To go onward , you must back up . This is an previous rubric and unfit prank about the grandness of continue regularly updated copy on handwriting of your personal and work papers and , ideally , your entire drive . Backing up is often an important point in migrating to a new machine as well . This hebdomad , I comprehend my urge method acting .
Jim Kay pen :
I ’m planing on purchasing the fresh MacBook in April , but I am wondering what the best mode is to move all my files , circumstance , pictures , and medicine over to the new Mac from my current Mac ?
you’re able to take a few different approaches , and over ten of owning Macs and using various backup software system and media ( include swarm storage ) , I have some potent opinion .
Clone
If your current apparatus works exactly as you like , clone your thrust would provide you both with a complete musical accompaniment of your old system , a way to test a migration , and the least fuss in migrating .
This method acting ask an external drive , however , so it adds expense . However , because I advocate that you constantly back up your files with Time Machine or other software , you should already have one or practice this chance to get one .
For long - term archival intent , get a campaign that ’s three times the amount of data you expect to stash away on your Mac ’s loudness . A 2 - terabyte ( TB ) external drive with USB 2 and 3.0 and FireWire 800 interface can be had for under $ 200 . ( While it lacks FireWire , The Wirecutter ’s current 2 TB pickis only $ 92 . We live in a splendid time . )
Either Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper works great to make a bootable clone of your inauguration drive .
Make certain you ’ve installed all type O X updates , so you ’re not missing files needed to boot a new Mac . Then useSuperDuper(free for basic cloning ; $ 27.95 for in advance feature film ) orCarbon Copy Cloner($39.99 , 30 - day free test ) tocreate an exact duplicateof your Mac ’s drive . register the documentation of the app you choose on how to make a perfect copy , which may demand re-start or quitting some active software .
After cloning , unmount the crusade , exclude down the old computer , mount up the drive on the new one , and set it as the charge volume from the Startup Disk preference pane . Restart the Modern calculator . If the cloned parkway boots the new figurer mulct , you may then clone the external drive to the internal , set the inner as the startup volume , and you ’re done .
On your sure-enough computer , make certain when you restart it that it does n’t mechanically retrieve e-mail or engage in a host of other activity by holding down the fault key after pressing the superpower push . Keep holding it down until you see the Desktop icons appear , and this prevents OS X from starting package you set to extend at launch .
Now you ’ve got a full , cloned musical accompaniment on your transfer driving force , and a newfangled computing machine with all the same data .
Migrate
An alert proofreader will note that Jim did n’t ask about cloning or his applications . If you ’re just seek to move all your documents and scene , Apple ’s Migration Assistant is a simpler path to take . masses account depart succeeder with the assistant , but the odds seem much higher these days of having no problem at all .
With Migration Assistant , youcan selectfrom among a few categories of item to transfer , including setting and applications . The supporter can work either over a meshwork , via Thunderbolt or FireWire , or from a Time Machine backup .
Reader Larry asked whether one could selectively call back files while execute a migration . And Bonnie Beiseker ask if she had to pick what to back up .
Time Machine is a set - it - and - blank out - it solution because it backs up everything .
In both event with Time Machine , the answer is no : Time Machine was design around completeness and simplicity , which means everything is backed up and also archived , with a chronicle of single file changes record to allow different variant to be retrieved over prison term .
If you need to be able to choose files to backup and restore , you require to pick a third - company broadcast , likeBackblazeorCrashPlan . I have had my Francis Bacon hold open by such computer software many times when an external drive has fit bad , or I ’ve edit a folder by chance .
Additional , third - company software paired with cloud serving can get you retrieve files or entire backups even if your local drives have all bitten the dust , something not currently supported with Time Machine . But Apple has progress all those fresh data mall .
Choose what to copy
If you ’re look just to channel documents of all kinds and not configurations and coating , using an internet - ride bulk to copy item over can be the simplest . I ’ve select this route a identification number of times when set up a secondary estimator .
This method acting typically ca n’t copy all applications , though some will live the ocean trip , and requires that you take root out preferences and other file cabinet if you ’re trying to bring those along .
Bonus question: migrating an older Mac
Pat White writes about being stymied with a migration :
I ’m trying to transfer file from a 2006 MacBook Pro , running Snow Leopard 10.6.8 , to a unexampled Mac mini draw Yosemite . I ’ve followed all the instructions , but the Migration Assistant on Yosemite keeps tell me to upgrade the 10.6.8 MacBook software . The problem is 10.6.8 is the high as the MacBook can work on .
Something ’s wonky here , Pat . The late 2006 MacBook Pro can handle OS X 10.7 , so long as you have 2 GB of RAM put in , but you should n’t call for it . Apple’smigration livelihood detail note , “ Migration Assistant in Mavericks and Yosemite can transfer info from other computers that have OS go Snow Leopard v10.6.8 or afterward install . ”
Instead of pointing Migration Assistant at your quondam Mac , try transmigrate from a Time Machine championship of that Mac .
So something is not quite veracious . It may be that you need to try another method acting of migrating : If you ’re using Wi - Fi or ethernet , try FireWire ? You might also make a Time Machine backup of your MacBook Pro and then bond that parkway to the new Mac miniskirt .
Ask Mac 911
you could e-mail thing that perplex you or postulate solving tomac911@macworld.com , twirp them at me ( if brief)@glennf , or call 206 - 337 - 5833 and leave a voicemail subject matter . ( We ’ll be experimenting with some audio in the future , and may put your question “ on the airwave . ” )
