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How do I transfer my data from my MacBook pro to my new MacBook air quickly? Tried migration assistant and it said 77 hours after being attached for 12 already. Using Wifi transfer because I don't have the correct adapters since air has different ports than my old MacBook.
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.6
Don't you have a Time Machine backup of your present Mac? You should and then use that to transfer all your settings, files, apps, etc, to your new Mac. Your external drive may have a USB-A connector and your Mac may have a USB-C connector so just get an adapter if needed.
Don't you have a Time Machine backup of your present Mac? You should and then use that to transfer all your settings, files, apps, etc, to your new Mac. Your external drive may have a USB-A connector and your Mac may have a USB-C connector so just get an adapter if needed.
BobTheFisherman has the best answer, but just adding my experience from a few weeks ago, from a 2013 Macbook Pro to a new Air. I found Migration Assistant as part of the set-up process went into a hang after a short time and didn't do much over about six hours. I completed set-up with a new user account, checked everything was working and ran updates, then ran MA from the Utilities folder, including the User Account and Applications. I sat the two computers on the same table and migration proceeded very smoothly and reasonably quickly (about 250Gb) using Wi-Fi. If you use the external drive method, the Apple USB-C to USB adapter is a good investment and it will help.
I have migrated many Macs and either use a Time machine backup of old Mac connected directly to new Mac during initial setup or use a Carbon Copy Cloner drive and transfer directly from that drive. I never use Wifi as it can cause errors and is slow.
I found that after a while the MA just stopped and went into a standstill. I tried for 12 hours and then it said 77 more hours. Mine, for some reason, is only going at 2-5 MB/sec. Same MacBook pro 2013 to new MacBook air. Right now I have canceled the process twice and am just waiting for my adapter to come in the mail tomorrow. I already have a 1TB external drive, but I can't plug it into my MacBook Air. I did not look to see if they had the same external ports when I upgraded. I do not have a thunderbolt 4 adapter to USB for my external drive. I just expected this whole process to be easier and not so labor/time intensive.
Thank you. I already have one coming in the mail (the adapter) because I do have an external drive that I can use. I just decided to cancel the process and try to log into my new computer, but even that is taking a while just to log into my iCloud. My internet speed must be really sucky (Spectrum), but I can't do anything until that adapter comes in the mail. Thanks for your reply.
I have definitely found that wifi is SUPER slow for data transfer. I don't know what adapter I would need to directly connect my old mac to my new one. I honestly haven't used more than the USB and HDMI ports on my MacBook pro (2013) since I have owned it. I don't even know what those lightning ports do or what they are called. I expected Apple to be easier than what I'm experiencing, honestly. I wish the sales guy would have told me which adapters I would need when I told him my current device and told him the one I wanted to purchase. Now I need to wait a while to get it running....
Thanks for your help!
No, I have never backed up my current Mac using Time Machine. I did just do it though. My adapter came in the mail yesterday so I should be good to go. The only problem I see is that I backed up 212GB of information and I don't think I have that much storage space on my new MacBook. Almost everything is in the cloud so I don't know what is taking up all this space. I wonder if I can pick and choose what gets transferred in Time Machine onto my new Mac.
I had a similar experience trying to transfer data from a backup hard drive to a new MacBook Pro. I bought an Apple USB-C to USB adaptor.
When I tried to connect directly to the hard drive, it resulted in a message saying the hard drive was not repairable.
When I connected the MacBook to a router using Wi-Fi, and the hard drive to the router using a USB cable, I was able to initiate the transfer using Migration Assistant. However, this continued to fail, and it usually took about 2 hours, but sometimes it failed rather quickly. After two trips to the Apple Store and multiple, long conversations with puzzled Apple experts on the phone, I stumbled across the solution.
I did a clean install of the new machine, under Apple expert phone guidance. Then I bought a Belkin USB-C to Ethernet adaptor at the Apple Store. I connected the new computer to the router via USB-C to Ethernet and left the hard drive connected to the router using USB. All the user data was transferred in about 2 hours, much faster than the projected Wi-Fi method.
I really missed the Ethernet connection on the new MacBook, which would have made this transfer easy.
Get an external drive, attach it to the old computer. Copy all your data to the external drive. Attach the external drive to the new computer and copy all the data to the new computer.
When using TM you can pick categories(files, apps, etc.) but not specific ones. to transfer.
How do I transfer my data from my MacBook pro to my new MacBook air quickly?
