Bought a new Mac? This way you can safely transfer all data from your old Mac

When you buy a new iMac, MacBook or Mac mini, you don’t want to lose all the data on your old Mac. We explain exactly how data transfer from a Mac works.

Transfer data from old Mac to new Mac

As with the iPhone and iPad, Apple has made it easy to transfer data from one Mac to another. To make this process as accessible as possible, the company has created the Migration Assistant.

Are you switching from a Windows PC to a Mac? Then transferring your files works slightly differently. In the tip below we explain how this works.

Also read: Switching from Windows to Mac – here’s how

Before you start: check these things first

Before we start transferring the data, it is important to check and possibly update a few things.

It is especially important that the old Mac runs on OS X Snow Leopard (version 10.6.8 or higher). This will be the case for most Macs, but if not, you can use the Setup Assistant. In summary, it is important to check the following.

1. Install the latest version of macOS;
2. Update all your apps to the latest version;
3. Give your Mac a name (this can be done via the Apple logo, System Preferences, Sharing and ‘Computer Name’);
4. Make sure both Macs are plugged into an electrical outlet.

Connect both Macs

From macOS Sierra and later, you can link two Macs together by simply placing them close to each other. If you’re using OS X El Capitan or earlier, you can also link both devices by connecting them to the same Wi-Fi network.

Now it is time to open the Migration Assistant on your old and new Mac. You do this by clicking on the magnifying glass in the top right corner of your Mac and typing in ‘migration assistant’. Complete the following steps in the migration assistant on your new Mac:

1. Open the migration assistant and click on ‘Continue’;
2. Enter your password;
3. At the question ‘How do you want to copy your data’, choose ‘From a Mac, Time Machine backup or startup disk’;
4. Click on continue and now grab your old Mac.

Now go through the following steps on your old Mac:

1. Open the migration assistant and click on ‘Continue’;
2. Enter your password;
3. At the question ‘How do you want to copy your data’, choose ‘To another Mac’;
4. Click on continue and grab your new Mac again.

Follow these steps on your new and old Mac:

1. Choose the correct startup disk in the next window;
2. Click Continue so that a security code may appear on the screen;
3. Enter this code on your old Mac and click continue;
4. On the new Mac, you can now choose the most recent backup and click continue.

Now grab your new Mac for the last time and finish the setup. You do this by selecting the data you want to transfer. It shows how big the files are.

Depending on the amount of files you need to transfer, it can take a long time to transfer all of this data. Sometimes this takes several hours, so don’t worry if your Mac takes plenty of time for this.

Sell ​​old Mac? Then check this again

Are you going to sell or give your old Mac to someone else? Do not forget to prepare the device for this. In the guide below, we show you how to do this in five steps.

Also read: Prepare a MacBook for sale in 5 steps