Manual migration old Mac to new?

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Level 1

8 points

Manual migration old Mac to new?

HI, can anyone help with a manual migration from my old Mac Mini 1.83ghz / 2 core duo running 10.6.8 to a new IMac 2.8ghz / quad core running El Capitan?

I Don't want to use migration assistance as all my past upgrades have been firewired so I've got loads of unwanted files etc.

Ive read up on it but I'm still confused! so here are my many questions! .....

1. Instructions say to set up an empty user account in set-up assistant, how do I do that?

2. Then to connect both Macs to the external hard drive.. But I have time machine on my external hard drive, can I use that to manually copy between machines?

3. Am I best to use an external hard drive or file sharing?

4. Examples of folders to copy are given, eg: library folder etc, is there anything else I might need?

5. Will all my files open like old Adobe documents or applications etc?

I'd really appreciate any and all help as I've never done anything like this before! I've had the new IMac a week but don't want to start it up to avoid set-up assistant starting!

Thanks to anyone who can help!

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.6.8), To IMac 2.8 ghz El Capitan

Posted on May 10, 2016 1:50 AM

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Answer 1

lllaass

Level 10

210,519 points

May 10, 2016 5:43 AM in response to Mapie Rose

I would just use Migration Assistant/Setup Assistant and select what items you want to migrate.

Note if you do it after (Migrations Assistant) you installed and setup the new Mac the migrated stuff will in a new users account, the one you created during the Migration. To not create a new account yo have to use Setup Assistant during initial setup of the new Mac.

Also see:

Move your content to a new Mac - Apple Support

OS X: Manually migrating data from another Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

dwb

Level 7

33,298 points

May 12, 2016 8:08 AM in response to Mapie Rose

When setup assistant asks if you want to move data say yes and make sure your time machine drive is connected. Choose that drive. You now have three big choices: 1) applications 2) account(s) 3) configurations

Applications are all or nothing. You migrate them all or none. Since applications often cannot be simply copied from one drive to another you’ll probably want to select this. Migration Assistant is smart enough to know when an application isn’t compatible and will put those into a folder labeled incompatible applications
Account(s) - if you have more than one account you can select the account or accounts you want to migrate. Further, each account contains several folders-> Documents, music, Library etc. You may choose any or all of these folders. Absolutely do choose Library.
Configurations - that’s your network and other settings. Your probably want to select this

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Answer 3

Mapie Rose Author

Level 1

8 points

May 20, 2016 4:34 AM in response to lllaass

HI, thanks very much for your reply. Is that what's meant by setting up an empty user account in set up assistant? In which case, what do I do with that account after migration? Also, by using MA and selecting the files, does that also copy the hidden files with it? Thanks!

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Answer 4

Mapie Rose Author

Level 1

8 points

May 20, 2016 4:37 AM in response to dwb

Hi, thanks for getting back to me 🙂 By using Time Machine, will it copy the unwanted files? Sorry for being slow on the uptake!

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Answer 5

lllaass

Level 10

210,519 points

May 20, 2016 7:26 AM in response to Mapie Rose

It will only migrate the files you specify. If you specify system settings and some other items if there are hidden files associated with those they will be migrated too.

If you migrate during initial setup (setup assistant) the users accounts will be migrated if yo select to do that.

If you migrate after initial setup, (migration assistant) the users setting will be migrated as another users, not to the user you used during initial setup.. Thus, if you do MA, setup an account during initial setup but to not use that account. Then after you use MA, yo can make sure that the migrated account is an admin account (change if necessary). Then you can delete the admin account created during initial setup

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