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User profile for user: SEB
SEB Author
User level: Level 1
9 points

Migration Assistant Delay

Transferring my data from my 10 yr old I MAC 21.5 to my new IMac 24 via ethernet cable between machines has taken over 12 hours and has been stating only 4 minutes remaining for 3 hours. It is still moving files and indicates it is moving over 520,000 files currently. My drive is mostly photos over the past 10 yrs and some home videos and music with only 5 gb or so of other documents. Is this normal to take so long via ethernet cable? My old mac has 720 GB of data that is is transferring to my new 2 TB hard drive on the new mac.

Posted on Jan 17, 2022 5:05 PM

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User profile for user: Jack-19
Jack-19
User level: Level 8
46,008 points

Posted on Jan 17, 2022 5:24 PM

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities.


Cancel the Migration. If there is no "Cancel" button, force shut off your Mac. Then, 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.


Cheers,


Jack

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Jack-19
Jack-19
User level: Level 8
46,008 points

Jan 17, 2022 5:24 PM in response to SEB

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities.


Cancel the Migration. If there is no "Cancel" button, force shut off your Mac. Then, 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.


Cheers,


Jack

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Migration Assistant Delay

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