You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Transfer data to new iMac

What is the best way to transfer data from a late 2013 iMac model 2.7 GHz Quad Core, Mac OS Catalina) to the new 2021 iMac


iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Feb 12, 2022 1:42 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 12, 2022 2:43 PM

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities.


Congratulations on the new Mac! The easiest way to move your data is to restore from your Time Machine backup: Restore your Mac from a backup - Apple Support. You should not use Wi-Fi or any other method as they often fail.


If you do not have a Time Machine backup, you should create one on your old Mac so it can be restored to the new Mac. To start, you need an external hard drive. Here’s an excellent one sold by Apple: SanDisk Professional 6TB G-DRIVE - Apple. You can then follow the steps in this Apple Support article to setup your Time Machine backup: Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support.


Once your new Mac is setup with your data migrated, you should setup Time Machine again to keep continuous backups of your data: Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support. Also, moving forward, I recommend that you use iCloud in addition to Time Machine to sync all your files and photos to all your Apple devices. Although iCloud is not a "true" backup service, iCloud can also act as an emergency off-site backup, but this is why iCloud should be used in addition to Time Machine. Here are some resources on setting up iCloud for Mac:


After you setup iCloud, turn off "Optimize Mac Storage" in System Preferences > Apple ID/iCloud. That way, all changes made to files in iCloud are also backed up to Time Machine.


Jack

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 12, 2022 2:43 PM in response to SadieJane51

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities.


Congratulations on the new Mac! The easiest way to move your data is to restore from your Time Machine backup: Restore your Mac from a backup - Apple Support. You should not use Wi-Fi or any other method as they often fail.


If you do not have a Time Machine backup, you should create one on your old Mac so it can be restored to the new Mac. To start, you need an external hard drive. Here’s an excellent one sold by Apple: SanDisk Professional 6TB G-DRIVE - Apple. You can then follow the steps in this Apple Support article to setup your Time Machine backup: Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support.


Once your new Mac is setup with your data migrated, you should setup Time Machine again to keep continuous backups of your data: Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support. Also, moving forward, I recommend that you use iCloud in addition to Time Machine to sync all your files and photos to all your Apple devices. Although iCloud is not a "true" backup service, iCloud can also act as an emergency off-site backup, but this is why iCloud should be used in addition to Time Machine. Here are some resources on setting up iCloud for Mac:


After you setup iCloud, turn off "Optimize Mac Storage" in System Preferences > Apple ID/iCloud. That way, all changes made to files in iCloud are also backed up to Time Machine.


Jack

Transfer data to new iMac

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.