May 20, 2016 I would just use Migration Assistant/Setup Assistant and select what items you want to migrate. Note if you do it after (Migrations Assistant) you installed and setup the new Mac the migrated stuff will in a new users account, the one you created during the Migration. The reimagined Mac App Store arrives with a new look and exciting new editorial content. Delve into insightful stories, browse curated collections, even watch videos — each designed to help you fine-tune your search for the perfect app. And it’s all organized around the specific things you love to do on your Mac. Manual Migration To New Mac Jun 1, 2015. Is there any risk in bringing over 6 years worth of user data to my new mac? My main worry about doing a manual move is that I will lose a lot of preferences. Jun 04, 2010 How To Perform a Manual Mac System Migration MacRx Since the days of Mac OS X 10.3 “Panther” Apple has provided a wonderful utility, Migration Assistant, to help move data between your old and new Macs. With this utility you can easily migrate your installed applications, system settings and user data from your old system to your new one. If you already setup your Mac, you can still use Migration Assistant. Unless there is an existing user with that same name, Migration Assistant will just set up a different user with all the new data.
Reader Sam Sellars is trading up, but wants to do so cleanly. He writes:
I’m getting a new 27-inch iMac and want to transfer all the e-mail, calendars, and documents over to it from my MacBook Pro. However, I’m afraid to move everything because my laptop has crashed a couple of times and I’m concerned that some of its files are corrupt. Am I paranoid?
I’m not licensed to make such determinations of your psyche, I’m afraid. So we’ll call you cautious. Let’s try to bring some perspective to that caution.
It’s important to understand that this isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition. When you fire up your new iMac you’ll be offered the option to transfer the data from your old Mac to your new one. Should you agree to this you can transfer—over a network or Firewire—some or all of the contents of your user account, your applications, network and computers settings, and files stored outside your Home folder.
Specifically, within your user folder, you can choose to copy the contents of your Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures, Public, and Sites folders. (You may see other folders that are also currently stored in your Home folder.) Nothing in these folders should cause your Mac to crash (though a corrupt library or file could cause an application to misbehave). The contents of the Library and System folders at the root level of your old Mac won’t be transferred to the new one as the new Mac will have its own fresh copies.
However, regardless of whether you choose a selection of these folders or all of them, the contents of the Library folder within that user folder will also be transferred. And this Library folder is where I’d focus my attention.
It’s possible that there’s something in it that’s mucking up your MacBook Pro. One easy way to find out is to create a new user account on your laptop, switch to that account, and see if your MacBook Pro crashes in the way it has previously. If not and you can predictably make it crash in your regular account, the ~/Library folder is suspect.
More often than not, however, application crashes are due to a problem with a specific application and kernel panics (the big crashes that bring a Mac to its knees) are hardware related. Given that, you might not wish to migrate your applications but instead install fresh copies. And before jacking in a dozen peripherals, try running the new Mac with just its mouse and keyboard. If it fares well, feel free to use your peripherals. If it then crashes, look for updated drivers and, failing that, unplug the peripherals, plug in one at a time, test each one, and try to determine which is doing The Bad Thing.
Or, do as I do. Run Software Update on the MacBook Pro to be sure it’s completely up to date and then migrate everything on it to the new Mac. Afterwards, if it doesn’t work as you’d like it to, whip out the iMac’s installation disc and take it back to like-new condition. At that point you can use some of these hints for a more selective migration.
Welcome to the fold. You're anxious to use your Mac, but you've amassed years of data on that PC. Switching platforms doesn't mean starting over: You can still use those old files. Apple makes it easy with a free utility called Migration Assistant. Here's how it works.
What is Migration Assistant and how do I get it?
Migration Assistant is a utility Apple includes in the Utilities folder of every Mac. You'll see it when you first start up your Mac, when your Mac asks you if you want to transfer data over from another Mac, a Time Machine backup, or a PC. Apple makes the app freely available for download for transferring to your Mac. You'll need specific software, depending on what macOS or OS X operating system you're transferring to. You'll need to download the Migration Assistant software to your PC before you begin. Below are the following software links, depending on which Mac operating system you're migrating too.
Migration Assistant will help you transfer files from a PC running Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10 operating systems. The Mac and the PC both have to be running Migration Assistant.
Both should be on the same network, in order to find each other. The data migration may take several hours depending on what's being transferred and what means are used: Wi-Fi is slower, a wired Ethernet connection is faster. But one way or the other, your patience will be rewarded.
What actual data gets transferred will depend on which version of Windows you're using, and what programs created your data. Bookmarks from Internet Explorer and Firefox will be brought into Safari, for example. iTunes content and image files should make it over as well. System settings will get pulled over. You'll be able to specify what other files you'd like to bring over, too.
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Email, contacts, and calendar information are where it gets a bit tricky. The bottom line is that Migration Assistant will pull over your email account information, and if you're using Microsoft Outlook, it should pull over your email messages, your contacts, and your calendars. Other programs may vary. Apple has posted a detailed chart of what gets migrated over to help you understand.
What you need before you start
Before you get too excited and try to start transferring your PC's data to your new Mac, you'll need to have a couple of things at the ready.
If your drive performance check uncovers issues, you'll need to run a drive repair process.
You will need to repeat the steps above until the drive performance check returns without any issues. You can then use Migration Assistant to move your data to your Mac.
How to migrate your data from your PC to your Mac
First, connect your Mac to your PC either through Ethernet or by making sure both computers are on the same local Wi-Fi network.
Manual Migration To New Mac Computer
On your new Mac:
On your PC:
Obviously, there are other ways to move files between Macs and PCs. Thumb drives will work on both machines, so you can manually transfer whatever files you want to use, for example. But Migration Assistant provides an elegant, convenient and absolutely free way of managing the transition to becoming a Mac user, as long as you have the time to use it.
Have any questions?
Put them in the comments and I'll help you out.
Updated March 2019: Updaated for macOS Mojave.
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