought songs already imported should be quick to identify.

That flash drive is actually large enough to also copy my RAW files over but I do need to think/ get feedback on my future potential workflow. The subject is so extensive that it perhaps deserves a seperate thread even.

Cheers

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Yeah, whatever you do, make sure you've got your data on minimum two drives at any given point. I agree, the best plan is:

Old Mac → External → New Mac

And then don't format the old Mac or the external drive until you're sure all is well with the new Mac. And even then, I'd leave that external drive sitting as a failsafe backup for a while, in case you unearth something that got messed up.

Yup I'll definitely keep the last functioning copy, at least User files as I've had too much trouble with the unsupported OS I was running. I was going to sell the old MBP with the original HDD, Snow Leopard and iLife CDs but, perhaps for sentimentality and as a spare/ backup machine, probably may keep it. After only 3 yrs it already had its first SSD fitted, geez they were expensive back then. Heck, even after 13 yrs kept the original box. Not sure yet.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

I use Lightroom CC or what is now just called Lightroom and I also run a apple photos library. This is over the top and an added expense but I just do this as another back up. I use Lightroom for minor edits and apple photos is mainly just for viewing as I like how it reminds and creates mini videos and photos of the day etc.

Lightroom Classic would be a good fit but just cannot bring myself to purchase software subscriptions. I bought CaptureOne11 in 2018 and they started native Apple silicon support in 2021. It's crazy as the pricing for stand alone licensing has more than doubled. Obviously a strategy to make their subscription more attractive

Are you referencing in Photos? I do miss Aperture (as many do) but back then I had a managed library and its demise caused much time spent consolidating all files. It's why I spent even more time after sorting files into dates and swearing to only reference from that point on. Not sure what my ideal workflow with a combination of RAW, Jpeg and vids should look like.

I did have to pause photography a whilst back as there wasn't much point editing on a 13 yr old washed out and colour inaccurate display. Never mind the mind numbing slowness of just opening a handful of previews.

 

[JamesMay82]

Lightroom Classic would be a good fit but just cannot bring myself to purchase software subscriptions. I bought CaptureOne11 in 2018 and they started native Apple silicon support in 2021. It's crazy as the pricing for stand alone licensing has more than doubled. Obviously a strategy to make their subscription more attractive

Are you referencing in Photos? I do miss Aperture (as many do) but back then I had a managed library and its demise caused much time spent consolidating all files. It's why I spent even more time after sorting files into dates and swearing to only reference from that point on. Not sure what my ideal workflow with a combination of RAW, Jpeg and vids should look like.

I did have to pause photography a whilst back as there wasn't much point editing on a 13 yr old washed out and colour inaccurate display. Never mind the mind numbing slowness of just opening a handful of previews.

When you say referencing do you mean having the photos side by side each other when you’re editing? Or do you mean keeping them in the finder folders and the app referencing them as opposed to copying into the photos library?

 

[Alpha Centauri]

When you say referencing do you mean having the photos side by side each other when you’re editing? Or do you mean keeping them in the finder folders and the app referencing them as opposed to copying into the photos library?

Yes, sorry. Full photo files residing dated as year/month/day as files and being linked (referenced) in the editor of choice. The Raws are clear but iPhone snapshots I may look at importing directly letting Photos App to manage them fully and being iCloud synchable with my iPhone. Always open for suggestions re handling a referenced RAW library and App managed Jpeg library. Or...any ideas/ suggestions/ experiences thereof.

Edit: Most likely the edited RAWS I'll output from CaptureOne, Lightroom, etc. to Photos as high rez Jpegs in that scenario. Just kicking ideas around to

 

[JamesMay82]

Yes, sorry. Full photo files residing dated as year/month/day as files and being linked (referenced) in the editor of choice. The Raws are clear but iPhone snapshots I may look at importing directly letting Photos App to manage them fully and being iCloud synchable with my iPhone. Always open for suggestions re handling a referenced RAW library and App managed Jpeg library. Or...any ideas/ suggestions/ experiences thereof.

Edit: Most likely the edited RAWS I'll output from CaptureOne, Lightroom, etc. to Photos as high rez Jpegs in that scenario. Just kicking ideas around to

Gotcha! just had a google and does look like you can work with referenced files. See below link. its actually quite good idea and one I didn't realise you could do with apple photos.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/photos/pht1ed9b966d/mac

I'm quite paranoid about my library so I manually keep 2 photo libraries.

1. is apple photos with library stored locally on iMac external drive but then also synced to iCloud and then I have devices with smaller storage like iPhone and laptop just downloading the optimised photos.

2. is a lightroom library which Is also stored on a external drive. I like this because it naturally organises the photos in finder folders in a year/month date structure.

I must admit I only using Lightroom for editing which I don't do a lot of these days mainly down to being busy with work these last couple of years. Apple photos is the one I use daily and mainly because it recommends photos of the day and even automatically puts together little slide shows of different events.. it does things like photos of kids through the years or pets through the years etc. its really clever and a great way to view photos that might otherwise get forgotten. on the side bar you can view by type and that's where raw files are grouped together

 

[Yebubbleman]

Hi all,

it's finally happened. Time to let this old machine retire gracefully. I've chosen not to use Migration Assistant as the 2009er was running a patched (Catalina) system that was increasingly getting unstable. So my OP could become a tad longer but after 13 years I figure that's ok.

I'm generally not a fan of Migration Assistant unless I'm going from the exact same OS to the exact same OS on the same machine (i.e. My Mac's internal drive died and I'm restoring from a back-up to the replacement). Otherwise, I have a good enough handle on where my crap lives with iCloud handling the rest (for Messages, Contacts, Mail, Calendar, Photos, etc.)

It's REALLY a bad idea to use when making a jump as large as the one you're making, and yeah, really bad when you're going from old hardware running an unsupported release to a substantially newer machine on a substantially newer OS.

I'd especially be wary of crossing the Intel to Apple Silicon divide with it. Just a bad idea all around.

1. File Transfers. I'm assuming I can connect old and new MBP with a USB-A to USB-C and use in Target Disk mode? I've got a clone on an external that supports 3.0, so just have to purchase a USB-C cable to connect. I've had corruptions in the past using FW as Catalina didn't support its connectivity so that's out. Cannot help thinking direct connection of the machines could be safer (albeit much slower) than using an external clone, actually with a patched OS I'm not 100% that SD got it quite right. Now I'm thinking about it, I could just as easily move the internal SSD into the external SATA enclosure as that is at least 3.0 capable.

Your 2009 MacBook Pro will have FireWire 800. Any Apple Silicon MacBook Pro will have Thunderbolt 3/4. Apple Silicon Macs don't use Target Disk Mode (they use "Mac Sharing Mode" instead; which is similar, but different in a few key areas). That said, your old Mac will still use Target Disk Mode and since the goal is to make the old Mac show up on the new Mac, the fact that the new Mac doesn't use Target Disk Mode is thankfully irrelevant.

As for how to go from FireWire 800 to Thunderbolt 3, I might buy a Thunderbolt 1/2 Male to FireWire 800 Female adapter and then a Thunderbolt 1/2 Female to Thunderbolt 3/4 Male Adapter. You'll also want a FireWire 800 Male to Male cable. That's two dongles and a cable; and while that may seem like a lot, that ought to accomplish the task with no issue.

Target Disk Mode ignores the OS running on the target, so you don't have to worry about weird quirks pertinent to you running Catalina on a Mac that it's not supported on.

4. Photos. This one's tough. Raws and Jpegs I had sorted in actual folders and then referenced in a very old copy of CaptureOne11. Previous to that I started with iPhoto and Aperture, importing directly and this ended in a hot mess of previews and duplicates. I had decided to only use referenced in the future and have split pics into dated files by year/month/day. Admittedly CaptureOne was perhaps overkill for my hobby use and buying the latest version could be money wasted. I think Lightroom is subscription only, this I'm not a big fan of. So right now I'm looking for any advice for a DB manager with Raw capability and editing features that I can use as a referenced solution. Existing keywords as such aren't a problem and I'd be happy to start from fresh. I never did use Photos App in Catalina so do wonder how far it has got to use referenced with raw files.

I think if your uses are basic, Photos will be fine. If they're not, you'll probably want Lightroom. That said, while I understand your aversion to subscription software, Adobe's Photography Plan for Creative Cloud (which gives you Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, and Lightroom) is actually reasonably priced for what it offers (far cheaper than even upgrading every other release would've been in the old days).

 

[Alpha Centauri]

{snip} Your 2009 MacBook Pro will have FireWire 800.

{snip} I think if your uses are basic, Photos will be fine. If they're not, you'll probably want Lightroom. That said, while I understand your aversion to subscription software, Adobe's Photography Plan for Creative Cloud (which gives you Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, and Lightroom) is actually reasonably priced for what it offers (far cheaper than even upgrading every other release would've been in the old days).

Still haven't figured using multi quotes on here.

Reason I'm ignoring FW is that Catalina dropped support of it and I've ended up with corrupt drives when cloning backups. Basically all that's left is select Apps (freshly installed with license keys), photos and music.

Music: 8000 songs (75GB) I think will select copy all songs onto a fast writing USB-C flash drive, then let Music App in Ventura import them. This way I'm not meddling with MusicLibrary.musiclibrary folders of decade+ generational gap.

Photos: About 250GB RAWS in Folders, only 3 deep. Again, the Samsung DuoPlus might also be good option. In hindsight, I've made a huge mistake with naming of dates for future Spotlight/PhotosApp/Editor searches:

Example: Year: "2015"
Month: "02" (Feb)
Day: "02" (2nd)

Perhaps I should have at least used name of the months as searching "02" will bring too many results. May have to spend time renaming, open for ideas!


RAW Editors: I've had since 2015 three stand alone versions of the PhaseOne product, the last one bought 2018. Silicon support for CaptureOne began in 2021 and I've just written their support to ascertain how much exactly an upgrade would be. All become quite intransparent with marketing loyalty upgrade/ sub versions. As many, they're heavily pushing subscription. Once I'm fully informed, know what editor I'll use, I can perhaps narrow my use case with a dedicated thread. RIP Aperture

Edit: will import a .cr2 raw into PhotosApp to see what additional functionality outside of iOS16 it offers nowdays.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Still haven't figured using multi quotes on here.

Press Return in between the segments that you want to reply to within a single comment. If you want to respond to multiple comments, then there's a button you can click to select which comments you want to reply to.

Reason I'm ignoring FW is that Catalina dropped support of it and I've ended up with corrupt drives when cloning backups. Basically all that's left is select Apps (freshly installed with license keys), photos and music.

My point is that booting an Intel or PowerPC Mac into Target Disk Mode ignores the OS installed on the Mac you are booting into Target Disk Mode. It's a hardware/firmware feature. It's got nothing to do with the software installed on your Mac. So, you booting that Mac in Target Disk Mode and connecting via FireWire 800 has absolutely nothing to do with Catalina being the OS you have.

Also, Catalina did not drop FireWire 800 support. 2012 non-retina MacBook Pros and 2012 Mac minis still shipped with FireWire 800 and both machines run Catalina. That's not to say that either:

(a) Your hacked install of Catalina isn't broken in such a way that you have issues with FireWire 800

And/or

(b) Your 2009 MacBook Pro's logic board doesn't also have an issue with FireWire 800

Music: 8000 songs (75GB) I think will select copy all songs onto a fast writing USB-C flash drive, then let Music App in Ventura import them. This way I'm not meddling with MusicLibrary.musiclibrary folders of decade+ generational gap.

If the end destination is your M2 Mac's internal SSD, then copying the files from your 2009 MacBook Pro to a drive and then to your new Mac is just extra copying that doesn't save you any time (in fact, it will do the opposite).

Photos: About 250GB RAWS in Folders, only 3 deep. Again, the Samsung DuoPlus might also be good option. In hindsight, I've made a huge mistake with naming of dates for future Spotlight/PhotosApp/Editor searches:

Example: Year: "2015"
Month: "02" (Feb)
Day: "02" (2nd)

Perhaps I should have at least used name of the months as searching "02" will bring too many results. May have to spend time renaming, open for ideas!


RAW Editors: I've had since 2015 three stand alone versions of the PhaseOne product, the last one bought 2018. Silicon support for CaptureOne began in 2021 and I've just written their support to ascertain how much exactly an upgrade would be. All become quite intransparent with marketing loyalty upgrade/ sub versions. As many, they're heavily pushing subscription. Once I'm fully informed, know what editor I'll use, I can perhaps narrow my use case with a dedicated thread. RIP Aperture

Edit: will import a .cr2 raw into PhotosApp to see what additional functionality outside of iOS16 it offers nowdays.

I'm not familiar with CaptureOne. I do know that many who relied on Aperture are now on Lightroom Classic. But Lightroom Classic is rather powerful.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Also, Catalina did not drop FireWire 800 support. 2012 non-retina MacBook Pros and 2012 Mac minis still shipped with FireWire 800 and both machines run Catalina. That's not to say that either:

(a) Your hacked install of Catalina isn't broken in such a way that you have issues with FireWire 800

And/or

(b) Your 2009 MacBook Pro's logic board doesn't also have an issue with FireWire 800

Yes you're right. I think rather booting via FW in Catalina was dropped?

 

[Yebubbleman]

Yes you're right. I think rather booting via FW in Catalina was dropped?

Nope. FireWire 800 is fully supported and still supported in Big Sur and later (via dongles as no Mac with built-in FireWire 800 could natively run Big Sur or newer).

Again, you might be having issues that are either logic board related and/or pertinent to whatever you had to do to get Catalina running on that Mac.

 

[ignatius345]

Yup I'll definitely keep the last functioning copy, at least User files as I've had too much trouble with the unsupported OS I was running. I was going to sell the old MBP with the original HDD, Snow Leopard and iLife CDs but, perhaps for sentimentality and as a spare/ backup machine, probably may keep it. After only 3 yrs it already had its first SSD fitted, geez they were expensive back then. Heck, even after 13 yrs kept the original box. Not sure yet.

Hah, I remember at some point realizing people would pay good money on eBay for old OS Installer discs and sold them all off.