Merge 2 old Mac Mini to Current 2018 model.
Merge 2 old Mac Mini to Current 2018 model.
My plan is to upgrade 2 Mac Mini (Late 2012 & Late 2014) to a single Mac Mini (2018) to take advantage of SSD, More RAM and faster processor. I will then use 3 non 4K monitors (eg: DELL 1907FB)
Moving OSX Mojave Apps (+Data) from Mac #1 to Mac #2. Both are OSX 10.14.5
“Mac apps are great in the sense that they are mostly portable—all you need to migrate an app is drag it from one computer to the other” - Is this true?
[Mac minis are connected with Thunderbolt cable - but System Preferences/Network shows Thunderbolt Bridge not connected .]
I expect the resulting configuration to be considerably faster than current setup which is s-l-o-w, eg. Boot time for Late 2012 model to access Kiwi for Gmail is 4:18 minutes!
Does above plan seem doable?
My plan is to upgrade 2 Mac Mini (Late 2012 & Late 2014) to a single Mac Mini (2018) to take advantage of SSD, More RAM and faster processor. I will then use 3 non 4K monitors (eg: DELL 1907FB)
Moving OSX Mojave Apps (+Data) from Mac #1 to Mac #2. Both are OSX 10.14.5
“Mac apps are great in the sense that they are mostly portable—all you need to migrate an app is drag it from one computer to the other” - Is this true?
[Mac minis are connected with Thunderbolt cable - but System Preferences/Network shows Thunderbolt Bridge not connected .]
I expect the resulting configuration to be considerably faster than current setup which is s-l-o-w, eg. Boot time for Late 2012 model to access Kiwi for Gmail is 4:18 minutes!
Does above plan seem doable?
As serialband said, depends on the App.
For example, a mail client. True you can drag + drop the Applications/mail-client folder anywhere + you lose all your config data, which will likely live under ~/Library/Application\ Support or ~/Library or ~/Applications, so each App must be considered as to what files must move.
For example, a mail client. True you can drag + drop the Applications/mail-client folder anywhere + you lose all your config data, which will likely live under ~/Library/Application\ Support or ~/Library or ~/Applications, so each App must be considered as to what files must move.
ASKER
Hmm, Well or other disturbing expletive - seems nothing is easy...
Fortunately most Apps are on both Macs, which may help some.
Thanks for your support
Fortunately most Apps are on both Macs, which may help some.
Thanks for your support
Yep. Nothing's ever simple.
That said, you can always use the rsync approach.
Just rsync every user on both old Minis to the new Mini, then sort things out later.
That said, you can always use the rsync approach.
Just rsync every user on both old Minis to the new Mini, then sort things out later.
If you only had a single Mac, it would be a no-brainer. It's because you have two.
Migration Assistant is much easier than rsync. Do this with the Mac that has more stuff on it first. This will ensure certain apps and system settings copy over. With the remaining Mac, you'd only need to copy over just the few, since you said there's overlap.
Most Apps are self contained, but you will have User preference settings in ~/Library, and those can also be copied if you know exactly which folders you need to copy. Most of them are easily identifiable, because they'll be named correctly in ~/Library/ and ~/Library/Application Support/
It's still much easier than Windows. Windows doesn't have a built in mechanism like Migration Assistant, and you may have to fiddle with the registry. Macs have a sort of registry, using the defaults command, but those are saved to .plist files in ~/Library/ that isn't a monolithic NTUSER.DAT, so you can more easily just copy them without having to load up regedit to export the parts you need. It's complex in a different way.
Migration Assistant is much easier than rsync. Do this with the Mac that has more stuff on it first. This will ensure certain apps and system settings copy over. With the remaining Mac, you'd only need to copy over just the few, since you said there's overlap.
Most Apps are self contained, but you will have User preference settings in ~/Library, and those can also be copied if you know exactly which folders you need to copy. Most of them are easily identifiable, because they'll be named correctly in ~/Library/ and ~/Library/Application Support/
It's still much easier than Windows. Windows doesn't have a built in mechanism like Migration Assistant, and you may have to fiddle with the registry. Macs have a sort of registry, using the defaults command, but those are saved to .plist files in ~/Library/ that isn't a monolithic NTUSER.DAT, so you can more easily just copy them without having to load up regedit to export the parts you need. It's complex in a different way.
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Thanks to all for useful ideas.
It's easier to use Migration Assistant from the system with more installed, then drag and drop from the system with fewer.