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Migrating from a Catalina Mac to a Big Sur Mac

I am upgrading from a mid-2012 MacBook Pro running Catalina to a new M1 MacBook Pro running Big Sur.


What is going to be my best method of migrating everything from the old one to the new one?


I know it’s ideal to have both computers running the same macOS version, but the old Mac has reached it’s limit, and Big Sur is not available to it.


Am I going to be able to use Time Machine or the migration assistant at all, or am I going to have to copy everything over manually?

MacBook Pro

Posted on Mar 18, 2021 6:54 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 19, 2021 8:11 AM

rssimmons999 wrote:

I am upgrading from a mid-2012 MacBook Pro running Catalina to a new M1 MacBook Pro running Big Sur.

What is going to be my best method of migrating everything from the old one to the new one?

I know it’s ideal to have both computers running the same macOS version, but the old Mac has reached it’s limit, and Big Sur is not available to it.

Am I going to be able to use Time Machine or the migration assistant at all, or am I going to have to copy everything over manually?



The most trouble free way to move to a new machine, is using the Setup Assistant on the initial boot of a brand new machine— you have one shot here. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205749


If that opportunity has past, the second best way is use the Migration Assistant.

How to move your content to a new Mac https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204350


1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 19, 2021 8:11 AM in response to rssimmons999

rssimmons999 wrote:

I am upgrading from a mid-2012 MacBook Pro running Catalina to a new M1 MacBook Pro running Big Sur.

What is going to be my best method of migrating everything from the old one to the new one?

I know it’s ideal to have both computers running the same macOS version, but the old Mac has reached it’s limit, and Big Sur is not available to it.

Am I going to be able to use Time Machine or the migration assistant at all, or am I going to have to copy everything over manually?



The most trouble free way to move to a new machine, is using the Setup Assistant on the initial boot of a brand new machine— you have one shot here. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205749


If that opportunity has past, the second best way is use the Migration Assistant.

How to move your content to a new Mac https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204350


Migrating from a Catalina Mac to a Big Sur Mac

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