How to migrate your data to a new Mac
Acquiring a new Mac is always exciting. Unboxing one is enough to send some people scurrying for a video camera, so that they can later revisit that new-Mac feeling.
But unless it's your very first computer, the thrill of setting up a new Mac is tempered by the knowledge of what comes next: getting your data - documents, photographs, email, music - from your old computer to your new one.
Perhaps in some far-off, magical future, where all data lives in the cloud and web connections are dizzyingly fast, this won't be something you'll need to worry about. Instead, you'll fire up a new Mac, type in your Apple ID and password, and impatiently drum your fingers on the desk during the five seconds it takes to get your important files back in their rightful homes.
Unfortunately, we live in pesky modern-day reality, and things aren't quite so simple.
Sensitive data
Most user data is stored locally, on a hard drive or flash drive. In order to get it onto a new Mac, it must be copied across somehow. This process is further complicated if you're moving from a PC rather than a Mac. Data also happens to be relatively fragile, and problems can occur during migration.
Additionally, there can be compatibility issues with new machines, and so what might have first seemed like a fun splurge at the Apple Store can rapidly descend into some kind of wide-eyed nightmare, with you wondering why your iPhoto library suddenly has precisely zero pictures within. MacFormat is here to help.
With this feature, we're not just telling you to get a new and old Mac communicating and then let Migration Assistant do its thing (although that is one optional part of the process, as we'll show). We're also providing in-depth advice on everything else surrounding migrating to a new Mac.
We explore backing up your system - something you should be doing anyway, but doubly important when you're about to move to a new machine. We take a look at dealing with moving data from a PC to a Mac - increasingly common as people flock to Apple after years of battling Windows. Alternative options for transferring data from Mac to Mac are looked at, including manual migration, which makes it simpler to leave detritus behind.
Beyond migration, we also examine related topics. Upgrading OS X requires many of the same safeguards to be implemented as when migrating a Mac, and so we provide best-practice guidance there. And once migration and upgrades are done, there are further things to check and do, not least if you find yourself suddenly needing access to your 'old' machine - a copy of which we'll show you how to stash on a hard drive in your office drawer.
Clone your Mac
Make a copy of your old Mac before you start your migration
Backing up data is something we hope every MacFormat reader does on a regular basis. After all, data is relatively fragile - should your Mac's internal drive give up the ghost (something that tends to happen abruptly, without warning), everything on it will no longer be accessible. All those baby photos, important work documents and the amazing album you were working on in GarageBand will be gone, probably forever.
Your only hope will be an expensive recovery service - and even then, nothing will be guaranteed. It should never come to that. There are various affordable ways of safeguarding your data, each with their various pros and cons.
Time Machine is a very popular choice - it's simple, built-in to OS X and enables you to find older versions of a specific document should you wish to revert. All you need to do is buy and plug in a USB drive (ideally one with a capacity at least half as large again as your Mac's internal drive) and confirm when your Mac asks if you'd like to use it for backing up.
You can also use an online back-up service, such as CrashPlan, which puts data beyond even disasters such as your Mac being consumed by fire. At MacFormat, we recommend both of these things - and not exclusively, because the more copies of your data you have, the better.
Clone wars
There's also a third way: cloning. A clone differs from a backup in that it's not based around making copies of user files, but is instead an exact working duplicate of your entire Mac's hard drive.
In essence, a clone is your Mac, and you can even boot from it and work with it. Because of this, we recommend you clone any Mac you're planning to migrate from. This gives you a snapshot of your old Mac that can be stashed away and brought out should you need access to an old file, or even an old application that no longer runs under the flavour of OS X installed on your new machine.
In terms of the drive you use to clone your Mac, that depends on whether you're already using cloning software. If you are, we recommend buying a new external hard drive for your new Mac, and doing one last clone to the old drive before it's retired. That way, you always have the old one when you need it, and can start afresh with new hardware (and, if relevant, a more suitable external drive capacity) for your new Mac.
If you don't clone your Mac, pick up a drive with a capacity at least 10% larger than the used portion on your Mac's internal drive. (You can find out this figure by selecting the drive in Finder's sidebar and then using File > Get Info.) What brand you buy doesn't really matter, and you should be able to find, for example, 500GB external USB2 or 3 drives for under £50 if you shop around.
For extra peace of mind, drives that have two disks inside them, which invisibly mirror the data from one disk over to the other, are particularly good for backing up.
Super carbon
Regarding software, there are two applications we strongly recommend for cloning: SuperDuper! and Carbon Copy Cloner. Each costs around £25, but in neither case would you have to buy right away.
SuperDuper! works for free for basic cloning - paying unlocks incremental back-up and scheduling options; Carbon Copy Cloner has a 30-day trial version. We use SuperDuper! in our walkthrough (primarily out of habit - both apps are equally impressive), but whichever software you favour, it's worth paying for it and continuing to use it with your new Mac and an external drive - even if you use Time Machine and CrashPlan. After all, if something goes wrong with your new Mac and you've been creating a clone every day, you'd be able to boot from it and continue working, with almost no downtime and under a day's data loss.
In the steps below, then, we take you through the process of cloning your Mac, but it's extremely important to not make the clone and then immediately divert attention to your new Mac. Instead, you should test that the clone works by booting from that drive and poking around with it for a while. If data hasn't come across properly, format the external drive and clone again.
Once you're happy everything's working correctly, you can move on to migrating data to your new Mac. Note that we realise our tips on these two pages might suck a little wind out of your excitement sails, or come across as a touch paranoid, but rest assured we nag for good reason: we so often hear from readers who lose data from their Macs, or who sell an old Mac, only to realise six months later that they forgot to copy across some important documents they now need.
However, with a small amount of preparation, an affordable external hard drive to hand, and a few hours' thumb-twiddling while your Mac clones itself, you can ensure that this will never happen to you.
Make a clone: Safeguard your data
1. Prepare the drive
Not all drives are formatted appropriately for a clone. To ensure yours will work, open Disk Utility, select the drive, click Partition, select '1 Partition' for the layout, and if you have an Intel Mac, choose 'GUID Partition Table' in Options.
2. Do some housekeeping
Although you can clone your Mac in any state, if you're going to return to the drive in the future, it's a good idea to tidy up a bit first. If you've files all over the desktop, for example, file them prior to cloning.
3. Make the clone
Shut all apps and launch SuperDuper!. Select your Mac's drive and the external drive in the top two menus, and choose 'Backup – all files' from 'using'. Click 'Copy Now'. The clone may take hours, so just leave your Mac alone.
Check your close: Don't risk failure
1. Restart your Mac
In System Preferences, open the Startup Disk pane and select the back-up drive that you've made. Click Restart. Your Mac should boot from the drive; be mindful that it will take longer than usual to start up.
2. Test the clone
It's impossible to thoroughly test a clone, but you can launch a few apps such as iPhoto to check everything's intact, along with exploring various folders in Finder and opening some files, to see if everything seems okay.
3. Store the clone
Use the Startup Disk pane to restart your Mac using the internal hard drive. Once you've restarted, eject the clone drive and keep it in a safe place, along with any cables (USB or power) required for it to work.
Migrating to a new Mac - part two
Back up your PC
Make a copy of your PC files before you ditch Windows for OS X
Perhaps you're in the process of moving from a PC to a Mac. While it's likely you'll be eager to leave Windows behind, it's unlikely to be true for the documents you've created. As when moving from a Mac to another Mac, Apple makes it easy to migrate your data from a PC (see 'From PC to Mac' later in this feature), but we nonetheless strongly recommend you clone your PC in its entirety before shutting it down for the last time.
In doing so, you ensure you have a copy of everything, and can later access any data that either Apple's Migration Assistant or your own drag-and-drop process missed. Given how affordable external hard drives are, you'd be mad to not keep a tiny copy of your PC in a drawer, and if you later decide you really don't need it, you can always repurpose the hard drive as a back-up unit for your new Mac.
Although the more modern iterations of Windows include built-in back-up systems, they have a tendency to create output that's opaque, much like Apple's own Time Machine. What we instead recommend is something closer to SuperDuper! on the Mac, to create a clone that can subsequently be easily browsed using Finder.
Macrium Reflect is one such product, and, much like SuperDuper!, it generously comes in a free incarnation (macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx) that enables you to do a one-off clone.
Before you start, get your house in order. Tidy up your PC so your files are in their most logical locations, in case you need to find them later. Additionally, where possible, export data from applications you'll no longer be able to use on the Mac, and then file it somewhere suitable. You'll also need to ensure the hard drive is in an appropriate format.
Macs now read NTFS-formatted drives but won't write to them. If you want a Windows drive that you can also copy documents to from your Mac, opt for ExFAT.
Once your clone's complete, it's time to test it. Use Windows Explorer or Finder on your new Mac to explore the disk and make sure your important files are intact. Ideally, you should then migrate data to your Mac and again test it before selling or giving away your Windows PC.
Clone your PC: Keep your files safe
1. Connect your drive
With your USB drive connected, launch Macrium Reflect. Click 'Clone this disk'. In source, your PC's disk will be shown. Under destination, click 'Select a disk to clone to' and choose your external drive.
2. Make the clone
Click Next to see an overview of what will happen. Ensure the source and destination are correct. Click Finish. You'll be warned about existing data being overwritten. Click Continue to start the process.
3. Browse your disk
Eject and disconnect the hard drive from your PC and connect it to your new Mac. It should appear in Finder's sidebar (as 'Untitled') and be browsable. The Users folder will house the majority of your important documents.
Automatic migration
The easiest way to get data from an old to a new Mac
Migration Assistant provides a relatively painless means of transferring user data, applications and settings between two Macs. Automated systems sometimes make old-hands a little twitchy, but these days they're pretty robust, if not quite entirely problem-free.
That's not to say Migration Assistant is for everyone. If your old Mac's well-behaved and in good working order (few crashes, no obvious software problems, little cruft), it's a good bet, unless you're the kind of person who absolutely has to start with a clean slate with each new machine. However, if your old Mac's been having problems, Migration Assistant might bring them across to the new one, and it would therefore be sensible to consider a manual migration, as outlined on the opposite page.
Avoid migration horror
If you decide to use Apple's migration tools, we have two important tips. First, if something goes wrong, no matter how slight the error, it pays to have a full copy of your old Mac's drive, to later 'rescue' missing files or data. Therefore, clone your Mac before you begin.
Secondly, do the migration during your Mac's set-up process, and certainly before you've done any major work with it. Although you can later launch Migration Assistant and pull data across from an old Mac, you cannot easily migrate data from a user account into one of the same name that already exists on the new machine. You'll therefore be left with two accounts and fiddling about with the horrors of permissions to try and merge them, which isn't at all fun.
When it comes to the migration itself, ensure the old (source) Mac's software is up to date and that any laptops are plugged into the mains. The two Macs need to be connected somehow, either via a cable or on the same Wi-Fi network. Cable transfers are typically faster.
If using Thunderbolt or FireWire, you'll need to restart the source Mac into target mode by holding the T key as it boots. On the 'Transfer Information to This Mac' screen during set-up, choose 'From Another Disk' if using Thunderbolt or FireWire (or a connected Time Machine backup, which is an alternative option), and confirm the source in the 'Select the Source' screen.
If using Wi-Fi or Ethernet, select 'From Another Mac' and launch Migration Assistant on the source Mac. It will ask for permission to close all open apps, and you'll also have to confirm a passcode key on both Macs before continuing.
Then decide which data to copy: user accounts, applications, settings and 'other files and folders', the last of those being files you've created outside of your user folder.
Migration methods
If later using Migration Assistant on your new Mac, the process is broadly similar, although on the new Mac you need to first confirm you want to transfer data 'From a Mac, PC, Time Machine backup, or other disk', and then select a migration method ('From a Mac or PC' or 'From a Time Machine backup or other disk').
As noted earlier, however, you're better off doing the migration during the initial set-up of your Mac, not later on.
Manual Mac migration
If you want old data on a fresh Mac without cruft, here's how
Should you use a Mac for a long time before you unbox its shiny new replacement, chances are it will have acquired a certain amount of cruft. The old Mac might be stuffed full of applications you no longer use, some of which might not be compatible with the version of OS X running on your new Mac; it might also have fonts you no longer care for and system add-ons that slow the computer down.
The Mac might act strangely now and again - perhaps it'll sometimes freeze for no reason, or occasionally crash entirely. If that's in any way the case, it's worth considering manually migrating your old data to the new Mac. Doing so is more time-consuming than letting Migration Assistant get on with its job, but it also gives you total control over the data you bring across, and also when you decide to do so.
This is a method various members of the MacFormat team tend to use, because it lessens the likelihood of conflicts on a new Mac, and it also cuts any clutter that might have built up on the old machine. In short, manual migration typically results in a more reliable and faster Mac - it's a clean slate to which you can add specifically chosen documents and applications.
Should manual migration be the route you decide on, it's best to use a clone of your old Mac to copy data from. It is possible to browse Time Machine disks and restore files from them, but it's faster and more efficient to use a clone.
It's also worth noting that there's no real need to rush anything. Although you can attempt to bring all your data across to the new Mac in one sitting, we find it's often useful to instead take a more relaxed and incremental approach. Keep everything handy by having your clone connected for a few weeks, and copy files across as and when you need them. You'll find personal documents (as in, anything you've created) will probably be copied over almost immediately, but application support files might never need to be migrated, if you decide against installing the products they support.
First steps: To a fresh Mac set-up
1. Be prepared
Before starting your migration, it's good practice to make careful notes of anything you think you're going to need to access your information. For example, you will need serial numbers of any software you're going to reinstall, and passwords for websites and social networks you use.
Additionally, you might find it useful to screen-grab aspects of your old Mac (such as the Dock), as a reminder of your favoured set-ups. You can do this with the key combination Shift+Command+3.
2. Sign in
During the set-up of your new machine, you'll be asked to sign in with your Apple ID, assuming you already have one. If you do and you've previously used Apple services, some aspects of the migration will already be simpler for you. This is because, once the Mac's connected to the internet, iCloud will be able to pull down data for your calendar, contacts and Safari bookmarks.
3. Explore defaults
Something people like to do with Macs is make them 'theirs', by changing some of the system settings. However, Apple subsequently updates the defaults with each new OS release, and often (but not always!) makes them better.
Therefore, take time to explore the way your new Mac works in its vanilla state, and avoid the temptation to make everything as it was before. Remember, you can always bring settings and add-ons back later.
4. Install your apps
If there are apps you know you'll need to use almost immediately, install them. Mac App Store apps can be installed by signing in and accessing them from the Purchases tab. For other apps, install these from DVDs or disk images; where possible, download the latest versions from the web. Again, try using apps in their vanilla states before copying across old preferences.
Apple Apps: Document transition
5. Copy your documents
Your personal documents will be found in /Users/[account name] on your clone drive; if you like, every folder's contents (Documents, Music, Pictures and so on) can be copied into its equivalent location on the new Mac. Again, though, it often pays to be less hasty – for example, if your Downloads folder was full of junk, do all the files and folders within really need to be copied to your new Mac? Go through your files and assess what's essential and what can be discarded.
iTunes
Your iTunes library is located in /Music/ iTunes, and can be copied across as-is. On first launching iTunes, the app might update the library and you'll also need to authorise the Mac to play DRM-protected files. Local iOS device backups can be copied from /Library/Application Support/MobileSync.
iPhoto and Aperture
iPhoto and Aperture libraries are located in /Pictures, and these can be copied across to the equivalent location on the new Mac. Like iTunes, iPhoto will probably need to update the library on first launch, but everything should then work fine. You can put the libraries elsewhere, and hold Option while launching to point the app at them.
Mail
Mail stores your email in /Library/Mail and downloads in /Library/Mail Downloads. Copy those folders across to your new Mac and then launch Mail. It will update the database and you'll subsequently also have to enter your account password before receiving new email.
Notes
If you were previously using iCloud with Notes, they should download on launch. If you're moving from OS X Lion, launch Mail before Notes and the latter will be populated with existing data. If you had a mailbox called Notes, you must change that on the old Mac prior to migration, or it'll be deleted.
Backups
All backup sets will need to be recreated. That goes for whether you're using Time Machine or some other third-party system. Don't overwrite an old backup; rather, start from scratch on a newly formatted drive. Also, don't wait until migration is totally complete before doing so - start backing up during your new Mac's first day.
Where are my files?: Finding folders
Most important files you'll want to copy across from your clone are housed in obvious locations in your user folder; some other data will be in iCloud, and will be downloaded by your online Mac when needed.
However, as the Mail section above shows, this isn't always the case, and one of the problems with a manual migration is in knowing not only where OS X keeps certain files, but also if and when those files need transferring to a new Mac. What follows are some examples of common document types whose hard drive locations you might need help finding.
Calendars and contacts
If you don't use iCloud, Calendar data is in /Library/Calendars, and contacts in /Library/ Application Support/AddressBook.
Safari bookmarks
Safari data is stored in /Library/Safari. You'll need to copy the Bookmarks.plist file if you don't sync bookmarks via iCloud.
GarageBand support files
Instruments live in /Library/Application Support/GarageBand, and user settings in /Library/Application Support/GarageBand.
Dropbox documents
To save Dropbox from downloading everything, copy the Dropbox folder from your clone's user folder and point a new Dropbox install to it.
App settings
If you miss an app's set-up, copy its preferences from /Library/Preferences. Use Spotlight to filter for an app's name.
More support files
Other application support files are usually found in a folder not unusually called /Application Support. Copy across an application's folder if something's missing.
