Create separate Boot and Data volumes on new Mac, before using Migration Assistant ?

Question

Create separate Boot and Data volumes on new Mac, before using Migration Assistant ?

This is interesting, it advocates for dividing the internal SSD into a Boot volume and a Data volume, where you will copy all your Home folder stuff, and then store all your new files.

He does not go into how to make the system start USING the Data volume instead of the normal Home folder.

He does not suggest the necessary size for the Boot volume, or its exact contents.

He does not talk about which volume the Applications Folder should go in.

He does not talk about setting it up on a computer that has several Users.

He does not talk about if the Data volume will respect the usual Permissions - ie your Home folder is password protected since it is in the Users folder. I don't want to do this & then find out that every time I want to open a Home Folder item stored on the Data volume - it wants me to enter my password.

Can I create these to Volumes prior to using Migration Assistant, so the Home folder stuff is still empty, AND tell Migration Assistant to put my incoming Home folder stuff into the Data volume ?

https://eshop.macsales.com/blog/88115-backup-best-practices-add-a-separate-macos-volume-for-important-data-instead-of-storing-it-all-in-the-home-directory/

MacBook Pro (M3, 2023)

Posted on Feb 29, 2024 5:03 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

141,235 points

Feb 29, 2024 5:15 PM in response to firstname lastname

That is an interesting thought exercise, but MacOS already separates all the system stuff into a separate Volume. When you only create an additional volume on the SAME drive, you are adding complexity for NO benefit.

If you note the source, OWC sells external drives, and it is certainly in their best interest to have you move your home folder onto a drive you bought from them.

I do not recommend you do that unless you are using an external drive, and live copying your data around, NOT at time of Migration.

Migration is difficult enough. Do you really want the needless complexity of adding a different volume organization at the point of Migration? I suggest NOT.

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Answer 2

Feb 29, 2024 6:59 PM in response to firstname lastname

APFS creates a APFS container-disk, and inside that container are these typical Volumes. This is a MacOS Mojave drive on an SSD:

diskutil list

/dev/disk6 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *240.1 GB disk6

1: EFI ⁨EFI⁩ 209.7 MB disk6s1

2: Apple_APFS ⁨Container disk7⁩ 239.8 GB disk6s2

/dev/disk7 (synthesized):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: APFS Container Scheme - +239.8 GB disk7

Physical Store disk6s2

1: APFS Volume ⁨X14-SSD240⁩ 97.5 GB disk7s1

2: APFS Volume ⁨Preboot⁩ 26.5 MB disk7s2

3: APFS Volume ⁨Recovery⁩ 507.6 MB disk7s3

4: APFS Volume ⁨VM⁩ 20.5 KB disk7s4

As macOS starts up, a virtual system Volume is created. In the example, it would be named X14-SSD240, and the data volume (where the /Users directory appears) would be named X14-SSD240 - Data

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Answer 3

MrHoffman

Level 10

147,085 points

Feb 29, 2024 7:07 PM in response to firstname lastname

Scrounge a decent-sized USB HDD, use it for Time Machine on the old Mac (once), swap it over, and import it (migrate it) using Setup Assistant on the new Mac, and then re-use the HDD for backups of the new Mac.

A USB HDD is immediately useful in the target configuration for Time Machine. At most, you need a USB-C to USB-A adapter on this path, and Apple offers a good choice there.

FireWire dongles and cables and the effort involved here are single-use.

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Answer 4

Feb 29, 2024 6:06 PM in response to firstname lastname

I should also add that I am Migrating from a 2011 MBP 17" running El Capitan. I was advised to update to OSX High Sierra before trying to Migrate. Updating all the apps will be a time consuming project as well.

Will I be able to run TextEdit v1.6 on the new machine? The next rev took away some features which I depend upon, and 90% of my saved data is TextEdit.

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Answer 5

Feb 29, 2024 6:11 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

" MacOS already separates all the system stuff into a separate Volume"

So a brand new APFS formatted drive in a new computer will show TWO volumes? One of which contains the system stuff and the other for the data folders? What are they named?

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Answer 6

Feb 29, 2024 6:41 PM in response to firstname lastname

Since when is Migration difficult? Put the donor machine into Target Disk Mode, connect with a Firewire800 cable, wait for Migration Assistant to finish.

Does SuperDuper work to clone APFS drives? I haven't checked the website yet.

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Answer 7

Feb 29, 2024 6:49 PM in response to firstname lastname

The official article suggest you upgrade your old Mac for exactly ONE reason, the=o obtain the latest =verion of Migration assistant that will be installed.

Migration Assistant has a long history of being widely compatible across a large number of versions of MacOS. Upgradting MacOS may be Prudent, but is NOT required. I will do what is appropriate for myself.

There was NEVER any need to upgrade Applications on the old Mac before Migrating.

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Answer 8

Feb 29, 2024 6:54 PM in response to firstname lastname

<<. connect with a Firewire800 cable. >>>

¿you have an older and a newer Mac and BOTH have Firewire-800? That is certainly novel.

Firewire 800 has been discontinued for a while, and most queries today are for what kind of USB cables should be used (Answer, NONE. USB is a local peripheral interface and does not work with Migration Assistant, but ThunderBolt does.)

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Answer 9

Mar 1, 2024 1:10 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

"The official article suggest you upgrade your old Mac for exactly ONE reason, the=o obtain the latest =verion of Migration assistant that will be installed. "

Am I remembering the process backwards? I recall the donor computer being put into Target Disk Mode, and the new recipient running the process to copy from the donor to itself.

"Migration Assistant has a long history of being widely compatible across a large number of versions of MacOS. Upgradting MacOS may be Prudent, but is NOT required."

Well, that's what the AppleCare tech told me; he said El Capitan can give problems.

"There was NEVER any need to upgrade Applications on the old Mac before Migrating."

True, and I did not say I was going to do that, except for the OSX.

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Answer 10

Mar 1, 2024 1:29 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

"¿you have an older and a newer Mac and BOTH have Firewire-800? That is certainly novel. "

Yes, I was being somewhat facetious. It was simple when I did it the last time, at least a decade ago.

My first Mac was a Mac Plus. I upgraded the board to 128k...

My 2011 MBP has a Thunderbolt 1/2 port, which is the squarish "mini Display" shape.

I cannot find a cable with TB 1/2 on one side and TB 3/4 on the other.

I am looking for info on what cable to use to connect it to the 2023 MBP which has only Thunderbolt3/4 (USB3) in order to use Migration Assistant. Can you use Ethernet?

I see there are dongles that will allow you to connect Ethernet to Thunderbolt or at least USB-C, cables :

USB C to Ethernet Adapter, uni RJ45 to USB C Thunderbolt 3/Type-C Gigabit Ethernet LAN Net…

And I have no idea how to stop this from being blue... I don't think any of my Ethernet cables are Cat 6, which you need for the full speed possible.

$17.99

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Answer 11

Mar 1, 2024 1:38 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

"APFS creates a APFS container-disk, and inside that container are these typical Volumes. This is a MacOS Mojave drive on an SSD:" snip

Thanks for the diagram; where can I learn about APFS drives and the reason for making a Virtual System Volume?

And I know newer macs have that hidden Recovery Partition, but I have not learned about that either, so I should.

And I think I will start using Time Machine. I suppose a fast transfer speed is not necessary since it works "all the time, a little at a time." I need to get a HD enclosure & connect it to the Router. My Router has lots of Ethernet ports but I cannot find a simple, one drive enclosure with Ethernet. Probably have to settle for USB-2, my router has one of those meant for a printer.

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Answer 12

Mar 1, 2024 1:57 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

"APFS creates a APFS container-disk, and inside that container are these typical Volumes. This is a MacOS Mojave drive on an SSD:" snip

What is the nominal physical size of the SSD ? 250GB or 500GB.

I don't remember what EFI is.

"a virtual system Volume is created. In the example, it would be named

X14-SSD240, and the data volume (where the /Users directory appears)

would be named X14-SSD240 - Data"

Why are they not shown in the partition list ?

And the Data volume is also a virtual one?

When I create or alter a file, is it stored in the Virtual or physical volume?

If in the Virtual, when is it finally transferred to the physical volume?

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Answer 13

Mar 1, 2024 8:50 AM in response to firstname lastname

<<. What is the nominal physical size of the SSD ? 250GB or 500GB. >>

The size of the Physical device, what ever you paid for.

<<. I don't remember what EFI is. >>

EFI stands for Extensible Firmware Interface, an auxiliary Boot partition. If and only if certain files are present in that partition, its contents will be used in booting up your Mac. For most users booting only MacOS directly, it is empty and unused. But it is a Hard Partition, and does consume a small amount of not-shared space.

They are shown from Disk Utility:

...

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Answer 14

Mar 1, 2024 9:00 AM in response to firstname lastname

<< When I create or alter a file, is it stored in the Virtual or physical volume?

If in the Virtual, when is it finally transferred to the physical volume? >>

There is no copying later. These distinctions are all related ONLY to access methods.

When you add to a file, its data blocks are written to the 'Macintosh HD - data' Volume or whatever you have renamed it.

Only in the case of attempting to write to System Volume is the Virtual nature of that Volume apparent. That Volume can not be modified in an ordinary way, and requires special treatment before anything will modify the Actual System.

About the read-only system volume in macOS Catalina or later - Apple Support

What is a signed system volume? - Apple Support

Signed system volume security in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS - Apple Support

.

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Answer 15

Mar 1, 2024 9:39 AM in response to firstname lastname

sorry, i did not see you previous post about migration methods and devices.

Migration to a new Mac:

Move content to a new Mac - Apple support

Transfer to a new Mac with Migration Assistant - Apple Support

Migration Assistant 'takes over' both computers, and takes a surprisingly long elapsed time. First it may need to compute a Spotlight index of the data. Once data transfer begins, it takes a bit longer than a FULL backup, likely all afternoon to overnight. You may want to set this up late in the day and let it run overnight, and be ready for it not to be done by morning.

"the best way" is to use your Time machine backup from the old Mac as the source for Migration Assistant running on the new Mac. Connecting that drive using USB-2 is as fast as almost every Rotating Magnetic drive, and will not produce a noticeable slowdown doing this transfer.

The way that usually works (but occasionally take several tries) but will seem really slow is using Wi-Fi through your Router.

If you could use Ethernet through your Router to BOTH Macs, that would be much faster. OR, if your old Mac is running 10.12 Sierra or later it can establish an Ad-hoc private Wi-fi connection to the new Mac when placed near the new Mac and both running Migration Assistant.

If your old Mac has no Thunderbolt-3 ports, Thunderbolt Bridge (a direct connection between the two Macs with a ThunderBolt cable) is off the table. (Purchasing a ThunderBolt-3 <-> Thunderbolt-2 adapter AND Thunderbolt-2 cable exceeds US$75 for a one-off transfer, and is not recommenced because of that cost.)

A USB cord sounds like a great idea, but does not work because USB is a local peripheral interface, and a Network interface is required, unless you can make your old Mac ‘look like a drive' to the new Mac.

Target Disk Mode can allow your old Mac to become a Hard drive, and it can be cable-connected to the new Mac. It requires ThunderBolt cable connection, so for a Thunderbolt-2 old Mac, you would need to obtain a Thunderbolt-3 <-> ThunderBolt-2 adapter (US$50) and a Thunderbolt-2 cable.

Transfer files between two Mac computers using target disk mode - Apple Support

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Create separate Boot and Data volumes on new Mac, before using Migration Assistant ?

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