May 5, 2022
If you have a new Mac and you want to move all your apps settings and data from your old computer macOS's Migration Assistant is the perfect tool.
Migration Assistant in macOS provides the perfect way to move all your Settings, user accounts, data and Applications to your new Mac. Migration Assistant also allows you to Migrate from a PC, Startup disk or Time Machine backup.
In this blog we offer a simple walk through for migrating from an old to new Mac.
Before we start the migration we recommend that you save your work and connect your computer to a power source, if it is a MacBook model. Migration Assistant will in-fact close your Apps and tell you to connect to a power source anyway however performing these tasks before we start will save you having to worry about losing work or fumbling around for your power supply during the migration process.
Connect both Macs to the same network.
From our source Mac.
Launch Migration Assistant. Migration Assistant can be found in /Applications/Utilities. An easy way to launch Migration Assistant is to use Spotlight Search which is the 🔍 on the menu bar or command+space. Start typing Migration Assistant. Spotlight Search is so fast it will populate the result before you even finish typing.
When Migration Assistant launches it asks "How do you want to transfer your information". Click the radio button next to "To another Mac".
Your source Mac is now discoverable.
Migrate settings and data to your new Mac.
On your new Mac be sure to save your work and close your Apps. Launch Migration Assistant. To confirm again Migration Assistant can be found in /Applications/Utilities.
When we are asked How do you want to transfer your information? this time we select From a Mac, Time Machine backup or Startup disk.
Click Continue.
Migration Assistant will find the Mac we prepared in our previous steps to transfer our information to another Mac.
Click Continue.
Be sure that you see the same code on both Macs. This ensures you are migrating from the Mac that you think you are.
When we connect to our source Mac it will list items that we can migrate over to our new Mac. Note that if you migrate a user Migration Assistant will create the user on the destination Mac so you do not need to make a new account manually.
One of the great things with Migration Assistant is that it can be invoked by the macOS Setup Assistant which is the first interface we encounter with either an out of the box Mac or one that has been reloaded with macOS.
We can be specific with what data we transfer.
When you have selected the items to transfer click Continue.
You will be asked to enter the password for any account you are transferring.
When you have entered the password and see the green tick click Continue.
During the Migration process Migration Assistant will report statistics such as files transferred and estimated time remaining.
When the Migration process is finished Migration Assistant will tell you that the Migration is completed.
Click Done.
There may be some basic tasks that you still need to complete, like signing in with your Apple ID for instance. There are also some limitations that may be encountered, like you can not migrate to an older macOS or OSX.
That said Migration Assistant is an excellent tool that can save you a lot of time and work.
iLogix Computer Solutions are Mac specialists. We have loads of Apple Certs to our name and have been supporting Macs for a long long time. If you get stuck or just want to save some time please call us on 01252 962898.
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