Transfer SSD data from external caddy to new iMac M1

Question

Transfer SSD data from external caddy to new iMac M1

I have a late 2011 15” with the AMD graphics card issue. Hasn’t been working for years.

I’m looking at getting a new iMac M1.

I know hard drive transfers can be done with M1 iMac as long as I’m running 10.7 or later on my older comp, it’s running 10.13.

the issue: can I put my SSD from my 2011 into an external caddy and transfer everything to the M1? Will that be sufficient?

Or should I buy a cheap 13” early 2011 MacBook Pro (pre retina), put the SSD in there and do the transfer from computer to computer?

I ask because the SSD in the 15” AMD 2011 is password protected, I have to log in before I get to the desktop screen. Will that create an issue transferring from external caddy to new M1? Or will the transfer still work?

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Nov 22, 2021 2:30 PM

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Answer 1

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,588 points

Nov 22, 2021 2:46 PM in response to hopeless romantic

Your Caddy should be fine to migrate. Just follow the steps in Setup Assistant and Migration Assistant and follow the Setup Assistant method and off you go. If you have a Time Machine backup of the 2011 that might even be easier.

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Answer 2

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,588 points

Nov 22, 2021 3:02 PM in response to hopeless romantic

It should migrate from the Caddy without any issues. In the future NEVER EVER operate any computer without a current backup. What you need to do is to buy a high quality EHD (Never buy Walmart or similar WD, Seagate, Toshiba) cheap enclosure as they will die prematurely due to not having adequate cooling. Be smart and buy a quality EHD such as a OWC Mercury Elite Pro to backup to.

As all HD's fail, the advantage of the OWC solution is you can install a new HD in the enclosure in under 5 minutes. I have some of these enclosures that are 15+ years old that work fine. Also as a general rule, when a EHD dies immediately replace it, bare HDs are not expensive.

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Answer 3

Nov 22, 2021 2:53 PM in response to rkaufmann87

I do have an external hard drive for time machine, the issue is that my 2011 15” died 4 months after my last backup, hence using internal SSD in a caddy as there is much I did not backup before that occurred.

So…. migration assistant won’t have an issue transferring from external caddy to new M1 even though it’s password protected or will it prompt me to enter password to start migration from old SSD to new M1?

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Answer 4

Nov 22, 2021 5:36 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Thank you! I know never to operate without current backup. I typically always back up once a month, that is sufficient for me. Why I went 4 months, I have no idea.

Yes I never buy cheap externals, I’ve always gone with LaCie from the Apple store. Yes OWC also has great stuff. I currently have a platter external and have been meaning to update to external SSD.

thank you so much for you assistance and tips!

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Transfer SSD data from external caddy to new iMac M1

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