Migration Assistant - El Capitan to Sierra

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Level 1

32 points

Migration Assistant - El Capitan to Sierra

Just want to know if there's anything I should be aware of going from El Capitan to Sierra. I'm currently using a 2009 MacBook Pro running El Capitan, and just bought a 2016 MacBook Pro. I cannot upgrade to Sierra before I migrate, as my old computer doesn't support Sierra. Will this cause any issues? Would it be easier to do a direct transfer? Also I was going to use my time machine backup (5,400 rpm drive), would it be faster to get the ethernet/usb-c adapter and do a direct connection transfer?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7), (Mid-2009 Model)

Posted on Apr 27, 2017 6:02 AM

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Answer 1

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Apr 27, 2017 6:08 AM in response to mightymilk

Use Migration Assistant while in Setup Assistant the first time you boot your new Mac. I would use the direct transfer rather the TM backup, it should be faster. No problem on the different version of system software, Migration Assistant was built for transferring from an older system to a newer one.

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Answer 2

Eric Root

Level 10

685,311 points

Apr 27, 2017 6:55 AM in response to mightymilk

Using Ethernet or a direct connection would be faster than Wi-Fi for which ever method you use to transfer data. I agree with macjack that Setup Assistant is the best way to go.

Set up a New Mac

Setup Assistant – How to re-run

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Answer 3

Aug 25, 2017 2:05 PM in response to mightymilk

I recently did a similar migration from El Capitan running on an iMac 27 inch 2011 to a MacBook Pro 2015 which had Sierra 10.12.0 already installed. In general the migration proceeded without mishap. My users we're transferred without mishap. However I was not able to send mail using Apple Mail after the migration. It took about five minutes what Apple support from a man named Joshua to fix the problem. It was simply changing the SMTP (outgoing mail) Port number to 587. What I don't understand about this is why there is a difference between the two Machines. I'm now running Sierra 10.12.6 on both machines and the old SMTP port number works fine on the iMac but not on the MacBook Pro.

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Answer 4

Aug 25, 2017 2:17 PM in response to jackson_pollock

My standard procedure for migration is to use an external drive where the operating system is cloned along with all the user accounts. I've been doing this for years. Never had any trouble with it. While resolving my email problem I tried booting the MacBook Pro from a clone of my iMac disk and tested the outgoing email while booted with my old System. It didn't work. After resolving the problem I waited a few days to make sure everything was working and then updated the operating system on my iMac to Sierra 10.12.6.

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