Migration Assistant not finding external hard drive

hiddenmuse wrote:

I appreciate the links, but neither cover including data from external hard drives during the migration of data.

Does this mean whichever of the two options I choose, I’ll have to manually move the files on the external hard drive to the new machine?

The whole idea is TM seamless transfer the information for you— if you choose all the appropriate categories you wish to move...

If the drive is partitioned or contains non-TM files outside the database then yes you would have to move manually.

it is not say that TM data can not be corrupt—especially at some point you try and micro-manage the ** and delete from the complex database— not recommended.

I would always advocate if you value your user data

3-2-1 Backup Strategy: three copies of your data, two different methods, and one offsite. 

More than one device, more than one backup methodology.

hiddenmuse wrote:

I just bought a new MacBook Pro and am wanting to use Migration Assistant to transfer my data from my old MBP to my new one. I’ve got the machines connected via Thunderbolt 3 cable.

The old MBP had a much smaller hard drive, so I have all of my Music, Movies, Photos and Lightroom files on an external SSD. My new MBP has a much larger hard drive, so I want everything to port over onto its hard drive.

However, the Migration Assistant on the new MBP doesn’t show the external drive and the size of what’s being transferred over (125 GB) seems low. I should have close to 500 GB if the files on the SSD are being included, which along with not seeing the external drive listed makes me pretty sure it’s not included in the migration.

How do I get all of my files from the external drive onto the new machine? Will I need to plug it into the new MBP after running the migration and manually move everything?

The most trouble free way to move to a new machine, is using the Setup Assistant on the initial boot of a brand new machine— you have one shot here. Set up your MacBook Pro - Apple Support

The second best way is use the Migration Assistant.

How to move your content to a new Mac Transfer to a new Mac with Migration Assistant - Apple Support