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User profile for user: flutekey
flutekey Author
User level: Level 1
9 points

2014 MacBook Pro to new MacBook Pro M1

I am needing to buy a new MacBook Pro M1 soon and I see that I have read some articles that I need to upgrade my 2014 MacBook Pro from it's Catalina operating system to the Big Sur before I transfer or migrate to the new computer. My question is though, I have also seen where with computers as old as mine and has had multiple operating system upgrades, it's best to do a clean install instead of a migrating procedure. Is that true, or can I really be making a big headache for myself doing a clean install? I do a lot of work on the computer and I'm just wondering with my old one being so old, which way would I encounter more problems and headaches? The clean install or the migrating?


I also should mention that my computer totally crashed while trying to upgrade to the Catalina last year and had to take it to be repaired and I'm scared to try and upgrade it to the Big Sur. And just a couple weeks ago, it suddenly wouldn't allow me to enter my password so I couldn't open it up. Called Apple Service and I had to erase the drive and upload my external hard drive backup with Time Machine. It's been acting "weird" ever since so you can see I'm apprehensive about doing the migration for fear of maybe uploading problems onto the new computer. Any advice?

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Mar 3, 2021 9:47 AM

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User profile for user: Rafael Scheid
Rafael Scheid
User level: Level 5
5,346 points

Posted on Mar 3, 2021 10:28 AM

Set them all as new.

Waste no time with upgrade and migration, you'll be in pain with it.


First of all use the good old Copy and Paste to backup your personal files to and external drive.

Set it away to preserve your data.


Now create a USB bootable installer How to create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support


Now for the old Mac, reboot holding Option and choose the installer.

Once recovery Mode is loaded, open Disk utility and completely erase the disc, volumes and partitions.

Close Disk Utility and proceed with installation.

Once done, set it up as new, manually install your apps back, copy your data from that external drive and that's it.


The M1 will come with a clean Big Sur install, so all you have to do is to set I up as new, sun your accounts, install your apps and copy your data from the external drive.


Hard work, yes, but you'll get the best from both machines without having troubles caused by debris like old/corrupted files and settings from previous versions.


NOTE: Catalina and newer don't run 32-bit apps anymore. If you use any, check developer's website to see if they have an upgraded version of it, otherwise it won't work.

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User profile for user: Rafael Scheid
Rafael Scheid
User level: Level 5
5,346 points

Mar 3, 2021 10:28 AM in response to flutekey

Set them all as new.

Waste no time with upgrade and migration, you'll be in pain with it.


First of all use the good old Copy and Paste to backup your personal files to and external drive.

Set it away to preserve your data.


Now create a USB bootable installer How to create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support


Now for the old Mac, reboot holding Option and choose the installer.

Once recovery Mode is loaded, open Disk utility and completely erase the disc, volumes and partitions.

Close Disk Utility and proceed with installation.

Once done, set it up as new, manually install your apps back, copy your data from that external drive and that's it.


The M1 will come with a clean Big Sur install, so all you have to do is to set I up as new, sun your accounts, install your apps and copy your data from the external drive.


Hard work, yes, but you'll get the best from both machines without having troubles caused by debris like old/corrupted files and settings from previous versions.


NOTE: Catalina and newer don't run 32-bit apps anymore. If you use any, check developer's website to see if they have an upgraded version of it, otherwise it won't work.

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2014 MacBook Pro to new MacBook Pro M1

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