Use this when reimaging new MacBook Pros and iMacs, but it works in any situation where you need to transfer large amounts of data between Mac devices.
- Make sure the professor/client has signed into the new Mac.
- Connect old machine to the new machine with a Thunderbolt cable (with USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter if necessary).
- Shut down the old computer. Turn it on and hold the “T” key to put it in Target Mode. A Thunderbolt icon should appear.
- The new computer can now read it like an external drive. Copy and paste the old User’s folder onto the new computer’s desktop. (You can do it to the humsupport desktop if the professor hasn’t signed into the new machine yet, and just transfer it over afterwards.)
- Once the files are done transferring, move the files from each User subfolder (Desktop, Documents, Photos, etc) INTO their respective locations in the new User folder. Hold option on the right click menu to MOVE instead of COPY (by default, Macs will copy and that wastes drive space). Do not overwrite any of the pre-existing User subfolders (or the whole User folder entirely).
- IMPORTANT: You will need to reapply the User’s file permissions after moving everything to their proper locations.
Right click > Get Info (or CMD+I) on the User’s folder.- Expand “Sharing & Permissions”
- Click the lock and input Administrator User Name and Password
- Make the User the Owner with Read & Write privileges.
- Click the gear underneath
- Apply to enclosed items. (This might take a while, it’s reapplying permissions to every file that you just moved).
- Click the lock again.
- Expand “Sharing & Permissions”