How do I port my 2009 Macbook Pro wholesale to my 2016 Macbook Pro?
January 16, 2018 2:36 PM Subscribe
I want to move EVERYTHING from my mid-2009 MBP, running Yosemite 10.10, to my new(ish) 2016 MBP running Sierra 10.12.4--soup to nuts. I've looked over previous asks which are similar, but nothing addresses my specifics. I don't even know if what I want to do is possible. Basically, I want to make the 2016 a direct clone of the 2009.
My 2009 has 8GB of RAM and a 250GB internal SSD drive that I swapped in for the old HD that the computer had come with. My new(ish) 2016 has the same amounts RAM and internal drive. I have a USB-C cable and adapters to plug it into regular USB ports. I just want the absolute simplest way to take my 2009 set-up/prefs/apps/etc and copy them to the new computer, so that I don't have to spend days downloading and setting preferences and passwords and shortcuts and putting All The Things where they should be. If I could move my old SSD into my new computer, that's what I would do - but you can't do things like that anymore with Apple products.
I've looked at Migration Assistant, but that appears to about documents and files, and not what I want.
I have kept my 2009 backed up with Time Machine to an external HD about once a month, but to be frank (and embarrassed), I don't really know much about how TM works, and it's been so long since I originally set it up, I have no idea if it's backing up everything, or just some things.
Also, I have been fucking around with my new(ish) computer since I got it this morning, half-heartedly trying to set it all up -- do I need to erase it before I move everything over?
Finally: if what I am asking is actually a bad idea, I welcome information about why it is a bad idea, and what I should do instead.
Thanks all.
My 2009 has 8GB of RAM and a 250GB internal SSD drive that I swapped in for the old HD that the computer had come with. My new(ish) 2016 has the same amounts RAM and internal drive. I have a USB-C cable and adapters to plug it into regular USB ports. I just want the absolute simplest way to take my 2009 set-up/prefs/apps/etc and copy them to the new computer, so that I don't have to spend days downloading and setting preferences and passwords and shortcuts and putting All The Things where they should be. If I could move my old SSD into my new computer, that's what I would do - but you can't do things like that anymore with Apple products.
I've looked at Migration Assistant, but that appears to about documents and files, and not what I want.
I have kept my 2009 backed up with Time Machine to an external HD about once a month, but to be frank (and embarrassed), I don't really know much about how TM works, and it's been so long since I originally set it up, I have no idea if it's backing up everything, or just some things.
Also, I have been fucking around with my new(ish) computer since I got it this morning, half-heartedly trying to set it all up -- do I need to erase it before I move everything over?
Finally: if what I am asking is actually a bad idea, I welcome information about why it is a bad idea, and what I should do instead.
Thanks all.
You really should just use Migration Assistant. It gets documents/files/applications/etc and some settings. It works.
Ok, if you really want to clone, run all the updates on your old mac (don't skip this; this increases the chances things will work). Run a full Time Machine backup of your old mac; if something goes wrong you'll at least have the backup. Either use target mode (you'll have to buy a thunderbolt 2 to thunderbolt 3 adapter) or pull the drive from your old mac and put the drive in a USB enclosure.
This will ***WIPE*** your new mac, so make sure there's nothing on it you care about. Now boot up your new mac with the Internet Recovery Mode; run through the settings until you get to OS X Utilities.
Connect your old mac (either Target Mode or USB enclosure) to the new mac, and open Disk Utility on the new mac. Use Disk Utility to clone your old mac onto your new mac. ***Make sure to clone the old drive to the new NOT THE REVERSE.***
When Disk Utility is done unplug the old mac, and boot the new mac up. Make sure all your files are there, and immediately run the OS updates.
I do this kind of thing pretty regularly, and it works on machines that are a year or two different in age, but haven't ever tried it on machines that are seven years different.
posted by gregr at 2:57 PM on January 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
Ok, if you really want to clone, run all the updates on your old mac (don't skip this; this increases the chances things will work). Run a full Time Machine backup of your old mac; if something goes wrong you'll at least have the backup. Either use target mode (you'll have to buy a thunderbolt 2 to thunderbolt 3 adapter) or pull the drive from your old mac and put the drive in a USB enclosure.
This will ***WIPE*** your new mac, so make sure there's nothing on it you care about. Now boot up your new mac with the Internet Recovery Mode; run through the settings until you get to OS X Utilities.
Connect your old mac (either Target Mode or USB enclosure) to the new mac, and open Disk Utility on the new mac. Use Disk Utility to clone your old mac onto your new mac. ***Make sure to clone the old drive to the new NOT THE REVERSE.***
When Disk Utility is done unplug the old mac, and boot the new mac up. Make sure all your files are there, and immediately run the OS updates.
I do this kind of thing pretty regularly, and it works on machines that are a year or two different in age, but haven't ever tried it on machines that are seven years different.
posted by gregr at 2:57 PM on January 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
I have done this from older machine to new using both Time Machine/migration assistant and Carbon Copy Cloner. Both methods worked fine. What I found helpful, for my peace of mind, was to have my 1password file, bookmarks, and cached passwords on a usb stick. I am weird and love a new machine to rearrange and rethink my environment but it is always good to have your data.
posted by jadepearl at 3:04 PM on January 16, 2018
posted by jadepearl at 3:04 PM on January 16, 2018
I wouldn't try to do a clone. Migration Assistant is so good, and so complete, that it should answer your needs very neatly.
What, specifically, makes you think MA won't do what you need?
It's what I use every time I move into a new Mac -- which I do about every 3 years -- and the only thing I've ever had to install manually or otherwise deal with as an exception is VMWare Fusion, which for complicated technical reasons has to be installed conventionally on each machine. But even then, all my personal settings associated with VMWare came over with the Migration effort.
Really. It's great. I consider it a key advantage of the Mac platform. You literally NEVER have to do the whole "install all your apps from scratch and reconfigure every goddamn thing" shuffle that is part and parcel of a new machine under Windows.
Just make sure your Time Machine is up to date, and let the Migration Assistant do its thing.
posted by uberchet at 3:12 PM on January 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
What, specifically, makes you think MA won't do what you need?
It's what I use every time I move into a new Mac -- which I do about every 3 years -- and the only thing I've ever had to install manually or otherwise deal with as an exception is VMWare Fusion, which for complicated technical reasons has to be installed conventionally on each machine. But even then, all my personal settings associated with VMWare came over with the Migration effort.
Really. It's great. I consider it a key advantage of the Mac platform. You literally NEVER have to do the whole "install all your apps from scratch and reconfigure every goddamn thing" shuffle that is part and parcel of a new machine under Windows.
Just make sure your Time Machine is up to date, and let the Migration Assistant do its thing.
posted by uberchet at 3:12 PM on January 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
Migration Assistant does more than just documents. I recently got a new MacBook because my old iMac finally died, and it was a simple matter of starting MA up and a couple of hours later, poof, there my entire old computer was, programs and all.
posted by telophase at 3:22 PM on January 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by telophase at 3:22 PM on January 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yeah, Migration Assistant transfers pretty much everything. I've chosen not to use it on some occasions specifically because I want to leave stuff behind.
Also, as to Time Machine, just leave your TM backup disk plugged in routinely and let it do its thing. It creates incremental backups every hour and discards old backups on a schedule that gives you the best chance of recovering old stuff. It will back up the entire disk unless you go out of your way to exclude certain files/folders. I've got backups from 2 years ago—I'd have older if I hadn't replaced my backup drive.
posted by adamrice at 3:39 PM on January 16, 2018
Also, as to Time Machine, just leave your TM backup disk plugged in routinely and let it do its thing. It creates incremental backups every hour and discards old backups on a schedule that gives you the best chance of recovering old stuff. It will back up the entire disk unless you go out of your way to exclude certain files/folders. I've got backups from 2 years ago—I'd have older if I hadn't replaced my backup drive.
posted by adamrice at 3:39 PM on January 16, 2018
Anecdote from this weekend: I used migration asst to put a time machine back up onto a shiny new iMac now have a shiny new iMac that is behaving very very oddly. I haven't done any troubleshooting yet, but I want to point out that this isn't totally foolproof.
posted by sciencegeek at 4:36 PM on January 16, 2018
posted by sciencegeek at 4:36 PM on January 16, 2018
Hi there, I'm the guy that people call to come to their house to set up their new Mac. I've been doing this for people since 2002. Migration Assistant is Pure Freakin' Magic, but I can recommend a couple of things that will save you some potential frustration.
Here's the big problem with Migration Assistant: it just doesn't give good feedback about its status, especially when things go wrong, or when the process gets stuck. Just like any process, you have to have the right ingredients to get the best result. So, I'll tell you two things that I've learned to do *every time* before I use Migration Assistant. 1.) On the 'source' Mac, boot to Single User Mode and run the 'fsck' command to make sure that the file system is as healthy and preened as it can be. If there are any issues, fsck will do a good job fixing them. When you're done, reboot. 2.) Boot the 'source' Mac into Target Mode before you do a Migration Assistant-powered transfer to the 'destination' Mac. Target Mode turns your source Mac into one big external hard drive -- and that's good! Anything 'extra', like an Operating System, or some other software that's set to run when you log in is an opportunity to cause problems. Best to keep things as simple as possible.
Trust me, Migration Assistant is what you want.
posted by Wild_Eep at 6:51 PM on January 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
Here's the big problem with Migration Assistant: it just doesn't give good feedback about its status, especially when things go wrong, or when the process gets stuck. Just like any process, you have to have the right ingredients to get the best result. So, I'll tell you two things that I've learned to do *every time* before I use Migration Assistant. 1.) On the 'source' Mac, boot to Single User Mode and run the 'fsck' command to make sure that the file system is as healthy and preened as it can be. If there are any issues, fsck will do a good job fixing them. When you're done, reboot. 2.) Boot the 'source' Mac into Target Mode before you do a Migration Assistant-powered transfer to the 'destination' Mac. Target Mode turns your source Mac into one big external hard drive -- and that's good! Anything 'extra', like an Operating System, or some other software that's set to run when you log in is an opportunity to cause problems. Best to keep things as simple as possible.
Trust me, Migration Assistant is what you want.
posted by Wild_Eep at 6:51 PM on January 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
You do not want a direct clone. gregr's comment is the only one so far explaining how you'd do such a thing, and I'd strongly advise against that procedure. It may work fine if you have an older machine running the current version of macOS and a new machine, Apple's operating system support runs from day of purchase -- any older OS, especially one with that many years difference, is going to lack support for newer hardware and might not even boot.
The 2016 MBP likely shipped with macOS 10.11, meaning Yosemite (10.10) falls into that category.
posted by mikeh at 12:10 PM on January 17, 2018
The 2016 MBP likely shipped with macOS 10.11, meaning Yosemite (10.10) falls into that category.
posted by mikeh at 12:10 PM on January 17, 2018
Trust me, Migration Assistant is what you want.
IT Guy here, yes it works amazing, but here's some tips I've found:
* Remove / unlink your Dropbox if you have one. Especially if it's a huge corporate one with lots and lots of files. (Dropbox has a feature that "virtually" puts files that take up no space on disk, but the OS sees them as actually taking up space. Anyway, it confuses Migration assistant and it's easier to just start with a fresh install anyway) This probably also applies to Google Drive, Spideroak, etc...
* Ethernet up both for maximum reliability.
posted by wcfields at 1:08 PM on January 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
IT Guy here, yes it works amazing, but here's some tips I've found:
* Remove / unlink your Dropbox if you have one. Especially if it's a huge corporate one with lots and lots of files. (Dropbox has a feature that "virtually" puts files that take up no space on disk, but the OS sees them as actually taking up space. Anyway, it confuses Migration assistant and it's easier to just start with a fresh install anyway) This probably also applies to Google Drive, Spideroak, etc...
* Ethernet up both for maximum reliability.
posted by wcfields at 1:08 PM on January 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thank you all for the advice. I may be contacting one or two of you by MeMail for extra info (obviously you don't have to respond if you don't want to).
I guess my fears of Migration Assistant were unfounded (and thanks, wcfields, for the tip about unlinking Dropbox -- it would never have occurred to me that I'd have to do that.)
posted by tzikeh at 5:40 PM on January 17, 2018
I guess my fears of Migration Assistant were unfounded (and thanks, wcfields, for the tip about unlinking Dropbox -- it would never have occurred to me that I'd have to do that.)
posted by tzikeh at 5:40 PM on January 17, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by leslies at 2:45 PM on January 16, 2018 [1 favorite]