How to Transfer Data From an Old Mac to New Mac [VIDEO]

Apple has shared a new video tutorial on its Apple Support YouTube channel, explaining how macOS users can transfer data from their old Mac to a new one using Migration Assistant.

“You don’t have to manually move your documents, apps, user accounts, and settings from your old Mac to your new one,” explains Apple in the video. “Migration Assistant will make a copy of the content you want to transfer from your old Mac so you can add it to your new one.”

For the utility to work, you’re going to need the name and password for the Administrator account on your old Mac.

Before you start transferring data between your Macs with Migration Assistant, make sure both of them are plugged in, situated fairly close to each other, and connected to the same Wi-Fi network. Once you’re ready to begin, you need to:

  1. Turn your new Mac on and begin setting it up. Early in the setup process, Migration Assistant will appear and ask how you want to transfer your data.
  2. Select From a Mac, Time Machine backup or Startup disk and click on Continue.
  3. On your old Mac, launch Migration Assistant by opening the Finder, switching to the Applications tab, scrolling down, locating and double-clicking on Utilities, and double-clicking on Migration Assistant.
  4. Click on Continue.
  5. Type in your Administrator password and click on OK.
  6. Select To another Mac and click on Continue.
  7. Switch to your new Mac, select your old Mac when asked where you want to transfer information from, and click on Continue.
  8. Make sure the six-digit verification codes displayed on both devices match, and click on Continue on your old Mac.
  9. Wait for Migration Assistant to gather all of the transferable data from your old Mac. When that’s done, you’ll see all of it in a list on your new Mac. All of the items will be selected for transfer by default, and you can deselect any you do not want to be included before clicking on Continue.
  10. Click on Set Password and create an Administrator password for your new Mac.
  11. Click on Continue.
  12. Wait for the transfer to complete. Do not power off or otherwise tamper with either Mac during the transfer process. It is normal for your new Mac’s screen to go black, get dim, or display an Apple logo with a progress bar during the transfer. The new Mac will automatically restart when it’s done.
  13. When your new Mac restarts, you’ll be notified that the migration was complete. Click on Done, and let your Mac restart once again to complete the process.
  14. On your old Mac, click on Done to close Migration Assistant.
  15. Log in to your new Mac with the password you created during the migration process to complete the setup process.

Check out the full video tutorial from Apple Support below:

YouTube video

If you’re moving to macOS from a Windows PC, Apple also has a guide on using Migration Assistant to transfer your data from Windows to a Mac. And if you’re going the opposite route, you might want to check out Microsoft’s tool for migrating from macOS to Windows.

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