List of Essential Folders & Files - Manual Transfer to New Mac Mini

My memo for a clean install, YMMV:

- Copy important data files and selected preferences from the old macOS:

~/Desktop

~/Documents

~/Library/Application Support/coconutBattery/iOS.ccbarchive

~/Library/Application Support/WiFi Scanner/wan-devices-info.db

~/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox (or let the new system download it)

~/Library/Mail (Shift-. to show Library, /Volumes/“volume"/Users/“user”/Library)

~/Library/Containers/com.barebones.bbedit/Data/Library/Preferences/com.barebones.bbedit.plist (drop to ~/Library/Preferences/)

~/Library/Preferences/com.lemkesoft.graphicconverter12.plist (drop to ~/Library/Preferences/)

~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist (or automatically from iCloud)

~/Movies/Motion Templates

~/Music/Music

~/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary

~/Users/Shared/*.vmwarevm

Restore Mail:

Mail > File > Import Mailboxes... > Apple Mail > choose the old ~/Library/Mail folder > choose all Items.

On the left-hand-side under "On My Mac" > Import, ..., look for and move "Local" and all mailboxes inside it up under "On My Mac". Right-click and delete "Import" folder (it has gmail mailboxes that are online).

idenizen wrote:

if I just copy "Music" folder, will my playlists come over too?

Just copying "Music" folder should be OK. Then option-start the new macOS Music.app and choose the copied Music Library.musiclibrary as a library.

I do not very much use iTunes/Music and my library and playlists are pretty basic so YMMV. But when I several years ago upgraded, I manually converted old iTunes to new Music folder structure. The usual macOS upgrade or Migration assistant might do a decent job but I wanted to do it manually to imitate a fresh install folder structure.

...

Old iTunes folder to Catalina or Big Sur Music.app

Catalina is able to convert .itl files into the new .musiclibrary format, as can Big Sur and Ventura. Monterey seems to get stuck in the process.

I have tested how to best import an old iTunes folder to the Music.app on a cleanly installed Big Sur (Catalina was the same but I skipped it). My current "iTunes" folder in Mojave was created 2006 (15 GB folder containing 1800 songs).

With my setup the Music.app could successfully parse the old “iTunes Library.itl” and convert it to the new “Music Library.musiclibrary”.

In that process the Music.app wanted to create a new mainly empty “Music” folder. I want all stuff in the same folder so I manually organised the old iTunes folder to the new Music.app layout:

~/Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary

~/Music/Music/Media/Music/[imported and downloaded artists/albums]

~/Music/Music/Media/Automatically Add to Music/ <- created automatically

~/Music/Music/Media/Downloads-Music/ <- created after downloading music

Convert old iTunes folder to the new folder structure:

0. In the old macOS iTunes.app check the song count (View > Show Status Bar) so you can compare it in the new Music.app.

1. Copy the old "iTunes" folder to macOS 11.0 Big Sur ~/Music/ folder and rename it "Music".

2. Option-start macOS 11.0 Big Sur Music.app and choose the old ~/Music/Music/iTunes Library.itl as a library. Music.app prompts to create a new “Music 1” folder. Save it on the Desktop (or where ever because this folder is deleted at step #5).

3. Wait a while for the old library to load (check the song count via View > Show Status Bar).

4. Quit Music.app. Open “Music 1” folder created in step #2 and move "Music Library.musiclibrary" from it to the ~/Music/Music/ folder you renamed in step #1. Delete the temporary “Music 1” folder from the Desktop.

5. Inside ~/Music/Music/ folder create a new "Media" folder, rename the old "iTunes Music" folder to "Music" and move it to "Media" folder you just created.

6. Option-start macOS 11.0 Big Sur Music.app and choose the newly created and moved ~/Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary as a library.

7. Open Music.app > Preferences... > Files, click "Reset", "OK" and "Yes" to the alert "Would you like to move and rename the files in your new Media folder to match the "Keep Media folder organized" preference?".

8. Quit Music.app. Inside ~/Music/Music/Media/Music/ folder delete the "Automatically Add to iTunes" and "Automatically Add to Music" folders after verifying they are empty (a new "Automatically Add to Music" was created in step #7 in the upper folder).

9. Inside ~/Music/ folder there might be the following old iTunes files and "Album Artwork", "Mobile Applications" and Previous iTunes Libraries folders that AFAIK serve no purpose anymore and might be deleted:

iTunes Library Extras.itdb

iTunes Library Genius.itdb

iTunes Library.itl

iTunes Library.xml

iTunes Music Library.xml

Album Artwork

Mobile Applications

Previous iTunes Libraries

10. Now you should have all imported songs available in the new Music.app with the new folder structure.

11. Some extra Album Artwork might be downloaded via Music.app > File > Library > Get Album Artwork (apparently works on purchased music and even for some old .mp3 files). Some purchased songs might be downloaded via Music.app > Account > Purchased > Not in My Library > Download.

12. Some purchased songs might be downloaded via Music.app > Account > Purchased > Not in My Library > Download.

13. I grabbed some missing album covers from the old iTunes/Album Artwork/ folder:

There are lots of folders so browsing them is difficult. So put them in the same folder and with GraphicConverter > File... > Browse Flat... > Edit: Select All > press Delete key to move them to Trash (make sure it is empty before doing that) > move all from the Trash to a folder.

Then convert .itc to .png with GraphicConverter > File... > Browse > Right-click: Quick Convert into same Folder as PNG.

Then GraphicConverter > File... > Browse > View > Show all in Slideshow and check if there is anything that might be used for missing album covers (there might be lots of duplicates and low-res covers).

14. Forced some loose songs in the same album in Music.app > select songs that belong to the same album > Song... > Info: edit the album name with some letter and then edit it back to its correct form.

idenizen wrote:

wondering if there are some hidden files on there

That is unlikely but you can reveal/hide invisible files via Shift-Command-. (that is period at the end). I use it to unhide ~/Library folder when copying files from external Carbon Copy Cloner backups.

idenizen wrote:

I've got to the Desktop folder, which is about 200GB. Seems awfully large . . . Anyhow, I'm copying to new Mac Mini with a direct ethernet CAT5 cable and the old iMac estimates abuot 10 hours.

I try to keep Desktop folder as a temporary place until files are put in their proper places. So my Desktop is usually empty. I am horrified when I see some people's Desktops cluttered with numerous files and possible duplicates ;-) But it is OK and YMMV.

I backup to external disks with Carbon Copy Cloner and when restoring after a clean install I just mount that SATA-USB3-connected backup volume and copy files from there with sustained max speed about 530 MB/s.