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Migrating from a large drive to two smaller drives

I am upgrading from an old iMac to a newer Mac Mini. The problem is that the new Mini has a drive that is too small. I want to have the OS on the Mini's internal drive and then have the personal files on an external drive. What is the best way to do that?

Mac mini, macOS 13.0

Posted on Dec 15, 2022 6:07 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 15, 2022 6:34 PM

There is no easy way to do that.


Option 1, return the Mac mini and buy one with a larger drive.


Option 2, move your Photos and/or Music Libraries from the old iMac to an external drive and remove the Libraries from the old iMac. Then Migrate what’s left on the old iMac to the new Mac mini.


Warning: option 2 really requires 2 external hard drives to be safe. One external drive to hold your Libraries and one external drive to backup the Libraries.

4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 15, 2022 6:34 PM in response to Dutchboy777

There is no easy way to do that.


Option 1, return the Mac mini and buy one with a larger drive.


Option 2, move your Photos and/or Music Libraries from the old iMac to an external drive and remove the Libraries from the old iMac. Then Migrate what’s left on the old iMac to the new Mac mini.


Warning: option 2 really requires 2 external hard drives to be safe. One external drive to hold your Libraries and one external drive to backup the Libraries.

Migrating from a large drive to two smaller drives

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