Order of operations - new iPhone & Macbook edition
January 3, 2023 12:40 PM
I have a new phone and a new laptop. I want to sell the old ones. I don't know what order to do things in.
Old 2015 Macbook - hasn't been backed up in over a year. Very little disk space left.
New 2022 Macbook - still in the box.
I have a big external hard drive .
New 2022 iPhone - has been in use since June.
Old 2018 iPhone - Last used in June. Yesterday I charged it, and every single photo from my new phone is now showing up in the camera roll of my old phone. (Because they're all in the Cloud)). I would like to blank the old phone and resell it, but I'm afraid to delete everything because I worry all the photos and texts will be deleted forever. I know there's some way to make sure that doesn't happen but I don't know what.
I like my phone and laptop to be separate- I don't want to get texts on my laptop and I don't want my phone photos to automatically populate into iPhoto on my Macbook.
What do I do, and what order do I do it in? I never know how to make this changeover so I have a stack of all my old laptops and phones, and I don't want to do this any more. (Stay tuned for my upcoming question about how to repeat this process with hardware versions dating back to an iPhone 3 and a 2007 Macbook, argh)
Thanks!
Old 2015 Macbook - hasn't been backed up in over a year. Very little disk space left.
New 2022 Macbook - still in the box.
I have a big external hard drive .
New 2022 iPhone - has been in use since June.
Old 2018 iPhone - Last used in June. Yesterday I charged it, and every single photo from my new phone is now showing up in the camera roll of my old phone. (Because they're all in the Cloud)). I would like to blank the old phone and resell it, but I'm afraid to delete everything because I worry all the photos and texts will be deleted forever. I know there's some way to make sure that doesn't happen but I don't know what.
I like my phone and laptop to be separate- I don't want to get texts on my laptop and I don't want my phone photos to automatically populate into iPhoto on my Macbook.
What do I do, and what order do I do it in? I never know how to make this changeover so I have a stack of all my old laptops and phones, and I don't want to do this any more. (Stay tuned for my upcoming question about how to repeat this process with hardware versions dating back to an iPhone 3 and a 2007 Macbook, argh)
Thanks!
Start with the Macbooks. Migration Assistant will see you right, and make the process reasonably painless. Once the migration's done, you'll be able to confirm that you've got all the old data on the new system, but make a backup anyway.
Then, you can securely wipe the hard drive on the old laptop before selling it.
All of these processes will take a really long time, like "let them run overnight" time. That's OK, let it happen.
The, on your new Macbook, create a local backup of your old phone, then sign out of everything as emelenjr describes. I disagree that the factory reset is overkill - I'd do that for sure before selling it.
posted by mhoye at 2:09 PM on January 3, 2023
Then, you can securely wipe the hard drive on the old laptop before selling it.
All of these processes will take a really long time, like "let them run overnight" time. That's OK, let it happen.
The, on your new Macbook, create a local backup of your old phone, then sign out of everything as emelenjr describes. I disagree that the factory reset is overkill - I'd do that for sure before selling it.
posted by mhoye at 2:09 PM on January 3, 2023
Apple has instructions for what to do with your old phone before selling it.
They similarly have step by step instructions for your Mac, too. I have found those instructions pretty easy to follow but there are other guides for the same process you can find via Google, too, if you are finding the Apple instructions confusing.
posted by Dip Flash at 2:16 PM on January 3, 2023
They similarly have step by step instructions for your Mac, too. I have found those instructions pretty easy to follow but there are other guides for the same process you can find via Google, too, if you are finding the Apple instructions confusing.
posted by Dip Flash at 2:16 PM on January 3, 2023
If it were me, I'd start by making a full image of the 2015 laptop's boot disk and saving that, just in case.
There are a couple of good backup options for the Mac. If somebody knows of a better option, I'm all ears, but I've used Carbon Copy Cloner to help multiple people migrate. In my opinion it's worth the $39.99 they ask, but it also allows a 30-day free trial period which will certainly give you time to image the old drive.
After you've made a full backup, then use the Migration Assistant to move your files and apps over from the old machine to the new. You are presumably aware of this already, but I'll point out just in case, that the old machine and new machine presumably are using different processor architectures, so there is a small chance some applications won't migrate smoothly, will require updates, or will have to run in an emulation layer. Generally this isn't much of a problem for apps but it can be a little more troublesome if you have old peripherals that require special drivers.
Once you have made a full backup image and have migrated files off the old laptop to the new one, you'll need to make a decision about how paranoid you are about the file information remaining on the old hardware (which you will presumably be planning to either recycle or sell, but not to keep in your possession forever.) Again, presumably you know this but just in case you don't - when a file is deleted from a computer's filesystem, the operating system (usually) does so in a lazy manner - it doesn't actually erase the parts of the disk on which that file resides, it just removes the entry for the file name from the directory structure that contains it and marks the disk blocks containing the content available for re-use. This means that the information contained on those blocks is still out there and potentially recoverable, should anyone go to the trouble to do so. Therefore, unless you take steps to wipe them permanently, someone could potentially recover emails, iMessages, private files, financial info, etc, from your computer after you give it up. If this concerns you and you don't already have a plan for dealing with it, I can explain your options (but I won't bother if it's something you don't care about..)
posted by Nerd of the North at 2:36 PM on January 3, 2023
There are a couple of good backup options for the Mac. If somebody knows of a better option, I'm all ears, but I've used Carbon Copy Cloner to help multiple people migrate. In my opinion it's worth the $39.99 they ask, but it also allows a 30-day free trial period which will certainly give you time to image the old drive.
After you've made a full backup, then use the Migration Assistant to move your files and apps over from the old machine to the new. You are presumably aware of this already, but I'll point out just in case, that the old machine and new machine presumably are using different processor architectures, so there is a small chance some applications won't migrate smoothly, will require updates, or will have to run in an emulation layer. Generally this isn't much of a problem for apps but it can be a little more troublesome if you have old peripherals that require special drivers.
Once you have made a full backup image and have migrated files off the old laptop to the new one, you'll need to make a decision about how paranoid you are about the file information remaining on the old hardware (which you will presumably be planning to either recycle or sell, but not to keep in your possession forever.) Again, presumably you know this but just in case you don't - when a file is deleted from a computer's filesystem, the operating system (usually) does so in a lazy manner - it doesn't actually erase the parts of the disk on which that file resides, it just removes the entry for the file name from the directory structure that contains it and marks the disk blocks containing the content available for re-use. This means that the information contained on those blocks is still out there and potentially recoverable, should anyone go to the trouble to do so. Therefore, unless you take steps to wipe them permanently, someone could potentially recover emails, iMessages, private files, financial info, etc, from your computer after you give it up. If this concerns you and you don't already have a plan for dealing with it, I can explain your options (but I won't bother if it's something you don't care about..)
posted by Nerd of the North at 2:36 PM on January 3, 2023
Oh, and one other thing to consider -- depending on the age, configuration, and condition of your old computer you might be able to get a reasonable bit of credit for it from Apple if you try their trade-in program. You won't make a mint, but your computer has some value that might (or might not) beat putting it on local Craigslist or whatever you had in mind for it. There's a web page that you can check for trade-in value. If your device is too old or in too poor a condition for them to give you credit for it, Apple will still take it and recycle it for you if you so choose.
posted by Nerd of the North at 2:41 PM on January 3, 2023
posted by Nerd of the North at 2:41 PM on January 3, 2023
From personal experience, the time lag on backups is huge and they will go faster if you have a cable to connect your phone/laptop to whatever you're backing up to (router or drive). Best of luck on having this go easily, which it usually does (I trade laptops out every 4-5 years and phones every 2-3 and it's generally simple other than the long wait to back up).
posted by gentlyepigrams at 4:31 PM on January 3, 2023
posted by gentlyepigrams at 4:31 PM on January 3, 2023
> You could even optionally do a factory reset, wiping everything off the phone and returning it to the state it was in when you first took it out of the box. I personally think that's overkill, but YMMV.
Factory resetting a device (computer, phone, whatever) before getting rid of it is basic data hygiene. It is not in any way overkill. It is baffling to me that you would suggest otherwise, especially since doing so is the exact same number of steps versus the way you suggest doing it, and whoever buys your phone does not want to start with a device that has your settings and apps on it (and the apps won't even launch once you sign out of iCloud/App Store...so they have to reset it themselves anyway...).
Sign out of iCloud in the Settings app first, then General > Erase > Erase all content and settings. That will deactivate Find My and Activation Lock as part of resetting the device. Have your Apple ID password handy.
posted by tubedogg at 9:56 PM on January 3, 2023
Factory resetting a device (computer, phone, whatever) before getting rid of it is basic data hygiene. It is not in any way overkill. It is baffling to me that you would suggest otherwise, especially since doing so is the exact same number of steps versus the way you suggest doing it, and whoever buys your phone does not want to start with a device that has your settings and apps on it (and the apps won't even launch once you sign out of iCloud/App Store...so they have to reset it themselves anyway...).
Sign out of iCloud in the Settings app first, then General > Erase > Erase all content and settings. That will deactivate Find My and Activation Lock as part of resetting the device. Have your Apple ID password handy.
posted by tubedogg at 9:56 PM on January 3, 2023
From personal experience, the time lag on backups is huge and they will go faster if you have a cable to connect your phone/laptop to whatever you're backing up to (router or drive). Best of luck on having this go easily, which it usually does (I trade laptops out every 4-5 years and phones every 2-3 and it's generally simple other than the long wait to back up).
I recently replaced my old laptop and phone (both Apple products). Maybe it's because I started using icloud in the years since I last replaced either, but the time each took to update/transfer everything was much faster than in the past. Still a chunk of time, but more like half an hour at most instead of a couple of hours.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:39 AM on January 4, 2023
I recently replaced my old laptop and phone (both Apple products). Maybe it's because I started using icloud in the years since I last replaced either, but the time each took to update/transfer everything was much faster than in the past. Still a chunk of time, but more like half an hour at most instead of a couple of hours.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:39 AM on January 4, 2023
Before you format everything, take some screen grabs of things like the hardware specs, battery cycles / capacity, etc, and save those to the cloud.
That kind of info can often come up in the sales listings, so it's much easier to get them before the factory reset (and possibly include them in your listing), than the awaiting 'welcome' configuration pages for the resulting new users where you can't as easily see the specs until after finishing the new setup.
posted by many-things at 8:08 PM on January 4, 2023
That kind of info can often come up in the sales listings, so it's much easier to get them before the factory reset (and possibly include them in your listing), than the awaiting 'welcome' configuration pages for the resulting new users where you can't as easily see the specs until after finishing the new setup.
posted by many-things at 8:08 PM on January 4, 2023
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posted by emelenjr at 1:56 PM on January 3, 2023