Connectivity question with Time Machine and two Minis

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Level 2

258 points

Connectivity question with Time Machine and two Minis

I think that I need to replace my Mac Mini. I want to ask about the how to save time in doing so.

In the past I have used a Time Machine backup when moving to a new computer. I backup the old computer to Time Machine, and then restore that backup to the new machine. In the past this process has taken many hours.

This time the machine is the one at the office. I don’t want to interrupt my busy day any more than I have to. I want to find a process by which I can continue to work while using Time Machine. I want to find a way of controlling both the old and the new Minis at the same time.

The Time Machine backup is on a USB external hard drive. Connecting it to the new Mini is easy. I am thinking that I could use an Ethernet cable to connect the old and the new Minis. What I would hope to accomplish with this connection is to be able to go through the old Mini and operate the new Mini while Time Machine restores to the new Mini. The goal is to continue working with the old Mini while restoring to the new Mini. When done, I could then remove the old Mini and connect the new Mini to my keyboard and monitor.

Would this technique work?

Mac mini, macOS 10.15

Posted on Mar 22, 2021 2:04 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

den.thed

Level 10

82,306 points

Mar 22, 2021 2:44 PM in response to R_55a

Using your Time Machine backup to move to the new Mac Mini is the fastest and easiest way.

Using an Ethernet cable is much slower than using your Time Machine backup. Plus it would tie up both Mac Mini’s until the migration was done.

What year model is the older Mac Mini?

If it is a 2012 or later, you could get and use a faster USB 3.0 external HDD or SSD for Time Machine. Or make a Clone and then use that to migrate to the new Mac Mini.

Either way, there are no voodoo spells or magic tricks. Your best bet is to keep using the old Mac Mini and allow the time it takes for Time Machine to migrate to the new Mac Mini.

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Answer 2

R_55a Author

Level 2

258 points

Mar 23, 2021 9:16 AM in response to den.thed

No, no. I intend to use the Time Machine back up as the device for transferring everything from one computer to the other. I backup the old computer as usual. Then I plug the external hard drive into the new computer, and I use Time Machine to restore the contents of the Time Machine backup from the external hard drive to the new computer.

I have done this before with other Macs. It has always worked. The disadvantage is the amount of time the process takes. That time is not a problem at home. With the computer at home I can let the restore function run all night.

Now that I think about it, I could probably do the same thing at the office. It would just be a simple matter of detaching the old Mac from its peripherals and then connecting them to the new Mini. PROBABLY the restore function would work overnight, too.

But the office computer is far more important than the home computer. I would like to be able to supervise the process. I would like to do so while running my business and without duplicating all the peripherals for just the one day that the process should (I hope) take.

That is where my Ethernet connection comes in. While Time Machine restores to the new Mini through USB, I would like to connect the two Minis through Ethernet. The purpose, again, is not to transfer the contents from the old Mini to the new Mini. Again, that transfer would take place through Time Machine in USB. The purpose of the Ethernet connection is solely to establish a connection between both Minis and my peripherals, like the keyboard and the monitor. I could then carry on my business in the old Mini until I have fully restored all my data into the new Mini.

Can I control two Minis linked by Ethernet in this manner?

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Answer 3

den.thed

Level 10

82,306 points

Mar 23, 2021 11:16 AM in response to R_55a

No that won’t work. If you do a proper Migration during the initial setup, then the new Mac Mini will not be usable until the migration has finished.

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Answer 4

R_55a Author

Level 2

258 points

Apr 23, 2021 2:49 PM in response to den.thed

I ended up doing a Migration into the new Mini. Fortunately the old Mini failed on a Saturday, so I could let Time Machine restore over the course of the weekend.

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