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Level 1

22 points

Migration Assistant: Thunderbolt to USB-C slow?

I'm trying to do a migration from my old MacBook Pro Retina (Late 2013) to my new MacBook Pro (Late 2016). I have connected a Thunderbolt cable on the old MacBook to a USB-C Thunderbolt adapter on the new MacBook. The old MacBook is set to Target Disk Mode. I've confirmed that the dialog said it would use the Thunderbolt connection. After 8 hours of migration it is still going to take 2 hours at a whopping speed of 8 MB/s. As I want to get my money's worth of that ThunderBolt cable, I've cancelled the migration. I've read some reports about Target Disk Mode being slow, so I've restarted my old MacBook and am trying to get Migration Assistant to run without TDM.

However the old MacBook shows up, it gives an error about not being able to connect. My suspicion is that it ignores the Thunderbolt connection and tries peer-to-peer WiFi instead. According to Move content to your new MacBook or late-2016 MacBook Pro you can only use Migration Assistant with USB-C in Target Disk Mode. If found to be true, would make me very sad. Seeing that both MacBooks are equipped with SSD, 8 MB/s is joke.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013), macOS Sierra (10.12.2)

Posted on Jan 6, 2017 11:45 PM

31 replies

Jan 9, 2018 1:40 AM in response to Kanefire

Kanefire wrote:

Seagate Goflex Pro with thunderbolt... was quick for my 2012. Also got the apple USB-C to TB 1 adapter. Guessing this is where the bottleneck is. It's pretty frustrating that they come out with proprietary ports and discontinue them after a single generation. Could have added at least once TB port...

I have to clarify a few things:

- Thunderbolt is a standard. It was created by Intel, just like USB.

- The first TWO generations used the same port.

The third generation uses a different port, but that again is as standard as it gets. TB3 uses the same port as USB-C.

That of course does not explain or justify the problem you are having.

Your setup should work at least as fast as it did with the previous system; probably not much faster, because the drive is almost certainly the limiting factor.

Do you still have the older mac? Can you test to see if it still performs as fast as before with this drive?

Or perhaps test the speed while connecting the older mac in target mode?

I am wondering if it is the adapter, the drive, or a software/firmware issue.

I remember there were similar issues with 2016 macs, but they were supposed to have been solved with either firmware updates or OS upgrades.

josantvp

Level 1

4 points

Jan 13, 2018 1:15 PM in response to BoukeH

I am doing exactly the same with the same results.

In some moments it pushes up to 14mb but right now its doing 7 mb/s

Prior to do I actually searched on google which was the fastest option and all results pointed to using TDM with thunderbolt adapter.

dialabrain

Level 10

122,711 points

Jan 7, 2017 1:42 AM in response to BoukeH

FWIW, on the page you linked, no where does it mention using a Thunderbolt cable with TDM.

Perhaps you need to re-read the info.

dialabrain

Level 10

122,711 points

Jan 7, 2017 2:00 AM in response to BoukeH

I should add from a Time Machine backup might be faster as well.

BoukeH Author

Level 1

22 points

Jan 7, 2017 2:12 AM in response to BoukeH

I should note that I'm using Setup Assistant on the new MacBook, not Migration Assistant.

dialabrain

Level 10

122,711 points

Jan 7, 2017 2:37 AM in response to BoukeH

FWIW, it's not Apple's fault you don't have the correct adapters or a Time Machine backup.

The only difference is now you can transfer USB-C to USB-C which you also don't have. Also not Apple's fault.

dialabrain

Level 10

122,711 points

Jan 7, 2017 6:31 AM in response to BoukeH

If Luis says he has connected a 2016 MacBook or MacBook Pro with USB-C ports via TDM and a Thunderbolt cable utilizing Setup Assistant to an older MacBook I have no reason to doubt him.

dialabrain

Level 10

122,711 points

Jan 7, 2017 9:43 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Happy Birthday. 🙂

dialabrain

Level 10

122,711 points

Jan 8, 2017 2:40 PM in response to BoukeH

FWIW, I did a full backup of my Late-2015 5K iMac earlier today. It took 1hr55mins to back up 340GBs to a USB3.0 drive. I would say 16hrs is more than a little excessive.

Jan 17, 2017 9:26 AM in response to BoukeH

I just tried another MBP Late-2013 and it ran fine in TDM. So back to the drawing board, I guess.

Jan 25, 2017 11:13 AM in response to BoukeH

This is much better now with the 10.12.3 update which includes Boot ROM Version MBP112.0138.B21.

Jan 25, 2017 11:17 AM in response to cosmicpictures

cosmicpictures wrote:

This is much better now with the 10.12.3 update which includes Boot ROM Version MBP112.0138.B21.

This is great news!

BoukeH Author

Level 1

22 points

Feb 17, 2017 12:15 AM in response to BoukeH

Has anyone tried the new Thunderbolt Firmware Upgrade? It contains fixes for Target Disk Mode.

BoukeH Author

Level 1

22 points

May 30, 2017 12:45 AM in response to BoukeH

Due to keyboard issues with the 2016 model, I have used setup assistant to migrate from the 2016 model to the 2013 model over Thunderbolt. This time it went blazing fast: < 1 hour at ~125 MB/sec.

Sep 29, 2017 8:12 PM in response to BoukeH

I’m doing this from a 2016 13” MacBook Pro to a 2017 15” MacBook Pro over a USB-C data cable and only getting 10 MB/s!

Migration Assistant: Thunderbolt to USB-C slow?