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Should I be hesitant to transfer my files to my new machine with Migration Assistant in-store?

I'm upgrading from a late 2012 Mini running Catalina, to a new Mini. My Apple store is less than 15 minutes away. Is there any reason why I shouldn't let them move the files from old to new? There is only about 300GB of data to move.


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Mac mini, macOS 10.15

Posted on Aug 10, 2023 2:23 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 10, 2023 4:30 PM

As mentioned earlier, you'll want to make sure your new Mac's hard drive is large enough. Ideally, it should be at least 20% larger than the amount of hard drive space occupied on your old Mac.


The easiest means of transferring via Migration Assistant is via a Time Machine backup. Do you have one? Make sure your old Mac has been backed up just before you run Migration Assistant. (Migration Assistant does provide for transfer via WiFi, but I'd not recommend it, as it's pretty slow.)


Here's how to transfer via Migration Assistant: Transfer to a new Mac with Migration Assistant - Apple Support


Migration Assistant is pretty foolproof. The most common issue I see here is that Migration Assistant will have you enter a login password for your new Mac, and many don't realize you can use the same password as your old Mac. They then promptly forget to write down the new password, and are not able to login to their new Mac.


Personally, I wouldn't have the Apple Store do the migration for you...you can do it yourself easily. If you're transferring 300GB, you'll want to allow several hours for the process to complete.


Hope this helps.

6 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 10, 2023 4:30 PM in response to dgerety

As mentioned earlier, you'll want to make sure your new Mac's hard drive is large enough. Ideally, it should be at least 20% larger than the amount of hard drive space occupied on your old Mac.


The easiest means of transferring via Migration Assistant is via a Time Machine backup. Do you have one? Make sure your old Mac has been backed up just before you run Migration Assistant. (Migration Assistant does provide for transfer via WiFi, but I'd not recommend it, as it's pretty slow.)


Here's how to transfer via Migration Assistant: Transfer to a new Mac with Migration Assistant - Apple Support


Migration Assistant is pretty foolproof. The most common issue I see here is that Migration Assistant will have you enter a login password for your new Mac, and many don't realize you can use the same password as your old Mac. They then promptly forget to write down the new password, and are not able to login to their new Mac.


Personally, I wouldn't have the Apple Store do the migration for you...you can do it yourself easily. If you're transferring 300GB, you'll want to allow several hours for the process to complete.


Hope this helps.

Aug 10, 2023 3:48 PM in response to dgerety

dgerety Said:

"migration assistant: I'm upgrading from a late 2012 Mini running Catalina, to a new Mini. My Apple store is less than 15 minutes away. Is there any reason why I shouldn't let them move the files from old to new? There is only about 300GB of data to move."

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Just how much free storage space is on your new Mac? Keep at least 20% fresh space.

Aug 10, 2023 4:46 PM in response to Rudegar

I believe it’s included with the price of the computer. I’ve never done it and I’ve read that migrating from an Intel Mac to a new M2 can be very iffy. I’d rather let them do it and be responsible for getting it right. I’m asking if anybody has had a bad experience letting the Genius Bar people do it.

Aug 10, 2023 5:32 PM in response to dgerety

Just FYI...I transferred nearly 1GB from my 2016 Intel MacBook Pro to my new 15" M2 MacBook Air with zero issues.


I was fortunate that my 2016 MacBook Pro had Thunderbolt ports, so I was able to transfer everything via Thunderbolt cable using Migration Assistant. It only took about 40 minutes...much faster than via Time Machine backup or WiFi.

Should I be hesitant to transfer my files to my new machine with Migration Assistant in-store?

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