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techmom1 Author

Level 1

12 points

Before I purchase, can I verify how and if this will work? MacMini and iMac integration questions

I currently have a mid-2011 21/5" iMac. I boot from an external SSD drive and use the internal Sata drive as my backup. I am preparing to purchase Mac Mini (either Intel or M1, not sure) and plan to use my iMac as the display. The iMac is running High Sierra, which I believe supports Target Mode.

My questions are:

How do I use migration assistant to get the data from my external boot drive onto the mac mini? I have one thunderbolt port on the iMac to which the external boot drive is attached. Since that port is where I will have to connect the Mac Mini to use the display, I'm assuming I will have to connect my external SSD boot drive directly to the Mac Mini. Can I then boot from the Mac Mini's internal drive and set Migration Assistant to take the data from the thunderbolt connected external boot drive?
Any reason once I Migrate, that I cannot use the external SSD drive to hold all my media files (iTunes and videos and any downloads)? Will the Mac Mini seamlessly access that data when I want to use it, and when I want to stream movies from it?
Is there any reason which would preclude purchasing either the M1 or Intel versions for my intended uses? Will they both work equally well (not asking about "speed" as I mostly just watch media and surf and do emails) with my iMac as a monitor?

TYIA for helping a senior out with technical stuff that is a bit beyond her.

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Jan 9, 2021 10:13 AM

Top-ranking reply

barberlives123

Community Specialist

Posted on Jan 12, 2021 6:48 AM

Hello techmom1,

We understand you have some questions about moving to a new device, and we'd like to share some resources that can help. To get started you can find all steps that will be necessary to migrate content to a new Mac here: Move your content to a new Mac

Once you've migrated your data it will be on your new Mac, and you can use external hard drives as you normally would. Complete directions for using external storage devices with macOS Big Sur can be seen here: Use external storage devices with Mac

Lastly, you mentioned target display mode. A new Mac mini would not support using an iMac as an external display so it would be necessary to purchase another. You can find the compatibility limits for this feature here: Use your iMac as a display with target display mode

Take care!

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Before I purchase, can I verify how and if this will work? MacMini and iMac integration questions

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