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Migrating system folders from external drive to new iMAC

After recently purchasing a new Mac Studio, I used Migration Asst to transfer files from my 2011 iMAC. The old mac had a smaller SSD to run the OS, and an HDD I used to store less frequently used system files, including "Documents,""Movies," "Pictures," etc.


As the new Mac Studio has plenty of storage on a single SSD, I was anticipating everything would seamlessly merge from the old SSD+HDD to the new SSD using migration assistant. With the same UserID, it didn't work that easy. The new iMAC studio is using the old HDD as a remote server from my old CPU. This setup isn't a long-term solution given the age of the old iMAC since the new Mac is accessing the old. Coping/cutting or dragging/dropping the folders in Finder from the old HDD to the new SSD doesn't work. Am hoping to avoid setting up the Mac Studio as a new user, but perhaps that's the only option. If there's something easy I'm missing, hoping the group can assist.


How do I reassign these system folders from the old HDD on my old iMAC to the new SSD on my new MacStudio?


Posted on Feb 12, 2023 11:20 AM

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Posted on Feb 12, 2023 11:30 AM

What I would and do is to:

1 - rename then folders on the EHD to Documents-2, Music-2, Pictures-2.

2 - then remove the Documents, Music and Pictures from the sidebar by dragging them out of there.

3 - drag the folders from the EHD into the sidebar of a Finder window.


Now when you want to get to the Pictures folder open a Finder window and click on the Pictures-2 folder in the sidebar:







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Question marked as Best reply

Feb 12, 2023 11:30 AM in response to matthewfromleawood

What I would and do is to:

1 - rename then folders on the EHD to Documents-2, Music-2, Pictures-2.

2 - then remove the Documents, Music and Pictures from the sidebar by dragging them out of there.

3 - drag the folders from the EHD into the sidebar of a Finder window.


Now when you want to get to the Pictures folder open a Finder window and click on the Pictures-2 folder in the sidebar:







Migrating system folders from external drive to new iMAC

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