What is the easiest way to transfer data from old Mac to you new Mac laptop?

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What is the easiest way to transfer data from old Mac to you new Mac laptop?

Go to the shop and ask how do I transfer my stuff on the IMAC 2013 to the new Laptop I'm going to buy? Easy they say, you just need a thunderbolt cable, an adapter (thunderbolt to USB-C), plug the cable in before you open your new laptop and start the migration process (from other Mac) when asked! Eeasy peezy!

er...no... Apple does not transfer everything Apple IMac late 2013 to MacBook pro - (Watch out)!

The highest MacOS software for IMac2013 = Catalina. Did everything as instructed. The new MacBook Pro M3 chip 2024 w/ Mac OS Sonoma :

Did not recognize the cable connection. I tried also LAN cable connection via and adapter - didn't work. However, Macbook Pro did not recognize this cable either, nor a straight USB cable either. It did recognize "my airport". Here I read on the forum that connect via cable which is the most reliable and I did - but cable did not work either (yes I tried every port on the MacBook Pro). After 1 frustrating day wasted I caved in and accepted the migration via wireless network. The data did migrate, well most maybe .. but there are files missing. I noticed that a bunch of playlists are missing in Music for example ( I used 10 hours to update the airport unit as well!). I'm dreading looking at what photos and videos are missing :( and what other files are not there.

I don't know why Apple cannot get things to work properly when everyone says its so easy - its obviously not unless your give Apple 100% control and put & pay for everything in the Cloud. Apple use a lot of my personal time and I'm starting to wonder if its really worth continuing with Apple products at all. I feel like returning the new MacBook pro I bought - 2 days its taken me and I'm still not there!! :(

MacBook Pro (M3, 2023)

Posted on Apr 8, 2024 8:45 AM

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Answer 1

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Servant of Cats

Level 8

39,125 points

Apr 8, 2024 9:21 AM in response to MikeLimaCharles

Assuming that you have enough storage space on the new Mac, the easiest way to migrate data from an old Mac is often to migrate from an external drive containing either

A current Time Machine backup, or
A current bootable clone backup ("startup disk") created using Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper!

This gets you around having to figure out which migration cable connections would be compatible BOTH with your old Mac and with your new one. It also avoids potential reliability issues with Wi-Fi-based migration.

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Answer 2

Apr 8, 2024 9:30 AM in response to MikeLimaCharles

Christ - I was expecting when I opened up photos file all my photos and videos would be there... this is what i have most of on the old IMac computer and they are not there on the new computer... and the migration process took nearly 10 hours.. what has been migrated if not all my photo files?!

What a mess... thanks apple?

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Answer 3

Apr 8, 2024 10:30 AM in response to Servant of Cats

Yes I used the Airport (timemachine) backup to transfer, but this seems to be incomplete. I cannot find my photos either even though the Back up was nearly a terrabyt and took 10 hours.. most of my files are photos and videos - I can't find any...! 1000's of files. I might deliver back my MacBook pro and go back to using the IMAc, then go back over to Android. Apple has been very dissapointing.

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What is the easiest way to transfer data from old Mac to you new Mac laptop?

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