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Migration assistant fails since it says it can’t connect to my old iMac. Diagnose? Workaround?

I don’t understand why Migration Assistant can’t connect my old iMac and my new iMac. They are both connected to the same network with WiFi. Old iMac is mid 2011 running Mac OS High Sierra 10.13.6. New iMac is 21.5” just bought running High Sierra 10.14.5. How do I troubleshoot this and get all my data transferred to the new iMac? No compatible cable to physically connect them.

Posted on Aug 5, 2020 10:49 AM

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Posted on Aug 5, 2020 12:39 PM

I upgraded the new iMac to Catalina, and then turned OFF the firewall on the old iMac. The computers are connected by an Ethernet cable, and the Migration Assistant seems to be working ok. Thanks for your reply.


I did have a TimeMachine backup on an external drive, but the cable was a FireWire 800. I would have needed a couple of adapters and a Thunderbolt 3 cable to complete the process.

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Aug 5, 2020 12:39 PM in response to mulberry58

I upgraded the new iMac to Catalina, and then turned OFF the firewall on the old iMac. The computers are connected by an Ethernet cable, and the Migration Assistant seems to be working ok. Thanks for your reply.


I did have a TimeMachine backup on an external drive, but the cable was a FireWire 800. I would have needed a couple of adapters and a Thunderbolt 3 cable to complete the process.

Aug 5, 2020 11:27 AM in response to BevB55

Do you have a TimMachine backup on an external drive?

If yes, use this backup and Migration Assistent

If not, backup your old Mac, use Migration Assistent to move the content to your new Mac and when the process is finished, you can use that external drive to backup your new Mac

Migration Assistent and wifi don’t work well together.



Migration assistant fails since it says it can’t connect to my old iMac. Diagnose? Workaround?

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