tips for migrating from a 2010 to 2014 Mac Mini

[turtlebud]

Got my parents a 2014 Mac Mini to replace their aging 2010 - looking for the best way to migrate. Would like to just connect via target disk mode and use migration assistant, but the ports on the 2010 and 2014 don't seen to make that easy.

2010 has a firewire800 port, but the 2014 does not.
2014 has thunderbolt, but 2010 doesn't.

only ports they have in common is usb and I don't think that'll work for target disk mode (will it?)

 

[Bart Kela]

Migration Assistant works fine over a local network. You do not need a physical wire between the two devices. I did this a couple of months ago. One Mac was on wifi, the other on Ethernet. Worked great.

 

[Boyd01]

Just get a cheap USB disk and use either Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner to back up to it. Then plug the disk into the new machine and Migration Asst will use it. If you don't already have an external backup drive, that purchase is long overdue anyway.

 

[Fishrrman]

I agree with Boyd about using an external drive.

I recommend using CarbonCopyCloner to clone the 2010's drive to the backup.
Then, connect it when you boot up the 2014 Mini for the very first time.

At the appropriate moment, setup assistant will ask if you wish to migrate from another computer or drive. "Aim" SA at the backup, and "let 'er go".

CCC (or SuperDuper, which you could use as well) is FREE to download and use for 30 days.

 

[Boyd01]

FWIW, with an older machine you could run into some software issues, depending on what operating system they were running before. I upgraded an old MacBook for a family member a couple years ago and all her files were in ClarisWorks/AppleWorks. Of course, those programs broke when Apple discontinued "Rosetta" (with Lion, I think?) but even worse, Apple's new software like Pages won't even open the files.

I had to set her up with LibreOffice which is (AFAIK) the only software that can read AppleWorks/ClarisWorks today. I set it as the default for those documents so she could still double-click them, but it took her awhile to get comfortable with the software change.