Transferring Catalina SSD files over to Big Sur M1 Mac mini

[joelgg]

I've recently invested In a Mac mini. I mainly use my Mac for music production. The last Mac I used was a Mac Pro 5,1 which had Catalina installed and have now sold. I have an external SSD I was using in that Mac with all my relevant files ( mainly Logic Pro projects, VSTs, plugins etc) I would like to transfer over. I understand I can't run Catalina on an M1 Mac.
What do you suggest the best way to transfer all my files over from a Catalina SSD to a Big Sur M1 Mac mini is?
Thanks in advance!

 

[chabig]

Just plug it in. It’ll work.

 

[Gnattu]

Just buy a SATA to USB adapter/enclosure and plug it into the Mac mini

 

[velocityg4]

It's an external drive. Just plug it in and continue to access files on it.

If you're saying you had Catalina installed on said external drive. You can:
- Move the files out of the user folder to anywhere you want on the drive (might have to click ignore permissions on drive in Get Info first)
- Use Migration assistant to move everything
- Manually copy files over

Any and all will work. Although I don't see much sense in not continuing to use the external as a data drive.

 

[appltech]

Hi! Quite agree with answers above. Also, do you want to have the data from one drive on the other one or are you ok with having separate drives? If you're looking to transfer the data, there are many ways : drag&drop via Finder, by Terminal or by using Migration Assistant. Some of the options are described in this article

 

[jdb8167]

I've recently invested In a Mac mini. I mainly use my Mac for music production. The last Mac I used was a Mac Pro 5,1 which had Catalina installed and have now sold. I have an external SSD I was using in that Mac with all my relevant files ( mainly Logic Pro projects, VSTs, plugins etc) I would like to transfer over. I understand I can't run Catalina on an M1 Mac.
What do you suggest the best way to transfer all my files over from a Catalina SSD to a Big Sur M1 Mac mini is?
Thanks in advance!

Plug it in and try Migration Assistant. It might be able to copy your applications folder and your user folder (if those are on the external drive). If the external drive just has data files, then you can leave them on the drive or copy them to the internal SSD using the Finder.

 

[Fishrrman]

Get a 2.5" USB3 enclosure for the SSD, or use a USB3/SATA docking station.
Then, just connect it to the Mini (use either the USBc ports or the USBa ports).

Does the drive then mount on the desktop?
Can you see your files?

If so... just use it.