Migration Assistant doesn’t recognize SSD in mac mini Satechi hub. I have less than 1TB of data in old iMac. Both machines are connected via Ethernet. Apple support says I have to connect hub to old iMac, make a Time Machine backup, then reconnect hub to mac mini. Problem is no USB-C port in old iMac. That process doesn’t make sense to me.
iMac 27″, macOS 12.7
Try commenting the old Mac to the new Mac via Target Disk Mode. If you can the old Mac will look like an external drive to the new Mac and you can copy whatever files you want to the 4 TB drive on the new Mac.
Then you can not Migrate.
What you want to do is erase and format the SSD to GUID Partition Map/APFS using Dusk Utility.
Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support
Then manually move your Photos, Music, Movie Libraries to the SSD in drive.
Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support
Change where your music files are stored on Mac - Apple Support
Move your iMovie for Mac library - Apple Support
After that, you can copy documents and other file folders to the Mac mini or SSD.
As for Time Machine backups, those should always be done on a separate external drive and not the same one that your Photos, Music, Movie Libraries are stored on.
If the new Mac mini has the same Storage space as the old iMac..?
Then all you need to do is connect the old iMac's 2T TM backup to the new Mac mini and Migrate from it.
Transfer to a new Mac with Migration Assistant - Apple Support
If not..?
Then you will need to manually move part or all of your data to the 4TB SSD in the Satechi Hub.
If you want to use Migration Assistant to migrate your user and system data to the new Mac Mini (you'll need to have as much storage in the Mini as you have in your old Mac or MA won't work. In that case the Target Disk Mode would be your best bet.
You can get USB C-male to USB A-female adaptors from Amazon.com:
What you are trying to do is not clear..?
You can only Migrate to a drive that has macOS installed on it.
If you want to run the Mac mini from SSD in the Satechi ?
You first need to format and install macOS on the SSD in the Satechi.
Then startup from the SSD in the Satechi and migrate from the old Mac during the initial setup.
If you want to use the SSD in the Satechi for something else..?
Please describe exactly what that is.
Thnx for the quick reply. I want to use the external 4TB SSD in the Satechi just for the data that I move from my old iMac, and just keep the macOS on the internal mac-mini 512 GB SSD. Ive researched and word is that its not good to create a boot drive from an external drive in a hub. Apple support person i talked to said to use a USB-A to USB-A cable to connect the imac to the Satechi hub, make a Time Machine backup, then reconnect the hub to the mac mini.
The A-A cable came with that adapter. Will check out your other post on TDM. Thnx for the help! The old Mac has ~780 GB of data; the mac-mini only has 512. What Apple wants for a 2TB SSD is outrageous ($800!). I know that there are kits where you can change out the internal SSD, but not sure about my technical skillset to perform that (even though I was a cardiothoracic surgery PA for 41 years, recently retired!). Wiil take under your and others advisement.
The external SSD Is in APFS format which I did after initial install into the hub. As for my backups of the old iMac, I really overkilled it and I have 2TB SATA Seagate external drive directly attached to the iMac, as well as a cloud E-Drive backup, and a MyCloud NAS drive attached to my home router. I really appreciate your expertise and help with this quandry.
chezling1 wrote:
The old Mac has ~780 GB of data; the mac-mini only has 512. What Apple wants for a 2TB SSD is outrageous ($800!). I know that there are kits where you can change out the internal SSD, but not sure about my technical skillset to perform that
FYI, the new M-series Macs do not have removable or replaceable internal SSDs. The SSDs as well as the memory are now all soldered onto the Logic Board.
Thanks to all on the replies. My solution
was to use Carbon Copy Cloner on the Mac HD-data portion, copy files to a WD 2TB SSD I forgot I had, and then plug into USB-2.0 port on front of Satechi to restore data to the Crucial 4TB SSD I installed in the Satechi. Took forever (let it go overnight), but lo and behold it worked!! Hallelujah!
migration assistant problem from late-2015 27" iMac to 4TB SSD In Satechi hub in new mac-mini
