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How migrate from Old iMac running Catalina to a new iMac running Big Sur

I have an old iMac prior to 2013 running Mac OS Catalina that can not be upgraded to Big Sur. I plan to buy a new iMac (when released) that will run Big Sur. How do I transfer all of my data, preferences, applications over to the new iMac?


iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Mar 6, 2021 10:48 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 7, 2021 10:43 AM

83 here, young whippersnapper. 😉


Since the SSD has everything you need to transfer just plug it into your new Mac, boot the new Mac the first time and use Migration Assistant to migrate your user account, 3rd party apps and settings to the new Mac from the attached drive.



10 replies

Mar 8, 2021 4:38 PM in response to Old Toad

Sorry to be off topic, but I couldn't reply to the post I want to ask you about: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-8414?login=true. There, you posted a link to an app version of a script for renaming photo files, which I believe would allow renaming of files to date/time of creation: "I've created an application rather than an service which I find easier to use. Here's a link to download the already compiled app for those who would rather use an app to do the renaming rather than a service: PHOTOS File Name to Title". I take a LOT of photos with my iphone, so I've cycled though the 9999 possible filenames several times. So I have a photo set where each filename, e.g., 5621.jpg, corresponds to four or five non-duplicate, unique images. It's a mess, and I'm hoping your app could help with it.

Mar 6, 2021 2:13 PM in response to Old Toad

Thanks Old Toad and I do have a Time Machine B/U; however, I also have an external SSD boot drive that I have been using with my old iMac. The speed is great running Catalina. Would this be a better choice transferring all info to the new Big Sur iMac? Could I just tie the new iMac into my local Ethernet system and tie into the old iMac with the SSD being the boot drive? Using Setup Assistant on the new iMac, transfer data and settings from the old iMac/SSD Boot drive. Would the old Catalina OS interfere with the new iMac's Big Sur OS?

Mar 7, 2021 10:24 AM in response to Old Toad

First, I apologize calling you Big Toad versus Old Toad. I would guess that I am much older than you however (81). Anyway, my old iMac is running off my SSD external HD and has a everything I want to transfer to a new iMac running Big Sur. I have used SuperDuper to clone both my old iMac internal HD and the SSD boot drive. My old iMac will not let me upgrade to Big Sur.

How migrate from Old iMac running Catalina to a new iMac running Big Sur

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