Migrating from an old Mac with a large HD to a new mac with a small SSD

[todosrobert]

I am replacing an old Mac with a large hard drive with a new mac with a small SSD. I will use an external HD for the user files. How do I migrate from the old computer to the new SSD plus external HD. How do I show the new system where the user files are located. And is it possible to keep the most used apps on the SSD for speed?

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

-What size storage in the old an new Mac?
-Which versions of OS X/macOS?
Do you have a current Time Machine or other backup of your data on an external drive?
-How much data in your User folder - Music, Pictures, etc.?

You may not be able to do a full migration using Migration Assistant. You can store your Photos and iTunes/Music libraries on an external drive, but it would be a manual process to move the files, then set those applications to access them from the external. You would need to have the external connected and mounted whenever you need to use those applications.

C

 

[Howard Brazee]

I see that Apple is selling default iMacs with tiny SSD drives. While other devices are getting bigger drives, iMacs are getting smaller. I'm waiting to buy a new iMac until one app I need gets migrated to 64-bit. I'm hoping that I will buy an ARM iMac, but don't know. Because of that app, I bought an external 1GB SSD drive and have installed Mojave on it (I was going to buy 2GB, but the Apple Store didn't have one that day). It is a LaCie drive with a USB and a Thunderbolt-3 cord. My existing iMac only has Thunderbolt-1, so this drive works with both. I don't notice slowing when I use that drive. Oh, that drive is backed up on Time Machine.

When my app has been converted, I will experiment with my external SSD drive. I won't need Mojave anymore and will format that drive. Then I plan on dragging my Music and Movies folders to that drive, and testing everything. And check to see how much space is being used on my Fusion drive.

If everything works fine, I will be able to make a choice. Do I buy an iMac with the tiny drive? Or do I spend more money?

You may wish to consider buying a similar external SSD drive for your Mac. That can hurt portability (my drive is smaller than my iPhone). Then see if you can free up enough space on your old Mac.

Cory: How does the migration process work if you are moving the same external drive to the new computer?

 

[Harry Trent]

One possible approach might be to use Carbon Copy or SuperDuper (both are free) to clone the drive in the old Mac to an external hard drive. Then clone the external hard drive to the new Mac. Then upgrade the OS on the new Mac as necessary, assuming the old Mac was running an earlier version of the OS.

 

[Howard Brazee]

One possible approach might be to use Carbon Copy or SuperDuper (both are free) to clone the drive in the old Mac to an external hard drive. Then clone the external hard drive to the new Mac. Then upgrade the OS on the new Mac as necessary, assuming the old Mac was running an earlier version of the OS.

How does this get around the problem that the new drive is so small?

 

[Harry Trent]

Check this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8444807

I'm not sure about SuperDuper but the thread indicates Carbon Copy will dynamically resize the disk partitions on the fly during the cloning process. Of course, this would only work if the total occupied space on the old Mac's drive is less than the size of the small SSD in the new Mac.

 

[Howard Brazee]

Check this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8444807

I'm not sure about SuperDuper but the thread indicates Carbon Copy will dynamically resize the disk partitions on the fly during the cloning process. Of course, this would only work if the total occupied space on the old Mac's drive is less than the size of the small SSD in the new Mac.

Which appears to be the OP's problem.

 

[MartyByrde]

You may wish to consider buying a similar external SSD drive for your Mac. That can hurt portability (my drive is smaller than my iPhone). Then see if you can free up enough space on your old Mac.

Today, Amazon (and $10 cheaper at Newegg) has a 1TB External Samsung T7 SSD on sale. $159 at Amazon, and $149 at Newegg:

https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-Portable-SSD-1TB-MU-PC1T0T/dp/B0874XN4D8/ref=pd_lpo_147_t_0/147-7728939-2787415?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0874XN4D8&pd_rd_r=a7f9e6ee-16b5-4ba7-9cbf-f6a0e4774007&pd_rd_w=3UgLt&pd_rd_wg=Q8OmL&pf_rd_p=eba84458-d862-45eb-bb57-06592e30f645&pf_rd_r=M0GAXSRFWN6CTGX4QWMM&psc=1&refRID=M0GAXSRFWN6CTGX4QWMM

SAMSUNG T7 1TB USB 3.2 Gen 2 External SSD - Newegg.com

Buy SAMSUNG T7 Portable SSD 1TB - Up to 1050 MB/s - USB 3.2 External Solid State Drive, Gray (MU-PC1T0T/AM) with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

I'm seriously considering ordering it from Newegg, although Black Friday is close.

 

[Harry Trent]

That wasn't clear to me from OP's post. Now I'm not talking about the total capacity of the two drives in question but the actual used space on the old machine's drive. He could have a 1TB drive in the old Mac but only be using 200gb of that total space. If the new Mac's drive was only 250 gb total, cloning would work as long as the software dynamically resized the partitions.

 

[Howard Brazee]

Going from one computer to a new one with enough space in the new computer is rarely a problem. When he mentioned that he was going to a smaller size, I inferred that the issue was that space was the issue that made this different from normal migration. I may have inferred incorrectly.

 

[valiant66]

I have the same problem as the OP.

I have an old MacBook Pro with a nearly full 1tb drive. I’m thinking of getting a new M1 mac, but will only be able to afford the smaller drive.

I already have an external 2 tb SSD drive.

I also own Carbon Copy Cloner (it’s no longer free for full version) and use it for backups. BUT it’s designed for cloning entire volumes, not this problem.

I would like to know how to migrate all my system settings, apps, etc to the small internal drive, but migrate the user folder(s) to the large external drive using something like Migration Assistant. Is that possible?

 

[Harry Trent]

What is taking up most of the space on your current 1tb hard drive? Programs or data? If you move pictures, documents, movies, etc. over to an external drive but keep the programs on the 1tb drive of the old mac, would there be enough space cleared to be able to put what was left on the SSD of the new mac with CC Cloner? How large is the SSD on the new Mac?

 

[Nukeban]

And is it possible to keep the most used apps on the SSD for speed?

Are you sure you need the speed? Are you doing something specific where speed would be essential?

If not, the solution could be to simply copy (via SuperDuper for example) your existing setup to a large external drive, and then boot from there. Everything all in one place, just like what you're used to.

I'm doing this now over Firewire, an old outdated connection method much slower than the new connection system. Works fine for me.

Technically, booting from an external non-SSD drive will be slower than booting from an internal SSD. But in the real world where most of us live, the speed difference makes little practical distance.

 

[Harry Trent]

Nukeban gives good advice.

 

[Nukeban]

Nukeban gives good advice.

Not always. Not long ago I did a big rant about Macs to someone asking a question about their iPad. They posted in the iPad forum. I was so eager to be Mr. Helpful that I didn't bother to notice that. But, I'm definitely worth every penny you're paying for me!

 

[valiant66]

Are you sure you need the speed? Are you doing something specific where speed would be essential?

If not, the solution could be to simply copy (via SuperDuper for example) your existing setup to a large external drive, and then boot from there. Everything all in one place, just like what you're used to.

I'm doing this now over Firewire, an old outdated connection method much slower than the new connection system. Works fine for me.

Technically, booting from an external non-SSD drive will be slower than booting from an internal SSD. But in the real world where most of us live, the speed difference makes little practical distance.

As with anything else, you can never have enough horsepower (or in the modern world, enough ram).

To extend the car analogy, why would I buy a muscle car, then install a speed limiter?

The M1 Macs are up to 3 times faster than the intel Macs they replace. Internal storage is always faster than external. Even on an old iMac, booting from an internal SSD is faster than booting from a usb attached SSD. On an M1 mac that‘s even more pronounced, because CPU, GPU, RAM, are all integrated with SSD. The external USB bus will always be slower than the internal bus.

So why would I buy a super fast Mac then throttle its performance by booting from an external drive?

And yes, I need the speed. So do you. Even if you don’t realize it yet, more powerful computers will allow for apps that do things we can’t imagine yet (think AI and neural processing). The OS uses the boot drive for cacheing and memory swapping, so doing that over USB is going to slow things down even more.

But more to the immediate point I use Photoshop, which makes heavy use of swapping, and any increase in speed is desireable.

So for me the desired outcome is to have things that are performance-bound be internal, and things that aren’t, like files and settings, be external.

Frankly I am shocked Apple doesn’t just make this a selection in Migration Assistant. They’ve been selling Macs with 1, 2 and even larger boot drives for years, they should anticipate this need when they suddenly start selling Macs with drives ¼ the size.

 

[Nukeban]

As with anything else, you can never have enough horsepower (or in the modern world, enough ram).

Um, well, most users already have plenty of both imho. Not all users for sure, but probably most. As example, my wife uses her Macbook for email and web, and that's it. What does she need an SSD drive or late model processor for?

So why would I buy a super fast Mac then throttle its performance by booting from an external drive?

So that all your files and apps would be in one place, on one drive, which has been the familiar custom for users since the Mac was invented. I don't know what you personally should do, that's obviously up to you.

And yes, I need the speed.

Well ok, so that answers the question. No problem.