Transferring Data

kelbrooks wrote:

Is transferring data between macs difficult? my old mac is is a MacBook Pro 2012 running Catalina and my new is an M1 imac running Big Sur.

i do not have a time machine backup.

Not difficult at all...

The most trouble free way to move to a new machine, is using the Setup Assistant on the initial boot of a brand new machine— you have one shot here. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205749

If that opportunity has past, the second best way is use the Migration Assistant.

How to move your content to a new Mac https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204350

https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/9942433/Tripp-Lite-USB-C-to-USB/

Once you get the data transferred you are going to enable a backup strategy, right? If you don't it's like driving without seatbelts - you don't need them till you do. There are only two type of drives out there: those that have crashed and those that will.

Time Machine is the easiest to implement. I recommend one of these OWC (MacSales.com) drives for the TM drive: OWC Mercury Elite Pro 7200 RPM Storage - excellent choice for Time Machine use, very reliable and economical. Get one that's about 2 ½ to 3 times the size of the drive(s) you'll be backing up.

If one uses migration from Old to New - strongly suggest only migrating User Account and documents, pics, and such and nothing else. Although Catalina runs 64 Bit Applications you have the M1 Factor to contend with. Just because the Application is 64 Bit and runs on Catalina does Not Automatically translate to working in Big Sur and especially the Apple Silicon M1 CPU.

If you have a time machine backup, it is super easy:

Move your content to a new Mac - Apple Support

(But I would follow P.Phillips advice and just transfer documents, not apps)

You should have done it when you started up the new Mac.

Do you have a Time machine backup?

Agree with @ Keith Barkley the method proved by him. Easy, easy and no out of pocket, time to travel and risks of COVID-19 issues. Plus good practice for future purposes.

Then I suggest you get an external hard drive and create a time machine backup. You can use it with the new computer.