# Anyone used Mac "Migration Assistant"?



## Hywel (Aug 26, 2019)

Hi all

My late 2014 Mac Mini "Fusion" drive had a bit of a wobble over the weekend. Fortunately after a few hours trying this and that, it seemed to recover and allowed my Mac to boot up properly from it.

This experience worried me because although I backup all my data, I don't have an alternative, identical startup drive that I can use as a backup if the Fusion drive fails again. So I used Apple's Migration Assistant to mirror/copy my fusion drive onto an external hard drive providing a startup disk copy of my fusion drive.

After probably about 6-8 hours of data transfer and whatever it does under the hood, my new startup drive was ready and on first impressions it seems to mirror exactly what my original fusion drive does complete with all the applications I used to have installed on the fusion.

I'm going to swap back to using my original fusion drive startup however (assuming it continues to work) but I wondered if anyone had any experience of any pitfalls with using Apple's Migration Assistant with particular reference to music applications.

Certainly with the possible purchase of a new Mac on the horizon in the next 6-12 months or so, my experience with Apple's Migration Assistant is quite positive - would love to hear other's experiences with it though. The thought of installing every piece of existing software manually from scratch on a new Mac fills me with dread.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Aug 26, 2019)

1. I've used Migration Assistant for... migrating everything to a new startup drive several times. It works really well.

2. My suggestion is to replace that Fusion drive - *unless* you have a very solid way of testing all its sectors to determine that there's absolutely no question that your problems were due to file corruption rather than the drive starting to fail.

And even then, I wouldn't trust it.

3. You obviously don't want to make a clone of the Fusion drive that was causing you problems, so my suggestion would be to test your Migration Assistant drive, then make an image clone of it if it works:

4. Normally it's a good idea to keep a safety backup clone of your startup drive in a working condition. I use SuperDuper from Shirtpocket software, other people use Carbon Copy Cloner from Bombich.

That's an exact mirror, and it has the advantage that you can start up from it and go back to work right away if something breaks, then update to the very latest of everything from (in my case) a Time Machine Backup - i.e. a backup you keep online.

SuperDuper can also do incremental backups, meaning it can update only changed files without copying the whole thing. But a) I prefer Time Machine's automatic hourly backups, plus it keeps old versions; b) I keep my SuperDuper clone in my glove compartment - I want it as close to being off-site as possible.


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## Hywel (Aug 26, 2019)

Excellent advice and very reassuring about the capabilities of Migration Assistant. Plus - Keeping a clone drive in the glove compartment - what a great call!


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## Nick Batzdorf (Aug 26, 2019)

By coincidence someone just recommended DriveDX for testing your drives.

You might want to try the free demo to see whether your Fusion drive is okay. It just told me that one of my alternating Time Machine spinning drives is unhealthy, so I'll replace that.


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## Sarah Mancuso (Aug 26, 2019)

Migration Assistant is one of the best MacOS features, I think, and it's one that you don't often hear about. In my experience, it does its job pretty much perfectly and lets you get on with your life. When I upgrade my computer, I always anticipate having to spend a lot of time getting things set up the way I used to have them and making all my programs work, but Migration Assistant usually gets me about 99% of the way there with basically zero effort.

You'll still have to handle your VST authorization transfers manually, and if the new computer is on a newer MacOS version, you might need to update a couple of programs you had neglected to. Just about everything else will be right the way you left it.

The only downside to having everything transferred over so thoroughly that all my old messes are still intact as well. Makes the new-computer scent fade away pretty quick, but hey, it does mean you can get back to work right away.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Aug 26, 2019)

I like my decades-old clutter! 

Don't tell anyone, but I have a folder with a bunch of stuff from the G3 I once had - among other cruft.


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## jcrosby (Aug 26, 2019)

Hywel said:


> Hi all
> 
> My late 2014 Mac Mini "Fusion" drive had a bit of a wobble over the weekend. Fortunately after a few hours trying this and that, it seemed to recover and allowed my Mac to boot up properly from it.
> 
> ...


It does work well however I've seen it mess up home folder permissions badly twice now. Once with Sierra, once with High Sierra... (Some plugins wouldn't authorize until doing the step below...) It may be as simple as a bug related to specific models, no idea... Either way it's Something to be aware of.

Basically as soon as you migrate it's a good idea to run disk utility, then manually reset home folder permissions with the method below... It won't hurt anything, just reduce the potential for unwanted headaches...

(The important part is to make sure you run the terminal command after you're done with 'apply to enclosed items'.)

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203538


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## jononotbono (Aug 26, 2019)

I’ve just moved from the U.K. to New York and needed to clone all my drives to take with me. I can’t say enough good things about Carbon Copy Cloner. It just works. It’s absolutely amazing.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Aug 26, 2019)

jononotbono said:


> I’ve just moved from the U.K. to New York and needed to clone all my drives to take with me. I can’t say enough good things about Carbon Copy Cloner. It just works. It’s absolutely amazing.


 
SuperDuper is also great. At the time I bought it - donkey's years ago, as they say in the UK - it had some advantage that I've long since forgotten. But they both do a good job.


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## Wunderhorn (Aug 26, 2019)

I have used SuperDuper and CCC both. They are both excellent tools.


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## kgdrum (Aug 26, 2019)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> SuperDuper is also great. At the time I bought it - donkey's years ago, as they say in the UK - it had some advantage that I've long since forgotten. But they both do a good job.




fwiw I used SuperDuper for many years and lost a couple of drives the last few times I used it.
I switched to Carbon Copy Cloner which I now trust & prefer(I’ve never had a problem).I use CCC for sample/project drives etc.....
For boot drives I usually use Migration Assistant (I don’t know if it’s still valid but a few years ago a tech alluded that MA is safer & preferred for boot drives).
Of course ymmv,for me it’s MA & CCC.


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## macmac (Sep 2, 2019)

kgdrum said:


> fwiw I used SuperDuper for many years and lost a couple of drives the last few times I used it.
> I switched to Carbon Copy Cloner which I now trust & prefer(I’ve never had a problem).I use CCC for sample/project drives etc.....


For me it was the exact reverse. I tried CCC twice, with a few years in between, and both times there was something that went wrong. I forget the details but I remember it going awry to where I wasn’t sure it could be salvaged. It affirmed my decision to choose SuperDuper, which I’ve used for years and has always done a perfect job. Both apps are recommended by most people, so it’s whatever you prefer.


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