Getting a New iMac Question

[Gebo]

I have an older 2011 iMac and am purchasing a 2017 iMac. I want to get everything off my old 2011 iMac onto my "new" 2017 iMac. What is the easiest way? Or should I say, the best way? Or is there an easiest bestest way?

 

[Variant_S]

Are you running Time Machine on your old iMac? If so, that's a pretty easy way to move your stuff. I've plugged the Time Machine backup disk into the new machine and the data started flowing after answering a few prompts.

I migrated over a home network once. The source (old) iMac was running a pre-Time Machine OS. It took quite a while.

Note: I am not a Mac expert.

 

[Gebo]

YES! I am running Time Machine. And it is connected by Ethernet to my old iMac.

 

[bunnspecial]

I'm going ASSUME your 2011 iMac has Thunderbolt. That's when Apple started rolling it out, and it makes life a lot easier. From what I can find, all 2011s did.

The way I would do it is first get one of these

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMEL2AM/A/thunderbolt-3-usb-c-to-thunderbolt-2-adapter

And a USB C cable.

Connect the adapter to the Thunderbolt port on the back of your 2011 iMac(it's the D shaped connector with a lighting bolt symbol next to it) and the USB-C cable from the adapter to one of the USB-C ports on the new 2011 iMac.

Boot the 2011 iMac in Target Disk Mode by holding "T" while powering it on. It should power up to a gray screen with the thunderbolt symbol(a lighting bolt) bouncing around. At the same time, it should appear as an external volume on your 2017 iMac.

Launch "Migration Assistant" on your new Mac, follow the prompts, and let it go.

Thunderbolt is fast, and the transfer speed is probably limited by the speed of the drives in the two computers. Depending on how much data you're moving, it may take a few minutes, or it may take overnight.

Regardless, once done, your new iMac should be just like using your old one. All of your user accounts, passwords, etc will be the same. Your dock should be the same, and programs and files will be right where you left them. It really is as seamless as you could ever ask on a new computer.

 

[RonRonnster]

+1 on the Thunderbolt cable and adapter to connect the iMacs together. Migration Assistant over thunderbolt is about as quick as you can get. In the past, I've used applications like SuperDuper! Or CarbonCopyCloner to clone the hard drive from the old Mac to the new Mac, using the target disk mode as mentioned. It's harder to clone lately, though, with the newer Macs because of the move to APFS in macOS. If you want the most fool proof method, I would recommend Migration Assistant.

 

[OVERKILL]

if both Mac's are on the same network you can do it during the setup of the new Mac, as they ask you if you want to transfer your data during the setup process.

 

[Hall]

I'd strongly suggest you consider making a completely fresh start. Migrate data only if possible. If you just end up cloning your old drive onto the new one, you've just brought over years of garbage too. Macs aren't as "clean" as people say they are. Better than Windows, yes, but they still collect garbage over time.

 

[LotI]

I agree with hallstevenson...move your documents and files, not the system files.

If you are using iCloud your files are stored there too. It's slower since you're downloading them, but you shouldn't get the unnecessary stuff.