Setting up a new or repurposed Mac may involve updating its firmware – EFI, SMC, and T2 chip if necessary. You can’t do that using imaging, but must run an Apple system installer or updater.
migration
A table showing the main choices when using System Migration, and more detail on how the process works.
The mystery of the recurrent silent installation is solved, plus a fascinating list of macOS system sizes from 10.6.8 to 10.14. Do they keep growing?
With Apple’s SSD prices so high, you may for the first time have less internal storage in your new Mac than your old one. Tips to help you cope.
Three workthroughs considering options and issues in migrating to a new Mac, with info on late migration, macOS upgrading, and Thunderbolt adaptors.
More work to be done before your migration is fully complete: check your workflows, key security settings, disk health, licensing, backups.
What if you can’t or don’t want to use Migration Assistant to move your files from your old to a new Mac? Here it can get more complicated. Tips and solutions to help.
The simplest and best way, when it works. But have you considered migrating from a Time Machine backup instead, and what if it doesn’t work when setting up?
Should you leave the Migration Assistant to set your new Mac up? Will it work if the Mac has a T2? What are your options?
Migration is pain: you can spread it out over days or weeks, or get it over with in a much shorter period. Moving your Time Machine backups also requires great care.
