Yeah have you bought a Mac computer and you want to transfer all your data from your old computer (whether Mac or not), Apple has a very useful tool installed on all its computers: the Migration Assistant.
This program allows you to copy all the documents you have on your old computer, apps, user accounts and all settings to your new Mac. Thus, in a matter of minutes – or a couple of hours, depending on the amount of information you have stored – You can use your new Mac as if it were your old one, without having to configure anything.
The truth is that the process is super simple. We have tested it from an old Mac to a new Mac, and after an hour and a half copying more than 600,000 files and settings, the experience with the new equipment is brutal. Simply turn it on and everything is in place, configured as before.
Although we have tested it by transferring content from one Mac to another over the Wi-Fi network, it is also possible to do it from a Time Machine backup or from your Windows PC computer. Even from an iPhone if you want. We are going to reproduce the step by step from two Mac computers but I already told you that from another computer the steps are the same, and the procedure is very similar.
How to use Migration Assistant on Mac computers
The first thing you should do is update the software on both computers, place them close to each other and check that they have Wi-Fi activated and that they are connected to the same network. If you have an antivirus, firewall, or VPN connected, disconnect it until the migration is complete.
Now you need to open Migration Assistant on the new Mac (it’s located among the installed programs in the Utilities folder of the Applications folder or look for it with Spotlight).
Select where you will transfer the information from. There are several options: a Mac, a Time Machine backup, or a bootable disk.
Now open the Migration Assistant on the old Mac and select the “transfer to another Mac” option. Go to the new computer and in the Migration Assistant select the other Mac, in order to “pair” them. You will have to include a security code that appears on one device on the other.
Migration Assistant on your new Mac will take an inventory of all the content and settings you have on your old computer and calculate the space you need. It will allow you to choose to transfer everything or select the information you want to transfer.
Migration Assistant now catalogs everything on your old Mac and calculates how much storage space your apps, user accounts, files, folders, and settings are using. This may take a few minutes. When ready, select the information you want to transfer and begin the migration.
Please note that it may take time, depending on all the files you have to transfer. The good thing is that, although it may take a few hours, when it’s finished you just have to log in to your new Mac and that’s it.
