I am planning to buy a new desktop. My current Mac is from 2011. If I bring in the old one to trade in when making the purchase, will apple transfer my contents to new desktop for me or should I just go out, buy an external hard drive, and back up first?
iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.13
If you are buying from your local Apple Store they will help transfer your data, however it is incredibly simple to do yourself if you follow the instructions in Setup Assistant and Migration Assistant.
If you are buying from your local Apple Store they will help transfer your data, however it is incredibly simple to do yourself if you follow the instructions in Setup Assistant and Migration Assistant.
ymm424 wrote:
... Although I don't normally travel around I like the idea of having everything on hand if and when I need to take my Macbook or Ipad around. Normally I use my desktop.
Any thoughts are very much welcomed.
The external drive you use for TM backups should not be used as a vessel for data and files that you wish to access routinely via the Finder and other apps. TM backups are kind of fragile and don't take kindly to being messed with. In fact, the newest macOS versions make the TM backup drive read only, so saving files normally to the device isn't possible.
You'll need a second external drive to have access to your files when you go portable, or better yet, use iCloud storage to keep those necessary files available to all your Apple devices.
Please see > Introduction to iCloud - Apple Support
and > Access and manage your files in iCloud Drive - Apple Support
imho, for the long game you would do best by purchasing an external drive and backing up the old Mac. Use it to migrate your data to the new, and when that is done let the new Mac use it for regular Time Machine backups.
Having no backup is a guarantee that you will lose data, probably at the worst time.
I understand what you are saying...so I am now conflicted about getting a plug in hard external hard drive vs. the usb types (I'm presently intrigued by this one https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HN37XC1/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza ) the SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD. Although I don't normally travel around I like the idea of having everything on hand if and when I need to take my Macbook or Ipad around. Normally I use my desktop.
Any thoughts are very much welcomed.
That was very helpful....I wasn't aware of that detail. Fortunately, I also backed up photos, documents to a thumb drive (I had one on hand of 128GB..enormously handy).
At least I've some peace of mind that I've the time machine back up as well.
Thank you.
The drive you are considering would work okay.
thank you for the confirmation.
You're welcome. 🙂
Good luck, and enjoy your new Mac.
Can apple transfer my trade in desktop to my new purchase desktop?
