If you have existing Time Machine backup on a hard drive, make the backup current by choosing “Back Up Now” from the Time Machine (backwards clock icon) menu at the top of your screen, eject the drive when it’s done, and then attach it to the new MacBook, using a USB-C to USB-A adapter. One option is to use an external drive that has a copy of your computer.
I’m also assuming the new MacBook has a drive that’s large enough to hold everything that was on your old Mac. In any of the scenarios below, you’re going to want your new 12-inch MacBook to be fully charged, because you can’t have it plugged into the wall while you’re transferring. In the end, you’ll have gone computer-to-computer, despite the 12-inch MacBook not offering Thunderbolt connections.
Migration assistant target disk mode upgrade#
If the old Mac doesn’t have a current enough operating system to boot the new MacBook, you can start the 12-inch MacBook via Internet Recovery (command-option-R during startup), and reinstall macOS, which will upgrade the copied operating system. Then put the new MacBook into Target Disk Mode, and use Carbon Copy Cloner on the old Mac to copy its entire drive, including the operating system, to the new MacBook.
Migration assistant target disk mode mac os#
Erase the 12-inch MacBook’s drive in that article, see the section “If you need to erase your startup disk,” about halfway down, and, for format, select APFS if the old Mac has High Sierra or later, or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) if not. You could also use Carbon Copy Cloner on your old Mac to copy its contents to a a USB external drive, and use that as a source for Migration Assistant.Ĭomputer-to-computer: If you get a USB-C to male USB-A cable, and the old Mac is a 2012 model or later (meaning it has USB 3.0), you can go the other way. Via a hard drive: You can use migration assistant with a Time Machine USB external drive (or Time Capsule) as a source. Make sure your 12-inch MacBook is fully charged before you start, since it won’t have wall power during the transfer. But there are still a couple of ways to do it. The 12-inch MacBook has the same USB-C port found on current MacBook Pros and iMacs, but unlike those models, the port doesn’t offer Thunderbolt, so the method I just described doesn’t work. It also presents some challenges when migrating your data directly from another Mac.Īll other Mac models since 2011 have Thunderbolt capability, meaning you can attach a Thunderbolt cable between the two computers, put the older computer into Target Disk Mode, and then use Migration Assistant on the new computer, which will see the old computer’s drive and copy from it. Apple’s 12-inch MacBook is svelte and weights only 2 pounds.