Migrating From 2006 iMac to New 2020 iMac

Question

Level 1

4 points

Migrating From 2006 iMac to New 2020 iMac

I have a late 2006 iMac 2.16 GHz intel core 2 duo with 4 GB hard drive on which I have snow leopard 10.6.8. I cannot upgrade operating systems any further as they are not compatible. I bought a OWC Mercury Pro Elite 2TB external hard drive because I was advised that I could use it along with Time Machine to move from my old Mac to my new one. Upon receiving the external hard drive I plugged it into my old iMac running snow leopard 10.6.8 and I open the OWC setup to format the drive as per the instructions and it gave me an error message saying that the drive is not compatible with my current operating system. So it looks like I can’t use my new hard drive with my old Mac. So I’m looking for a solution I need a way to migrate to my new iMac?

Posted on Jan 9, 2022 1:31 PM

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Answer 1

rkaufmann87

Level 10

144,886 points

Jan 9, 2022 2:51 PM in response to Supergurlash

Please refer to Setup Assistant and Migration Assistant. Your OWC drive is pre-formatted to work with your iMac. The setup software is not needed. Did you plug it into the Mac, power it up and verify it's format?

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Answer 2

Supergurlash Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 9, 2022 3:18 PM in response to rkaufmann87

I plugged the OWC drive into my old iMac and tried to follow the instructions included to then be able to use Time Machine to back up my old Mac. But I got an error saying that the drive is not compatible with my old iMac’s OS. Was that not the correct way to create a Time Machine back up on my old iMac?

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Answer 3

Supergurlash Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 9, 2022 4:29 PM in response to rkaufmann87

My iDisk is giving me this error. And I’m logged into MobileMe. I was able to access iDisk just a few weeks ago I don’t know what’s going on now? And now I’ve made the mistake of signing out of MobileMe and I can’t get back in 😩

Another question…when you are in Time machine and you select the OWC external drive and you click “use as back up” it asks you to “erase all”….is it ok to say yes or does this drive have to be formatted using iDisk (which I can no longer access) first?

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Answer 4

Supergurlash Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 9, 2022 5:03 PM in response to tbirdvet

I did as you said and didn’t use any of the OWC software. I opened Time machine on my old iMac and clicked “use as back up” and when it prompted me to “erase all” on the OWC external hard drive. I clicked yes. However Time Machine still can’t complete the backup. Im getting this error message(see pic) still and this OWC external hard drive is 2TB. Did I just screw something up not being able to format this OWC external drive to Mac OS extended in iDisk. And just so we are all on the same page I can’t access my iDisk right now because I can’t sign into my MobileMe account.

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Answer 5

rkaufmann87

Level 10

144,886 points

Jan 9, 2022 5:03 PM in response to Supergurlash

Also, MobileMe is dead. The following is a quote from Wikipedia:

MobileMe (branded iTools between 2000 and 2002; .Mac until 2008) is a discontinued subscription-based collection of online services and software offered by Apple Inc. All services were gradually transitioned to and eventually replaced by the free iCloud, and MobileMe ceased on June 30, 2012, with transfers to iCloud being available until July 31, 2012, or data being available for download until that date, when the site finally closed completely. On that date all data was deleted, and email addresses of accounts not transferred to iCloud were marked as unused.

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Answer 6

Supergurlash Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 9, 2022 5:25 PM in response to tbirdvet

Omg! IM SO SORRRY everyone!! I’m occasionally an incompetent idiot! I didn’t read everything properly. I found disk utility(which has nothing to do with iDisk or any of the other nonsense I was yammering on about and formatted the OWC drive to Mac OS extended(journaled) and I’m now successfully doing my Time Machine backup on my old iMac, which is going to take a while. Hopefully it won’t be a problem if my computer goes to sleep cuz it will eventually do that on its own.

Thank you all for your help! And I’m sorry for my own incompetence. I promise to do a better job reading things through next time. I have the articles sent in this tread properly saved for reference when I move to the new computer. I appreciate everyone’s help! Thank you!

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Answer 7

Supergurlash Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 9, 2022 11:06 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Wow Time Machine gave me an estimated size of 233.65 and it ended taking 1.78TB of my 2TB external drive. Is it supposed to be that big? Is it going to fit on my new iMac with my internal hard drive only being 16GB?

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Answer 8

tbirdvet

Level 6

14,759 points

Jan 10, 2022 5:44 AM in response to Supergurlash

Your new Mac does not have 16GB. That is probably the RAM (memory). Your new Mac will have 250GB or larger. TM will only take up no more room than what your original file size was. I'm sure your old Mac did not have 1.78TB. Something not correct here. Perhaps your drive was not completely erased when you started the TM backup.

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Answer 9

Supergurlash Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 10, 2022 6:55 AM in response to tbirdvet

Ahhh I see that makes more sense. Yes you are correct my old iMac was small compared to my new iMac. When I erased the drive it did say 2TB of 2TB before I started the backup. There was an option in Disk Utility to erase the free space on the drive. Should I have done that?

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Answer 10

rkaufmann87

Level 10

144,886 points

Jan 9, 2022 3:36 PM in response to Supergurlash

Connect the External Hard Disk, open Disk Utility ( Applications - Utilities - Disk Utility) then format the External Hard Disk as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and you should be good to go.

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