Migration assistant and external SSD

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MC2022FL Author

Level 1

35 points

Migration assistant and external SSD

I just bought a Mac Mini and am trying to migrate from a iMac. The Mini has a small internal SSD and a 1TB external SSD (Samsung T7). Migration assistant only tries to use the internal and won't move the files to the external - but the internal is too small for them all.

I used Disk Utility to Erase the external drive and set it up as MAC OS Extended Journaled with an Apple Partition Map (single partition).

What else or different do I need to do to complete this? Ideally the Mini would see the external drive as an extension of the internal.

Mac mini 2018 or later

Posted on Mar 31, 2022 3:07 PM

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Answer 1

MartinR

Level 7

24,330 points

Mar 31, 2022 3:25 PM in response to MC2022FL

First thing, re-do the external SSD. It should have a GUID partition map, not APM. GUID was introduced many years ago when Intel Macs were introduced. While APM may still be used with non-bootable drives, GUID is by far the preferred partition map and is required for the new(er) APFS format.

Your external drive can still be formatted as Mac OS Extended Journaled under GUID partition map if you prefer it over APFS - although APFS was designed for SSDs and I suggest going with APFS on an SSD unless you have specific reasons for using Mac OS Extended Journaled format instead.

The Mini (actually, all Macs) see external drives as separate drives, not as an extension of the internal drive.

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Answer 2

MartinR

Level 7

24,330 points

Mar 31, 2022 3:31 PM in response to MartinR

I'd also mention that if you are moving data files from your iMac to your new Mac Mini (presumably to your external SSD), you can do it without using Migration Assistant. You could just connect the external SSD to your iMac and copy your data files directly to the SSD.

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Answer 3

MartinR

Level 7

24,330 points

Apr 1, 2022 10:17 AM in response to MC2022FL

Before going any further ...

What is the exact model of your Mac mini and the size of the internal disk? Is it Intel or M1? What version of macOS is installed?

Ditto regarding your iMac.

Are there any applications for which you do not have the installers (or cannot get them) if you end up having to do fresh installs on your Mac Mini instead of migrating them from your iMac?

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Answer 4

MC2022FL Author

Level 1

35 points

Apr 1, 2022 10:31 AM in response to MartinR

Apple M1 chip with 8‑core CPU, 8‑core GPU, and 16‑core Neural Engine

16GB unified memory

256GB SSD storage

Gigabit Ethernet

External SSD Samsung T7 ITB

iMac 2014 27in

1.12 TB internal HDD with 634 GB available

3.5 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7

16GB memory DDR3

Some older applications I don't believe are still available for download (old versions of TurboTax for example). Office and the similar Apple suite should be. Not much else in terms of apps, but lots of pics, music and data.

TimeMachine Backup to 2TB external HDD on the iMac.

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