To migrate from Mac Mini M1 to M4 however older M1 has all its Apps on SDD. How do I migrate?

Grgehyd Said:

"To migrate from Mac Mini M1 to M4 however older M1 has all its Apps on SDD. How do I migrate?"

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Transferring Apps Using Migration Assistant:

Some apps cannot be transferred. IT is a matter of piracy. So, contact the developer, letting them know you've transferred to a new device. You own this license; so, perhaps they just give you a new key? Microsoft has done this for me, for Office.

"I just wanted to know about the procedure of migration, if that includes Apps on external drives (not talking of anything to do with piracy). Otherwise I might just have to do an installation without migration and add Apps to the External drives one by one. With the basic Mac Mini many will have the problem I have."

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Transferring Items w/o Migration Assistant:

Sync through iCloud:

If iCloud items are enabled then you can just sync data (not full applications) that was. As an example, here is how to do so with photos: Once set up, enable Photos in iCloud on this Mac and your other Apple devices, and see if the data shows up. If your devices have items synced with iCloud on them, then they should pop right up in the finder window.

A. Enable iCloud Photos on an iPhone:

1. Go to: Settings
2. Tap: Your Name (Top Item)
3. Tap: iCloud
4. Tap: Photos (so that it is green)

then...

B. Enable Photos on this Mac:

1. Go to: System Preferences
2. Click: Apple ID (on top-right)
3. Select: Photos (by giving it a check mark)

Also...

Note: 32-bit Apps won't Work

Note that 32bit Apps will not work on Catalina and After. So, older apps may not run. To work around that, contact the Developer, requesting a 64-bit installer for it.

Migration assistant will only migrate items on the system drive. As for the apps on the external, once your user data has been migrated, some apps may be able to simply be launched from the external others may require a full wipe and reinstall. It is all a matter of how the developers designed their apps. Also, there may be licensing issues you may need to resolve with developers on some apps as they are generally tied to hardware configuration which would like likely happen anyway even if they were installed on an internal and migrated.

Personnally, i would not bother.

just reinstall the apps you need. New mac = new life.

Transfer data in appropriate folders (Documents to Documents, Pictures to Pictures, Movies to movies).

Old fashion, but best way to 1) clean up in case there are apps you haven’t and won’t use in a long time, 2) avoid transferring potential issues, 3) ensure you reinstall most updated versions of these apps.

You may spend an hour or more additionnal, but you would spend more considering (1), (2), (3) above.

Grgehyd wrote:

I have 128G Basic M1 Mini. Presently have a lot of Apps on T7 Samsung SDD. Please explain the process of migration to M4, as I shall now be using the same T7 Samsung Drive on to the New M4. I know about the migration Assistant, however what about the Apps on the external Solid drive? Do I just shove in the T7 Drive into the new M4 and start the Migration Assistant? Have no clue, love to get an answer.

If you migrate everything from the internal drive on the old computer to the internal drive on the new computer, you should be able to access all the apps on the external once you plug it in. It's possible that there may be some dependencies that don't transfer that might require you to re-install the apps. But you won't know until you try.