When to give up on migration from one iMac to another

I understand, going forward... when doing a major undertaking like a migration you may want to check on the Apple Support forums first to get some advice with those that have lots of experience. They can advise you on how to make difficult things go smoothly.

You can always do an erase and then do the migration per my directions if you want to start over. However, of course that is up to you if you feel its necessary.

1. Yes, I think you should erase, however, if possible, I think it is better to manually copy your files back to the Mac, once the erase is complete.
2. Like I said above, I would recommend manually copying your files to an external hard dive, using copy and paste or "drag and drop".

When you are ready to erase and reinstall, follow this guide:

1. Verify all your data is backed up to an external hard drive using "copy and pate" or "drag and drop".
2. Sign out of your Apple ID in System Preferences > Apple ID/iCloud > Sign Out
3. Shut down the iMac
4. Turn on the iMac, and immediately press and hold Option + Command + R until you see a spinning globe.
5. Once you are in macOS Recovery, verify you are connected to WiFi in the top right corner.
6. Go to Disk Utility.
7. Select "View" in the toolbar > "Show All Devices".
8. Select your main hard drive. This will either be "APPLE SSD...", "APPLE HDD...", or "Fusion Drive".
9. Click Erase, and input the following exactly: 
10. Name: Macintosh HD
11. Format: APFS
12. Scheme: GUID Partition Map
13. Click Erase
14. Quit Disk Utility
15. Go to the reinstall macOS app.
16. Follow the prompts, and install on Macintosh HD.
17. Once done, setup your Mac, again, and once setup, drag and drop or copy your files back to the iMac.

I hope this helps, and I think this should solve your issue.

Cheers,

Jack

When you buy a new Mac the easiest, quickest and most reliable method is to simply connect the old Mac's Time Machine External Hard Disk to the new Mac using a USB cable before you turn on the new Mac. When you start the new Mac for the first time it will startup Setup Assistant (SA), SA will get to a point where it asks if you are migrating from another computer, select Yes  and follow the on-screen prompts and it's done! It is THAT simple. DO NOT use Wi-Fi, Ethernet, etc. only use a USB cable, why because it's dead reliable and it works every time.

If you have already done SA on the new computer then simply connect the Time Machine External Hard Disk using a USB cable and launch Migration Assistant (MA) which is located in Applications - Utilities - MA. Then follow the on-screen prompts. 

The ONLY difference between MA and SA is MA will create a new user account that you need to log into.

Both SA and MA migrate applications (not 32 bit apps) , data files, settings, it does not migrate Mac OS itself. Some professional apps such as Adobe and Microsoft apps may require re-installing their apps as they will not allow them to be migrated. As long as you kept the security keys for installing their apps, it is not a big deal. 

I think I get what you are saying.

For settings, such as desktop picture, that would have to be set again by the user.

Also, as an example, say you copy the contents of the documents folder, then you erase. Once the iMac is setup again, just copy and paste the contents into the new Documents folder.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,

Jack

Hi richmoran48,

How much data, approximately, is it attempting to transfer?

Cheers,

Jack

I would give it a while longer, because if it truly is stalled, we need to erase your new Mac, as the Migration data is most likely corrupt, or it will lead to issues down the road.