Apple documents transfer conundrum?

[DuckRyder]

Ok, we got new computers nearly a year ago or maybe over a year ago. I transferred all my stuff immediately, but Mrs Duckryder wanted to start fresh and work through her old documents on her old computer. This proved to be a daunting task.

I would like to move all her user files from the old computer to an external drive in a format that will be accessible to the new Mac keeping the organizational structure intact to the extent possible. The photos library seems to be a particular problem.

She's very anti cloud and will not use iCloud after a few bad experiences. I strongly suspect this would wreck her notes in contacts and so forth as well.

My questions to the extent i know what to ask:

• Is there a user level folder that will get all of her stuff and can i rename it to keep it separate.
• How to deal with 2 Photos libraries and keep then from intermingling.

Thanks in advance for any direction.

 

[Rand]

Might want to fix your typo. "Mrs DXckryder"

Eww MAC question maybe @OVERKILL could answer it.

 

[Hall]

She's very anti cloud and will not use iCloud after a few bad experiences. I strongly suspect this would wreck her notes in contacts and so forth as well.

You can select which apps use iCloud and turn it off for others. I won't use iCloud for Photos as it royally sucks to the core (I saw to the core because issues with its original design continue to make things worse every year Apple doesn't fix it). That said, I do have Notes, Messages and a few other apps sync'd to iCloud, including Files. Files only has a handful of files in it as I only use it for convenience. I use Dropbox for real work.

 

[Hall]

Do you each have your own user login on the old machine and the new machine ? If not, you should.

 

[OVERKILL]

• Is there a user level folder that will get all of her stuff and can i rename it to keep it separate.

Yes, just navigate to the primary drive, go into the Users folder and copy her user folder to an external medium.

• How to deal with 2 Photos libraries and keep then from intermingling.

You can open the 2nd photos library with photos, as long as you don't copy one over the other, you'll be able to manually navigate to it and open it.

 

[DuckRyder]

To clarify do i need to rename anything?

her user folder from the old mac can be named the same as her active user folder on the new mac? And photos library does not need to be named "photos 2" or anything?

 

[DuckRyder]

Sigh Error 8084 > off to google...

 

[DuckRyder]

OK, so if we had a new MacBook air with sufficient space, what are the chances that a time machine would restore?

 

[Pelican]

Get an external drive (Lacie brand seems to be preferred by Apple) the iMac (I assume u have) will recognize it as "Time Machine" and you can then back up everything on it and then plug this HD into the new computer which will recognize it immediately as such and then you can restore whichever files you want from the time machine to your new unit.

 

[GrumpyCat]

OK, so if we had a new MacBook air with sufficient space, what are the chances that a time machine would restore?

Your backup needs to be encrypted else passwords won't transfer.

 

[GrumpyCat]

Get an external drive (Lacie brand seems to be preferred by Apple) the iMac (I assume u have) will recognize it as "Time Machine" and you can then back up everything on it and then plug this HD into the new computer which will recognize it immediately as such and then you can restore whichever files you want from the time machine to your new unit.

You can use most any USB external drive for Time Machine. Encrypt the backup with a password to preserve passwords. Time Machine is smart enough not to copy that information out to something one might be able to read.

Also one can transfer direct from old Mac to new Mac using Migration Assistant. Via ethernet or (some but not all?) USB-C cable.

 

[DuckRyder]

OK, I suppose i should be more specific.

We have an encrypted backup, both on a Time Machine and on a Sandisc Extreme.

We tried to move the user level folders over to another extreme, but it fails with the error 8084. From what i can find on this the only way to narrow this down is to move in increasing smaller batches until you isolate the corrupt file. This commuter is so slow that that's basically an impossible task.

I'm willing to buy a new MacBook air with 1tb to transfer the documents and facilitate getting them off ints perhaps a folder on my brides new (er MacBook pro) so she can access them. once wee are done we will gift the new Air to my daughter.

I just want to make sure we think this will work and the time machine isn't also going to fail with 8084 or similar.

 

[melk]

I’m sorry you’re in this position. I’ve been there and it’s definitely no fun. Migration Assistant should hopefully accomplish what you are looking to do.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/102613

Not to beat a dead horse but having an AppleID login and using iCloud for each user is one of the best things you can do to avoid this very situation. It has worked great for me and my family to keep everything synced automatically. That’s literally the point of it. If you have a iPhone or iPad, MacBook or desktop Mac… having all your documents available and never having to worry about “moving them around” is great. Everything gets backed up automatically, get a new phone or computer, just sign in and all your stuff is just there.