iMac Migration Advice

[Hornetville2.0]

In a moment of lockdown madness, I bought a new iMac with a 1TB Fusion Drive. My old iMac has a 1TB drive (c. 2015).

I want to use Migration Assistant to move my old data over using a Time Machine backup disk (Seagate 1TB). However, I got an error message saying there was not enough storage space on my new iMac to transfer all my data and I cancelled the migration.

I have an iCloud account. Am I right in thinking I do not need to copy over photo library to the new device? Also can I safely delete the old iPhoto library as this is no longer need by new Photo app?

Would it be a good idea to purchase additional iCloud storage on a temporary basis to cope with the excess data load? 2TB at £6.99.

I remember when you could migrate data with a firewire laplink cable between macs. But I guess we all had a lot less data in those days.

Stay safe everyone!

 

[Howard Brazee]

Do you still have your old Mac?

 

[Hornetville2.0]

Yes I still have it. It’s a 2012 model.

 

[Howard Brazee]

That increases your options. I'm wondering what I will do when I replace my late 2013 iMac that won't even run Big Sur (your 2012 is older). Right now I have a 1 TB SSD that I use to boot to Mojave to run one program. The author of that program promises a 64-bit version will be ready this Spring. When that program is ready, I won't need that SSD for Mojave. Which means, I can use it for other stuff. One thing I might try is to format it, then drag my huge Music folder to it. After I verify that everything (including my backups) still work, I will have lots of free space on my current Mac.

Then I can migrate to my new computer (which won't be an Intel model). With lots of free space, I don't imagine I'll have much problem. And I will have time to see if I can free up more space to move my Music library back to my new computer.

My SSD drive is a LaCie with both USB & Thunderbird 3 cords. I have used it to transfer data between my iMac and my wife's newer iMac. It will be useful when I don't need it.