Setting Up New Mac Mini with old iMac Data

[JohnMaldaner]

I have a 2012 iMac that I am soon to replace with a M2 Mac Mini. I, back up my iMac with CCC and have been wondering how I'm going to get the data to the new setup.

I have partitioned the HD on my iMac, one partition for me as the User and the other for my wife. The only thing she has on her partition are her Photos and iPhone/iPad backups, which include a music library. I have that and many documents and apps on my partition.

First question - will the partition automatically be brought over to the new Mac Mini and, if not, how will I get my wife's data imported?

Second question - Do I need to create two users to save this type of data in the first place? Could I backup her mobile devices and save her iPhone photos on the computer without creating a separate user? If this can be done it would sure simplify things on the new system!

Third question - Regarding photos. My iMac has a 1 TB hard drive. The Mac Mini HD will be half that size. Outside of photos, the new Mini will be able to accommodate my needs for years and years. But, photos are already taking up nearly 300 Gb. I do have an additional 500 Gb external drive I could offload the photos to. But, if I do that I'm not sure how I can easily access them in the Photos app on the Mini. Or, do I store them all in Apple's cloud? Looking for pros and cons of either approach!

 

[Fishrrman]

"Third question - Regarding photos. My iMac has a 1 TB hard drive. The Mac Mini HD will be half that size."

I would STRONGLY ADVISE you not to do this.
Get a Mini with the internal drive at least 1tb.
It's going to make things MUCH easier.
It's going to save you from A LOT of trouble.

There's nothing wrong with keeping all the photos on an external drive.
But if you intend to move to this type of storage setup, DO IT NOW, before you get the new Mini. That way, you'll know it's going to work.

"I have partitioned the HD on my iMac, one partition for me as the User and the other for my wife. The only thing she has on her partition are her Photos and iPhone/iPad backups, which include a music library. I have that and many documents and apps on my partition."

This was never "the best way to do it".
You should have just set up an account for your wife on "the main" partition, and let it go at that.
Further, from reading, I can't tell "what is where"?
Are her "backups" on YOUR partition?

Does your CCC backup drive have backups of BOTH partitions?
Or, just "your" partition?
That's important.

What I think I would do:
When the new Mini comes, take it out of the box. DON'T press the power button yet.
BEFORE you begin setup, run "a last backup" on your CCC backup drive.
Connect the backup to the new Mini.
NOW press the power on button for the first time.

Begin setup.
Use setup assistant to migrate your entire partition to the new Mini.
When done, you should see your initial login screen.
Log in, look around, be sure things look ok.

NOW... to handle the wife's account/data.

I would create a new account for her (again, all this will be done without partitioning the drive).
Use her old username and password.

When the basic account is set up (do email, too), now you need to consider moving her photos and music.

I would never waste internal drive space by storing "backups" from an iPad or iPhone. I don't use either, but there must be some other, better way to do this. There should be a way to keep these things on an external backup drive.

Does your wife maintain a "Photos Library" (not a backup) and an "iTunes music folder" (again, not a backup)?

If so, where are they located now?

 

[JohnMaldaner]

It pained me to do this, but I cancelled my order and placed an order for the M2 Mini with 1 TB hard drive. More than I wanted to spend, but I really couldn’t dispute your caution. I will be investigating how to store mobile device backups externally. 🤷

I’m a bit confused regarding my wife’s Photo Library and Music Library. When I log out and then log in under her ID, I do see those libraries located on the HD in the iMac. But, when I am logged in and external drive I only have access to my libraries there. I attempted to locate her libraries when I logged in with her ID, but did not find them in the external drive. I’m perplexed, but will continue to search for this.

 

[Fishrrman]

"I attempted to locate her libraries when I logged in with her ID, but did not find them in the external drive."

Log into your wife's account.
Hold down the OPTION key and THEN launch Photos.
A dialog will appear asking you which library to use.
You should be able to tell WHERE the "default" library (the one that's currently being used) is located.

 

[JohnMaldaner]

I was able to find the location of the library. But, I cannot find a way to access it! When I log on under my user ID, that library shows up as unav to me. So I logged on under her ID and in the Finder I don‘t find a directory that includes that library. Trying to open up the user libraries from data stored in the backup HD has not been fruitful. 🤷 So, hopefully the computer is smarter than me. If not, I will have to put the new Mac Mini and the iMac on the same network and migrate files directly. I’ve been working on this for several hours and that’s it for today! Maybe I’ll think of something before the Mac Mini arrives.

 

[Fishrrman]

"Trying to open up the user libraries from data stored in the backup HD has not been fruitful."

You said earlier that the backup was created with CCC, is this correct?

If so, you should be able to mount that drive on the desktop, in the finder.

The next step is to overcome permissions problems. This is how you do it:
a. Mount the backup drive on the desktop
b. Click on the backup ONE TIME to select it
c. Bring up the "get info" box for the drive (type command-i)
d. At the bottom of get info, click the lock and enter your password
e. Put a check into "ignore ownership on this volume" (sharing and permissions)
f. Close get info

Now you should be able to "go almost anywhere" on the backup drive, and be able to copy or move the libraries in question.

See if this works for you.

 

[JohnMaldaner]

Thanks for hope once again! I wrestled with this until the wee hours when I should have been asleep. I will give this a try a little later today. Probably going to buy another keyboard and mouse as I see no other way of communicating between the new and old Macs when engaging the Migration Assistant on both machines. I do have a habit of overthinking these things!

side note - I can’t recall exactly when, but at one point I was having an issue with Time Machine working properly and that’s why I got CCC. In order to use the external HD with CCC I had to rename it. Yesterday I thought maybe I’d try to run Time Machine, but it did not recognize this external drive as an option. It did recognize the drive under its initial name, but I was afraid to rename it that in that I might screw it up but good for any use!

 

[Fishrrman]

I would not recommend using time machine on a drive with a CCC backup already on it...

 

[HDFan]

I have partitioned the HD on my iMac,

No reason to partition. Makes space management much more difficult if one partition starts to get too full, less than 30% free.

do I store them all in Apple's cloud?

You can use iCloud but remember it is not a backup service. You'll need 3 other backup locations in a 3-2-1 backup strategy only 1 of which can be Time Machine.

 

[Yebubbleman]

I have a 2012 iMac that I am soon to replace with a M2 Mac Mini. I, back up my iMac with CCC and have been wondering how I'm going to get the data to the new setup.

I have partitioned the HD on my iMac, one partition for me as the User and the other for my wife. The only thing she has on her partition are her Photos and iPhone/iPad backups, which include a music library. I have that and many documents and apps on my partition.

First question - will the partition automatically be brought over to the new Mac Mini and, if not, how will I get my wife's data imported?

Second question - Do I need to create two users to save this type of data in the first place? Could I backup her mobile devices and save her iPhone photos on the computer without creating a separate user? If this can be done it would sure simplify things on the new system!

Third question - Regarding photos. My iMac has a 1 TB hard drive. The Mac Mini HD will be half that size. Outside of photos, the new Mini will be able to accommodate my needs for years and years. But, photos are already taking up nearly 300 Gb. I do have an additional 500 Gb external drive I could offload the photos to. But, if I do that I'm not sure how I can easily access them in the Photos app on the Mini. Or, do I store them all in Apple's cloud? Looking for pros and cons of either approach!

It sounds like you made this 2012 iMac WAY more complicated of a shared computer setup than was necessary.

Get you and your wife on iCloud storage plans (do the family plan, but do different accounts). Have her sync her photos with iCloud Photos.

Secondly, when you get an M2 Mac mini, just set it up with two different users (pick which one of you will be the main user to which Find My Mac is associated) and manually move the data back. If you take care of iCloud Photos prior to this, then you will not need to move them over; she'll log into her account and have them, you'll log into yours and have yours. Doesn't have to be complicated. Move her music library into the Music folder of her user account. Move the stuff you have into the home folders of your account.

For apps, I don't know what you have installed. If you have 32-bit apps that you have yet to upgrade, then moving those over is pointless; they will not work. Otherwise, I'd reinstall your apps afresh. Sounds painful, but unless you have some really esoteric software, it ought to not be that painful.

Doing all of this will result in a way smoother machine in the end.

 

[JohnMaldaner]

UPDATE: I have successfully transferred almost everything from m old iMac to the new M2 Mini. The only thing left are my photo libraries, which I had relocated to an external drive. This drive doesn’t have a compatible cable for the Mini so I will be making a trip to Best Buy soon. I’m an idiot! I thought I was only backing up the photo libraries to the external drive. No. I moved them But, I feel like I can fix that once I connect that drive to the Mini.

Observation: The M2 Mini is FAST! Finally, my computer is faster than any of our mobile devices! I have a great deal to learn. A lot. But, no rush. I did spring for a new keyboard with Touch ID and a new Magic Mouse. Both keyboard and mouse recharge just like my AppleTV remote does and they sync quickly and painlessly. Yeah, most folks reading this are thinking, “well, duh!”, but these are big upgrades for me. I got a 27” UltraFine LG monitor, which is great. Again, lots to learn about the monitor, but with the stock settings it looks really nice to me.

I will soon be looking for an external HD to utilize Time Machine. The 4Tb WD drive I’ve been using with CCC may work, but there are probably better choices. I look forward to using Time Machine. If you have suggestions on external drives that work well with the M2 Mini, please drop the, here.

Thanks to everyone for helping me along! I’m going to love this new computer! May well be the last one I buy.

 

[Fishrrman]

"This drive doesn’t have a compatible cable for the Mini so I will be making a trip to Best Buy soon."

Hmmm... the Mini has both USB3 (a) and USBc ports on the back.
What kind of "compatible cable" are you talking about?
What kind of cable do you have now?
(show us a picture)

 

[JohnMaldaner]

Ok. Here is the back of my external HD.

The cable I’ve been using has two adapters, but neither the cable itself nor either adapter looks like it would work.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Isn't that a USB (type b) port, directly underneath the two firewire 800 ports?

Get a USB(b) to USB(a) cable.
You may already have one around.
Should look like this:

 

[JohnMaldaner]

Thanks! I’ll give that a try!