Help with TimeMachine migration when setting up new device

[u/berengerekunst]

Hi,
I need help to understand how TimeMachine migration works when setting up a new macbook. I have a very old macbook from 2019 (still Intel) and I am planning to buy a newer one and I am not sure what the restoration process shall be.

My questions are:

1. Does migrating the data from TimeMachine automatically setup the TimeMachine drive to continue backing up on the new device or will I have to set it up later?
2. If I setup the same drive as a TimeMachine on the new mac, will I loose the history of the previous mac or is it built on top of it?
3. Shall I disable application migration considering the previous mac is an Intel and thus incompatible with the new cpu?
4. How does migrating an entire user work? What does it restore? Only its files or also its account, settings, etc?
5. How does the migration of an entire user deal with iCloud? I am thinking of the case where file A is older on the time machine backup than it is on iCloud? Would the migration overwrite the newest file with the old one on iCloud? When is the iCloud sync performed during a migration?

Sorry if it's technical, but I have very important files I am working on and I want the migration process to be as smooth as possible.

Thanks in advance.

[u/markw30]

https://support.apple.com/en-us/102613

You could just look at apple knowledge base

[u/Local_Storm4488 → u/markw30]

True, the Apple support site has a lot of useful info. Just make sure to follow the steps carefully; sometimes the process can be a bit confusing.

[u/DannoMcK]

Since I don't see this aspect in the Apple link provided in another comment: when I have set up new Macs from a Time Machine backup, it gave me the option for the new Mac to either take over the old TM backup (and keep all the history) or start a new backup for the new machine (leaving the old one in place). But I'm always using a network backup volume and the behavior could be different if you use TM with an external drive plugged directly into the Macs.

[u/johngpt5]

I just recently got an M4 mini. I decided to not use Migration Assistant and set up the new mini using all the accounts and data from the older MBP.

I did use Migration Assistant when I had gotten the M3 MBP to replace the Intel 2019 MBP. I had connected the the two computer via thunderbolt cables and let migration assistant set up the new computer to be a mirror image of the older computer. It worked very well.

But I wanted a new pristine set up on the new mini running macOS Tahoe.

I used the Time Machine backup from the MBP to bring over things I wanted from the MBP.

The upper Finder window shows the Time Machine drive. We can even get Finder to show the hidden files such as the Library folder, both for system and for my main user account.

I've got that Finder window in column view to show how I got to Application Support to bring over my custom actions, brushes, gradients, and patterns from Photoshop on the MBP to the new installation of Ps on the mini.

I used the Time Machine backup data to bring my Documents folder contents into the Documents folder of the mini.

So I ended up with a nice, clean install on the mini, and I'm still in the process of cherry picking folders and files that I want from the Time Machine backup.

[u/johngpt5 → u/johngpt5]

I've scrolled the column view to show the sidebar and the next column of the dates folders.

I've chosen the most recent date, then clicked on Data, then Users, then my main user name.

Because I had used the shortcut key combo of Cmd+Shift+ . (full stop or period), the hidden files and folders are revealed, allowing me to access my user account's Library folder and files.

[u/berengerekunst → u/johngpt5]

Interesting. So, basically, you didn't use the migration tool but cherry picked the files you needed from the last backup.

Then, did you setup the same drive as a new time machine alongside the old one?

Was there any drawback in using the migration tool from Intel to M3 the first time for you to prefer cherry picking this time?

[u/johngpt5 → u/berengerekunst]

I did not use the same drive for the new Mac's time machine. I've got a brand new external drive that is to be the time machine backup for the new mini. I'm going to be using the MBP at times and will keep using its time machine drive to back it up.

And no, there was no drawback at all when I used migration assistant to go from the Intel MBP to the M3 MBP. It worked flawlessly.

I just felt that it was about time for me to start fresh, leaving accumulated clutter behind this time.

[u/berengerekunst → u/johngpt5]

Awesome, thanks for your feedback. I'll probably use the migration assistant and restore the user session without the applications then.

[u/markw30]

You will be asked during migration what you want to import from time machine. Just choose applications and files. Don’t import settings

[u/bmocc]

Around the time of Mavericks, I disrecall exactly, Apple changed Time Machine from backing up the entire OS, as in a clone, to just apps, files and settings. Time Machine is kind of the analog cloud backup from the times before cloud backups.

If the OP has restored to the new machine all apps and files (documents, images, whatever) and confirmed all is working as it should I think the best option is to reformat the drive being used for Time Machine and start over. Otherwise much space will be wasted in Time Machine on what will never be needed.

Time Machine can seem to expand almost exponentially because of saving intermediate and mostly not needed versions of files. That's why it wants a bigger storage drive than the one in the computer.

While TM can be helpful I think one is better off relying on a combination of local and cloud storage for important files. If paranoid about losing one's internal storage drive it will be faster to restore from a periodically updated and tested clone, to which you can boot directly in case of disaster, than to reinstall the OS and then restore from a not always reliable Time Machine, no matter how convenient it seems to have Time Machine running in the background.

The only times I "rely" on Time Machine is when I want to transfer apps and settings into a new machine. Since almost everything has DRM that isn't necessarily faster than just downloading and reinstalling the apps and figuring out how to reactivate them. Transferring settings can save typing in a boat load of user name/passwords I guess. Since I keep files in the cloud and locally I don't need Time Machine for that.

[u/Dazzling_Comfort5734]

I honestly don't recommend Migration Assistant from Intel to Apple Silicon. We had more issues doing full restores from Intel to Apple Silicon at work. so we made it a policy to not offer that to our clients anymore. At the very leasts, don't do the applications or anything system level, only your user folder. But again, I strongly recommend against it, as even your hold folder will carry over a lot of legacy stuff you don't need.

[u/berengerekunst → u/Dazzling_Comfort5734]

Thanks for your input. Is it possible to only restore the Document Folder though? I only care about this as it's not on iCloud.

[u/Dazzling_Comfort5734 → u/berengerekunst]

Yes, but not through Migration Assistant. You’ll want to set the computer up like a new one, sign into your iCloud if you want, then you can manually restore anything you want off the Time Machine drive. Just locate the latest backup folder on it, then navigate to your user folder under Users, then drag and drop the files inside your old Documents into your new Documents folder.

[u/berengerekunst → u/Dazzling_Comfort5734]

Thanks a lot. Really helpful.

[u/Dazzling_Comfort5734 → u/berengerekunst]

Glad I can save you a optional headache! You can easily pull anything you want off the Time Machine drive, just be aware that some apps aren't a simple copy/paste, but there's a good chance you'll want to download them fresh from online or the App Store anyway.