Migration Assistant Broken?

Question

kudzu1953 Author

Level 1

17 points

Migration Assistant Broken?

Ok, I have a 2017 Macbook Pro with a 250 GB SSD, with 127GB available so I've use about 123 GB. Now I want to migrate to a Mac Mini M1 with a 250 GB SSD with 214 GB free (using about 36 GB) Both are on MacOS Monterey 12.3.1 so Migration Assistant should work right?

I've done a complete erase and new install on the target Mac Mini M1. On the older Macbook Pro, I've uninstalled things like OneDrive, links to external drives, Synology servers for Time Machine, etc, and rebooted numerous times.

So now, when I try Migration Assistant, the target Mini says my Library on the original Macbook is 883.97 GB (on a 250 GB SSD) so I don't have enough room. WHAT?? Running Info on the Library folder shows 8 GB in use, not 883 GB.

I've read about this, searching suggests this has been a problem for years! What is the fix APPLE.COM

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.3

Posted on May 3, 2022 5:40 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Owl-53

Level 10

102,223 points

May 4, 2022 2:05 AM in response to kudzu1953

Stock Suggestion from here :-)

If the new computer is going to be the Apple Silicon M1 Equipped Computer - would suggest Only Migrating the User Account and nothing more.

Some have had success and other have been left with a mess when Migrating everything.

1 - Apple Silicon with either Big Sur macOS 11 or Monterey macOS 12 Only Support everything 64 bit and there is no workaround.

2 - Issues that may exist on the older computer will be migrated to the New Computer. This would badly pollute the new Original and Pristine installation of the new OS.

3 - Applications, extensions and Software Drivers may or may not even work on the new computer.

4 - IMHO - it would be best to only install new application etc Directly from the Developer or the Apple Apps Store.

5 - Due Diligence on New Applications and make sure they are Monterey / Big Sur compatible and factor in the ARMs CPU of the Apple Silicon Computer

Reply

Answer 2

May 4, 2022 2:00 AM in response to kudzu1953

This one is awkward. Do you have a Time Machine backup of your old mac?

I would try attaching the backup drive directly to the new mac and migrate from that. It should be faster too.

Also: make sure to migrate just the users and not applications, settings, etc. You won’t want to bring in old stuff that is likely to cause issues in your new M1 mac.

Reply

Answer 3

kudzu1953 Author

Level 1

17 points

May 4, 2022 11:42 AM in response to Owl-53

Thanks for the detailed response.

With the potential issues moving between CPUs, I will install new apps on the M1, I don't have that many anyway. I can do a restore from Time Machine or use a portable drive for my files.

It's still puzzling why the discrepancy (for years apparently) in Apple's calculation of how much space I'm using and why Migration Assistant thinks my Library folder is 100 times bigger than it actually is, no sanity check to compare the actual size or physical drive size to the migration size.

Reply