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Transferring data from old MacBook Air Early 2015 to new MacBook Air 2022

I just received my new MacBook Air 2022. I'm planning to use Migration Assistant to transfer all the data/Apps etc. from my MacBook Air Early 2015 which is running Catalina 10.15. Is there anything I should do to clean out junk from my old MacBook before the transfer, like delete cookies, which I've never done? I'm also worried about my Outlook files transferring particularly my folders, anyone have experience with this? And finally, last time I transferred to a new computer I lost all my iTunes playlists. Do I need to worry about that this time? Any other tips? Thank you for your help.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jul 29, 2022 6:06 AM

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Posted on Jul 29, 2022 12:07 PM

I assume you're using a Time Machine backup to Migrate data.


It's generally a good idea too get rid of useless baggage, either before or after migration. Just be sure you remove only user data and such and not system type files and folders.


Whatever the TM backup has in it is what will be transferred. If something is missing after migration, you can copy and paste it from the old Mac using Finder and an external drive. Do not attempt to copy anything from the TM dataset with Finder.


Once Migration is complete, check for missing data. If any is missing, use an external drive, not TM, to put it onto the new Mac

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Question marked as Best reply

Jul 29, 2022 12:07 PM in response to juliet728

I assume you're using a Time Machine backup to Migrate data.


It's generally a good idea too get rid of useless baggage, either before or after migration. Just be sure you remove only user data and such and not system type files and folders.


Whatever the TM backup has in it is what will be transferred. If something is missing after migration, you can copy and paste it from the old Mac using Finder and an external drive. Do not attempt to copy anything from the TM dataset with Finder.


Once Migration is complete, check for missing data. If any is missing, use an external drive, not TM, to put it onto the new Mac

Jul 29, 2022 2:18 PM in response to ku4hx

Thank you for your answer! Unfortunately, I can't use Time Machine because I don't have an external hard drive. I also read somewhere Time Machine doesn't work with Catalina even though I see it in my applications file, so thats confusing. My plan was to just transfer the data Mac to Mac wirelessly using Migration Assistant. Do you think I should instead pick up an external drive and try the Time Machine method instead?

Transferring data from old MacBook Air Early 2015 to new MacBook Air 2022

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