How to get same day diagnostic or repair service from Apple

Asking other users is not all that helpful because we cannot give you an answer. Apple makes those decisions and, with the ongoing pandemic, absolutely nothing is as it used to be.

There is no way to get it done in one day, Applecare or not. So, I'd offer a work around: use an external keyboard with your laptop for now until such time that all services are back to normal. Or, initiate a repair ticket explaining that you need the laptop, etc, etc. and see if there is anything they can or will do.

It is not going to happen. If your computer is that critical that you can't be without it during repair you should get another computer to use in the event one of the computers is not accessible.

Apple does Not provide loaners while yours is in the shop.

"Everyone knows" your disaster plan needs to account for loss of data from computer failure. That is why best practice is to have a recent Trusted backup, such as the Built-in Time machine.

But your disaster plan also needs to provide some method, however slow, for getting that data working on temporary Hardware as well. Otherwise, your disaster plan is adequate.

If you need a short term replacement, computer rental companies in major cites can provide a computer for you, for a price. Most businesses just keep an older model around for emergencies.

Sounds like a plan. A SSD is much faster than a rotating HDD. You should have no problem creating a backup or cloning your drive to the SSD. Depending on the amount of data it will take some time. The data transfer won't be immediate or minutes.

Obviously you will never get 4TB of data onto a 2TB SSD. I don't know your specific needs but I think I would get a couple of SSDs and then copy over my data then think about how to create and manage a backup scheme going forward. I did see several 4TB SSDs at Amazon and other vendor sites. I am not tried nor am I recommending any brand.

Time machine is a system intended to work at low priority in the background. The point is that you can leave it running, because it does not disrupt your important foreground work. First backup takes many hours to calculate what needs to be copied, and many hours to copy the files once it has decided which files. But after that it can seem almost magical.

It does not require (or really even benefit from) a fast backup drive, so the backup drive stays cheap. The second and subsequent backups contain only the file that have changed, so it is likely to be done three times over before you even think to go check on it. You don't set a side a "special time" to do backups. you just let Time machine run, automatically in the background.

The absolute best feature of Time machine is that because it is unobtrusive, it will be the backup that got done, and will be there when you suddenly and unexpectedly need it.

MacBook Pro SSD drives are soldered down since about the 2017 models.

Migration Assistant copying back your files is done in the background. It does not need to complete, it will continue to run to completion.

The Time Machine does incremental backups, use by date;

look through to get previous backup that was complete.

(for incremental backups, the main dish TM serves ~ are always slow

and so a slower rotational storage drive used with TM often is plenty

fast. An SSD in this instance is a waste of money; and SSD failures

are difficult to recover from. Each drive should be dedicated to TM.)

If you make bootable backups/clones, that can give you an edge; be

sure that all products in that line are fast and can attach to the quick-

est port on your Mac. And backup often, to more than one media/

drive/device.

Time Machine is a good tool, except for use with Catalina/Big Sur;

where backups done from these, change all other backups file type

on the external storage. Be wary, once converted these become use-

less or try to change others less modern to their newer situation.

Good luck & happy computing!🌞🌿🎣🙀🐟⛵️

Alias7 wrote:

How can I work with the files that have still not migrated if it is still migrating in the background?

The point was that Migration Assistant does not lock you out of your Mac while the restore is going on.

You strong constraints on times to finish things may be unnecessarily stressful, at a very stressful time.

There were mention(s) in this Support article about Big Sur and

suggestions about Catalina; as the definite trend started there.

• Back up your files with Time Machine on Mac - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mh35860/mac

These kinds of pages can differ in content by chosing another macOS

in the version selector; for persons with pre-Mojave or Catalina the

changes for some topics can be revealing from on portal such as this.

This, within Big Sur section; above:

Important: If you create a backup on a Mac running Big Sur, the back-

up isn’t compatible with Macs running older versions of macOS.

Companion article in Catalina version, as linked through Big Sur:

Note: If you create a backup on a Mac or partition with macOS

Catalina, you can only use that backup on Mac computers or

partitions with macOS Catalina.

This covers Catalina while issue/change persists in later Big Sur:

• Time Machine and backing up in Catalina - The Eclectic Light Co.

https://eclecticlight.co/2019/11/11/time-machine-and-backing-up-in-catalina/

Viewed few others that spelled out changes or differences (while

I'm not necessarily needing those now, especially for time being.)

The Eclectric Light article has pointedly shown links to Apple Support.

Here's another found there (seems 'en-GB' sourced from userguide)..

• Change Time Machine Configuration preferences on Mac - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/cpmh0053/mac

note:

If you upgraded to macOS Big Sur on a Mac that uses a Time Capsule or

other network storage device as the backup destination, your existing

backups are also upgraded and can be used only on macOS Big Sur. New

backups that are created can be used only on macOS Big Sur.

So that may pre-explain some issues that some users may experience.

Kinda like a low-hurdle ~ after high speed stretch, of expectation; and

one of those huge water puddles; that could trip a jumping horse?!

Good luck & happy trails!🌞🎣⛵️🌤🌜