Is Migration Assistant best for copying contents of old hard drive, or better to do it manually?

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Level 2

304 points

Is Migration Assistant best for copying contents of old hard drive, or better to do it manually?

I have removed the hard drive from my broken old Mac running 10.6.8, and I want to copy all its data/files/contents to a new Mac running 10.11.6.

I have by now successfully removed the drive, and successfully connected it using a SATA/USB adapter to my new Mac, so I can see the drive and everything on it.

The "obvious" thing to do is just copy everything I want from the old drive onto the new drive manually, by simply dragging the files over.

But I've read elsewhere that it is recommended to use "Migration Assistant," which I have on my newer 10.11.6 machine, to copy everything over automatically.

Which technique is best?

(And no, there is no iCloud backup.)

Keep in mind that basically NONE of the applications from the old 10.6.8 drive would even work in 10.11.6, so I'm not really concerned about copying those over -- instead, I'll just be copying user-created files (i.e. text, graphics, sound etc. files that I created, but not necessarily the applications I used to create them). As a simple example, I would want to copy a ".txt" text file, but I don't need to copy the old TextEdit application itself, since there will already be a newer version of TextEdit on the new machine. Etc.

One thing I am concerned about is being able to copy the email mailboxes, so that I can bring all my old archived emails with me. Will Migration Assistant successfully copy those over? And/or would I be able to copy them myself manually? If so, where/how can I view/access the mailbox files containing all the old emails? Thank you.

Time Capsule

Posted on Feb 15, 2025 4:04 PM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

215,196 points

Feb 15, 2025 4:15 PM in response to Tuffy Nicolas

I think using Migration Assistant is best. However, before you do uninstall any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or VPN apps on your Mac. They are not necessary and can cause problems with the newer systems.

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Answer 2

Feb 16, 2025 9:14 PM in response to Tuffy Nicolas

I would set up a different user account on your new Mac - call it test or whatever you want.

Be sure it has admin privileges to run the migration- you can delete this account later after you migrated over the true account that you want.

If you have the same account on the new mac, delete it so migration does not get confused with the account on the same machine. Of course before deleting it save any user data first that you have somewhere - maybe a dropbox account or a box account, a one drive account, or icloud account. That way you can easily copy it back after migrating all your email and data from the old Mac.

Good luck. I am extremely careful now using Migration because of the problems I had. Maybe Apple fixed the issue, but my memory of wasting hours to fix it still sits with me.

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Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

215,196 points

Feb 16, 2025 11:05 AM in response to Tuffy Nicolas

Tuffy Nicolas wrote:

Will Migration Assistant successfully copy over the old email mailbox files as well? And once copied, would newer Mail programs be able to read/interpret/import the ancient 10.6.8 mailbox files?

As far as I know it will. Haven't seen any posts indicating any problems. Just be sure to make a full backup before you start.

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Answer 4

Feb 16, 2025 12:39 PM in response to Tuffy Nicolas

Are you using the same logonID and email address on both systems?

If so, I would wonder if the migration assistant would overwrite your current emails if you are using the same email address? I don't recall if there is a merge option with migration assistant. Like many, I only recall using migration assistant when setting up a new computer. I am careful to use a different loginID on a new computer than those on the old mac I want to go forward when using migrating assistant. If the same loginID is used, it can cause problems when migrating.

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Answer 5

Old Toad

Level 10

215,196 points

Feb 16, 2025 1:56 PM in response to Lukcresdera

You may be right. Didn't think it through. However, the Author can save his Emails as Raw Message Source, .emi extension, and then import them after migration.

Or he can go to his Home/Library/Mail folder and save the VXX folder (the XX number changes with the systems. With Sequoia it's V10. That will have all of his emails in it as of when he makes a copy of the folder.

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Answer 6

Old Toad

Level 10

215,196 points

Feb 17, 2025 2:00 PM in response to Tuffy Nicolas

By default the Library folder is invisible. To make it permanently visible go to the Home folder (the one with the house icon and your short user name), then go to the View ➙ View Options menu item:

and check the Show Library Folder checkbox.

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Answer 7

Old Toad

Level 10

215,196 points

Feb 16, 2025 3:43 PM in response to Tuffy Nicolas

They will be in the VXX folder inside the Users/Home/Librarary/Mail folder. As I said the XX number changes with the system.

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Answer 8

Feb 16, 2025 9:17 PM in response to Old Toad

Manually copying is sometimes the best.

I guess I am used to paying large fees for my work email system - everything sitting on the server to support multiple macs/pcs.

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Answer 9

Tuffy Nicolas Author

Level 2

304 points

Feb 19, 2025 12:04 PM in response to Old Toad

OK was finally able to turn the visibility on for the Library, and thus take all subsequent steps to fix my issue. Migration Assistant worked well. Thanks!

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Answer 10

Tuffy Nicolas Author

Level 2

304 points

Feb 15, 2025 4:27 PM in response to Old Toad

Thanks! I don't have any cleaning, optimizing, speed-up, anti-virus or VPN apps on either Mac, so no problem there.

Will Migration Assistant successfully copy over the old email mailbox files as well? And once copied, would newer Mail programs be able to read/interpret/import the ancient 10.6.8 mailbox files?

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Answer 11

Tuffy Nicolas Author

Level 2

304 points

Feb 16, 2025 2:24 PM in response to Old Toad

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

Do you happen to know where the email files/"mailboxes" are stored in 10.11 El Capitan and 10.6 Snow Leopard? It's hard to keep track of this detail from OS to OS, as the location seems to change around with each new release.

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Answer 12

Tuffy Nicolas Author

Level 2

304 points

Feb 17, 2025 11:33 AM in response to Old Toad

I still can't find them. There is no "Library" folder inside (what I assume is) the "Home" folder.

Starting from the top level of my hard drive, I see "System," "Users," "Library" and "Applications."

Following your directions, I open the "Users" folder, and see the name of the logged-in "User" with an icon shaped like a house, which I assume is what you are calling the "Home" folder. I then open this User-Home folder, and there are several other folders ("Documents," "Music," etc.) but no "Library" folder.

If I take a step back to the top level again and open the main "Library" folder, again there are many folders ("Caches," "ColorSync," etc.) but no "Mail" folder.

Inside the "System" folder there is also a "Library" folder, but it too contains nothing called "Mail."

This is all in El Capitan, 10.11.6.

What am I doing wrong? Where is this "Mail" folder and "VXX" folder you are referring to?

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Answer 13

Tuffy Nicolas Author

Level 2

304 points

Feb 16, 2025 2:22 PM in response to Lukcresdera

I have not yet checked for or gotten/downloaded any emails on the recipient computer, so even if its mailboxes are overwritten, I won't lose anything, so I won't mind.

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