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attempting to migrate data from a 2012 mac book pro to a 2020. Have run migration program twice with no transfer, can I use USB to Thunderbolt cable to migrate?
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.13
Welcome to the Apple Support Communities.
Congratulations on the new Mac! To move your data, the best and easiest way is to restore from your Time Machine backup: Restore your Mac from a backup - Apple Support. You should not use Wi-Fi or any other method as they often fail.
If you do not have a Time Machine backup, you should create one on your old Mac so it can be restored to the new Mac. To start, you need an external hard drive. Here’s an excellent one sold by Apple: G-Technology 4TB G-DRIVE mobile USB-C Portable Hard Drive - Apple. You can then follow the steps in this Apple Support article to setup your Time Machine backup: Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support.
Once your new Mac is setup with your data migrated, you should setup Time Machine again to keep continuous backups of your data: Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support. Also, moving forward, I recommend that you use iCloud in addition to Time Machine to sync all your files and photos to all your Apple devices. Although iCloud is not a "true" backup service, iCloud can also act as an emergency off-site backup, but this is why iCloud should be used in addition to Time Machine. Here are some resources on setting up iCloud for Mac:
After you setup iCloud, turn off "Optimize Mac Storage" in System Preferences > Apple ID/iCloud. That way, all changes made to files in iCloud are also backed up to Time Machine. If you have this setting on due to a limited amount of storage on your Mac, that is fine. Just know changes won't be backed up to Time Machine, only iCloud.
Jack
Welcome to the Apple Support Communities.
Congratulations on the new Mac! To move your data, the best and easiest way is to restore from your Time Machine backup: Restore your Mac from a backup - Apple Support. You should not use Wi-Fi or any other method as they often fail.
If you do not have a Time Machine backup, you should create one on your old Mac so it can be restored to the new Mac. To start, you need an external hard drive. Here’s an excellent one sold by Apple: G-Technology 4TB G-DRIVE mobile USB-C Portable Hard Drive - Apple. You can then follow the steps in this Apple Support article to setup your Time Machine backup: Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support.
Once your new Mac is setup with your data migrated, you should setup Time Machine again to keep continuous backups of your data: Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support. Also, moving forward, I recommend that you use iCloud in addition to Time Machine to sync all your files and photos to all your Apple devices. Although iCloud is not a "true" backup service, iCloud can also act as an emergency off-site backup, but this is why iCloud should be used in addition to Time Machine. Here are some resources on setting up iCloud for Mac:
After you setup iCloud, turn off "Optimize Mac Storage" in System Preferences > Apple ID/iCloud. That way, all changes made to files in iCloud are also backed up to Time Machine. If you have this setting on due to a limited amount of storage on your Mac, that is fine. Just know changes won't be backed up to Time Machine, only iCloud.
Jack
don209,
Jack's response appears to be automated. The whole Time Machine deal seems like a pain since you'll have to back everything up if you haven't been using it. I have Super Duper but I would prefer using the Apple Migration software. I too am searching for this answer. WiFi transfers are too slow. If I find out an answer, I'll dial back in and let you know.
pkeenan wrote:
I would prefer using the Apple Migration software. I too am searching for this answer. WiFi transfers are too slow.
That's why you restore from your Time Machine backup and not use Wi-Fi or any other method.
attempt t migrate data from a 2012 macbookpro to 2020. Have run the transfer twice for 8hrs plus with no results. can I do this with a usb to thunderbolt cable instead of wifi transfer?
