How to Migrate Data to a New Drive in macOS (Mac Other) – Step-by-Step Guide
Duration: 45 minutes
Steps: 7 Steps
Hey there! Just a friendly reminder to take your time and double-check your work. If you run into any bumps along the way, don’t hesitate to reach out for help. You can always schedule a repair if you need a hand!
So you’ve swapped out that SSD or hard drive in your Mac, and you’ve got macOS all set up on the shiny new drive. Now it’s time to bring over all your important stuff from the old drive! No worries, this guide is here to walk you through using Migration Assistant to effortlessly transfer your data from your old macOS drive or a Time Machine Backup to your new setup. Let’s get to it!
Step 1
If you forgot to back up your old SSD before making the leap to an upgrade, no worries! Just pop it into an external SSD enclosure to snag any data you might need, as detailed in this guide. And hey, you can keep it as your snazzy external storage drive afterwards!
– First things first, plug in your old macOS drive or your trusty Time Machine backup drive to your computer. Let’s get this party started!
Step 2
Once the Migration Assistant window pops up, hold your horses! Don’t hit Continue until you’re all set to kick off the migration process. Hitting Continue will close any open apps and log you out faster than you can say ‘oops’.
– Fire up your Mac and get ready to launch the Migration Assistant app!
Step 3
– Once you’ve logged out and landed on the Migration Assistant screen, go ahead and pick the first option: transfer From a Mac, Time Machine backup, or startup disk.
– Hit that Continue button and let’s keep moving!
Step 4
– Migration Assistant is here to help! It’ll showcase any connected macOS or Time Machine drives right at the top of the window.
– Just pick the drive you want to restore from and hit Continue. Easy peasy!
Step 5
If you’ve picked a Time Machine drive, Migration Assistant will show you all the backups ready for you to grab and transfer your info. It’s like a treasure hunt for your data!
– Pick the backup you want to grab your info from, then hit Continue. Let’s keep this rolling!
Step 6
Next up, Migration Assistant might ask you to whip up a new password for the account on your shiny new drive, or maybe to dig up the old password for your account on the previous drive. No stress, you got this!
– Pick all the goodies you want to move over to your shiny new drive!
Step 7
– As soon as the transfer kicks off, you’ll see a loading bar grooving its way through each data category you picked on the last screen (like apps, documents, and more).
– Once the transfer wraps up, a cheerful Migration Complete window will pop up to let you know it’s all done!
