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Transfer from iMac or backup?
- Thread starter DLary
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When I bought my Mac Studio I purchased a thunderbolt 3 cable so I could transfer my dats quickly. I do lots of photography so I have a ton of photos. if I had done my homework better I would have realized that my 2015 27" iMAC did not have a thunderbolt 3 port. The transfer took 14 hours using a standard USB Cable, but everything went fairly smoothly.
Whichever method you decide on do some homework first and make sure yo have everything you need. Good luck.
One note I will include. After the transfer my already poor Internet slowed to a crawl. After a week of frustration it turned out to be the Private Relay beta. Once I turned it off my connection returned to what it had been. Just a note of cautin i ncase you experience the same.
You don't say how old your iMac but however you do it it would be fastest if it is from an SSD - whether or not that is in your old iMac. That should be far faster than the experience of the other person replying unless you have an extraordinary amount of data to transfer. My 250GB took about 15 mins with a USB 3.1 cable and from an external backup SSD.
I recommend using an external drive with a backup created "just before" you unpack the new Studio and set it up.
I would use either SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner. Both are FREE to download and use for 30 days and neither will cost you to do this job.
Time machine will work, too, but I've never used it, not ever.
DO NOT set up the Studio without attaching the backup first.
A MISTAKE some folks make is to turn on a new Mac, create a NEW account, and then try to migrate their OLD account over from a backup. The Mac will see these as "2 DIFFERENT accounts" (and you'll have permissions problems).
With the backup ready, set up the new Studio.
Connect the backup.
Now, press the power on button for the very first time.
Begin setup.
Setup assistant will ask if you wish to migrate - YES you do.
Just "point the way" to the backup and give SA time to digest everything on it.
SA will present you with a checklist of stuff to migrate.
Default way is just to migrate everything.
However...
When a friend set up a new Studio from his old 2012 Mini, I suggested he migrate everything EXCEPT applications.
He had a cloned backup, so I suggested that once the migration of everything else was done, he could try running the apps directly from the cloned backup (because all the preferences and other data "got migrated" with his account).
This way, he could try apps BEFORE copying them over to the new Mac.
He said this worked out well.
Good luck.
I would use either SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner. Both are FREE to download and use for 30 days and neither will cost you to do this job.
Time machine will work, too, but I've never used it, not ever.
DO NOT set up the Studio without attaching the backup first.
A MISTAKE some folks make is to turn on a new Mac, create a NEW account, and then try to migrate their OLD account over from a backup. The Mac will see these as "2 DIFFERENT accounts" (and you'll have permissions problems).
With the backup ready, set up the new Studio.
Connect the backup.
Now, press the power on button for the very first time.
Begin setup.
Setup assistant will ask if you wish to migrate - YES you do.
Just "point the way" to the backup and give SA time to digest everything on it.
SA will present you with a checklist of stuff to migrate.
Default way is just to migrate everything.
However...
When a friend set up a new Studio from his old 2012 Mini, I suggested he migrate everything EXCEPT applications.
He had a cloned backup, so I suggested that once the migration of everything else was done, he could try running the apps directly from the cloned backup (because all the preferences and other data "got migrated" with his account).
This way, he could try apps BEFORE copying them over to the new Mac.
He said this worked out well.
Good luck.
I have a 2020 27" iMac with Thunderbolt 3 ports. I am using Time Machine with a Thunderbolt 2 external backup drive. It is not super fast because it uses a 1 TB 5400rpm hard drive. I have used carbon copy cloner before, but I am concerned that there may be problems copying an Intel OS version to an Apple Silicon machine. Maybe the best way would be to connect my iMac to the new studio via a Thunderbolt 3 cable?
Given the options you express here I agree that the direct connection of your iMac via the Thunderbolt 3 cable would be better.
Over the years, I've used Migration Assistant with external Time Machine backups to migrate many Macs without issues. Just did a 2014 MacBook Air (Big Sur) to M1 MacBook Air (Monterey) using external Time Machine backup and Migration Assistant two weeks ago. Went w/out a hitch.
You are obviously getting a range of opinions here so I guess people have found various approaches work fine. I just had the thought to add here that mine was also from an Intel OS version to an Apple Silicon machine with no problems at all. At the time that I was doing it that would have been what pretty much everyone was doing so I think you can relax on that score.
I think I will try the direct connection via Thunderbolt 3. Hopefully it will be faster than the other options. Thanks to all for responding.
OP wrote:
"I tried the direct connection via TB3. The Studio recognized my old iMac, but couldn’t make the connection. I ended up using my Time Machine backup. Took about 2 hours."
As I posted in #8 above...
Don't fool with connecting the Macs together.
Just use an external backup -- less potential for problems, as you found out.
The BEST type of external backup to use is a cloned backup (created with either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper) and updated immediately before you boot the new Mac for the first time.
"I tried the direct connection via TB3. The Studio recognized my old iMac, but couldn’t make the connection. I ended up using my Time Machine backup. Took about 2 hours."
As I posted in #8 above...
Don't fool with connecting the Macs together.
Just use an external backup -- less potential for problems, as you found out.
The BEST type of external backup to use is a cloned backup (created with either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper) and updated immediately before you boot the new Mac for the first time.
Using time machine has one advantage. It does not tie up the old Mac while the data is being moved. It could take hours and you might want to use a computer durring that time.
But maybe not, let the data transfer overnight while you are sleeping and it will be done in the morning.
Also, remember that you need to make a new TM backup and this first backup might also take hours