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Q: Migration Assistant

I am going from an older Dell PC to a brand new MBA.  I want to migrate data from the Dell to the MBA and I believe Migration Assistant is the way to go.  I know MA is already loaded on the MBA but not on the Dell.  Are there already tutorials on how to transfer the data or is there a better way to transfer not using MA?

Posted on Dec 4, 2013 8:42 AM

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Q: Migration Assistant

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  • by mende1,

    mende1 mende1 Dec 4, 2013 8:46 AM in response to MacMailman
    Level 10 (93,324 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 4, 2013 8:46 AM in response to MacMailman

    Apple launched Windows Migration Assistant, so you can use it to transfer your files to the Mac.

     

    Once you have got the MacBook Air, download and install Windows Migration Assistant on the PC, and it will show up. Do not modify anything.

     

    Then, turn on your Mac and you will be guided through Setup Assistant, and one of the steps would be to restore files from another computer or drive. Choose the option to transfer files from a different computer and follow its steps. You will be able to choose what you want to restore from your Mac.

     

    If you need to transfer a lot of data, I recommend you to copy your files to an external drive, plug it to your Mac and do the same steps in Setup Assistant, but now choosing the option to transfer from a different hard drive. This will make the transfer much faster

  • by MacMailman,

    MacMailman MacMailman Dec 4, 2013 9:00 AM in response to mende1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 4, 2013 9:00 AM in response to mende1

    If I choose to copy the files to an external drive, and then transfer the files to the MBA how should I formatt the external drive?  And why would this be faster that transfering directly from the PC?

  • by mende1,Solvedanswer

    mende1 mende1 Dec 4, 2013 9:02 AM in response to MacMailman
    Level 10 (93,324 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 4, 2013 9:02 AM in response to MacMailman

    You can format the external drive in exFAT, FAT32 or NTFS. OS X can read in all those formats.

     

    A hard drive transfer is faster because network connections were not designed to local data transfer mainly, so even if Ethernet is faster than Wi-Fi, both are much slower than any direct connection