Time Machine: new Mac has smaller drive; how to restore?

Update: well...

TL;DR: Time Machine has a "copy" option. Open Time Machine for browsing, select items, then right-click/ctrl-click to get the context menu. In the menu, choose "Copy". Then, choose Cancel. Once you've returned to your regular screen, navigate to the external drive/desired folder in Finder, right-click/ctrl-click, and "Paste" the items.

Details: I found that Time Machine does have a "Restore to..." option. The steps would be to open Time Machine for browsing, navigate to the folder/item you want to restore, then right-click/ctrl-click, and choose "Restore <item name> to...". This is supposed to bring up a new window, allowing you to choose where to place the restored item. However, this did not work in Sequoia 15.5! As soon as I chose the "Restore <item name> to..." option, it just returned me to the regular screen with a message that there wasn't enough room. Well, I guess it's Apple Feedback time!

As a workaround, I was able to use the "Copy" command from the context menu (right-/ctrl-click on the item(s) to restore). After copying, I "Cancel"ed Time Machine to return to the regular screen. There, I opened the external drive, navigated to the appropriate location, right-/ctrl-clicked, and chose "Paste these <number> items". It took awhile (large folder!), but everything copied over to their rightful place on the external drive.

TL;DR: Migration Assistant provides four categories of items one can restore. Wait till it's done calculating sizes. Then, select the items to be restored. The calculated size will adjust as you select/deselect items.

Note: two of the categories have "twisties" - those little arrows that can be clicked on to show a list under the main item. Click on the twisties to see items you can choose to restore or not.

My specific questions:

1) IF it's possible, how can I restore the settings from the MacBook Pro, while moving the data to an external drive attached to the Mac Mini?

I don't see a way within the Migration Assistant app to move data to an external drive. However, I was able to restore settings and some of my data by selecting/deselecting items in the list of things to restore.

Some things, like Applications, had to be restored or not - there were no selections underneath. And, those things that do have selections are fairly limited as to what you can choose to restore or not. For example, I could choose whether to restore my user's Downloads folder - but not any specific items *within* the folder.

2) If it's not possible to restore the settings, how can I at least restore my own folders to the external drive?

I'll have to update my answer for this one. It *is* possible to restore the settings by selecting the last item on the restore list. Clicking the "twistie" arrow to open the list allows you a few options for what to restore. I couldn't find a way to restore my folders to an external drive, but perhaps I can do this with Time Machine *after* the initial Migration Assistant restore process.

3) What will happen to my backups if I try to use the same Time Machine backup disk with this much smaller disk? (Eg, will it keep the large older backups and just start making new smaller backups?)

I was surprised to find a window popped up when I opened Time Machine for the first time I entered the settings after the Migration Assistant restore. Time Machine settings recognized that I'd made the backups on a different computer.

The window gave me options to "claim the prior backups" for this computer (which was default), keep the backups associated with the other computer, or make a decision later.

I chose the default (claim the backups), and opening Time Machine does bring up the backup data. I read somewhere that Time Machine has an option to restore the data to an external drive. Once I've tried that, I plan to return here and edit my response as to whether/how it worked.

HWTech wrote:

Check out this other thread where they are discussing a similar situation. Several options & explanations are provided:

migration assistant problem from late-201… - Apple Community

Yeah, It turns out the Migration Assistant can, indeed, transfer data to a smaller drive - as long as the user selects just the amount that will fit from the prior drive onto the new drive.

As for the remaining data, I just did a simple "Copy" from within Time Machine after connecting my backup to the new Mac Mini and claiming it for use with that computer. This worked great!

Your comment within that thread about the M-series' hard drive and memory being soldered to the logic board? Well, that's the case for the MBP 2017 touch bar model as well. Since my MBP died completely, I couldn't connect it to the MBP directly, nor could I remove the drive and place it in an enclosure to connect to the Mac Mini. Thankfully, I had the full Time Machine backup AND I was able to copy the data from Time Machine to an external drive, as noted above (since Time Machine's "Restore... to..." function is not working in Sequoia 15.5).

Thanks for taking the time to look into answers for my situation!

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, Old Toad. To your thoughts:

#1 - unless you have as much space on your new Mac or more you can't use Migration Assistant to migrate your data to the new Mac.

Migration Assistant will, in fact, let me copy data to a smaller drive - just not all of it (as you noted to an extent in #2 of your response).

I was able to use the "twisties" (little arrows indicating a section that can be opened) to select parts of my data, including my settings, which fit comfortably on the new, smaller drive. Once all the sizes were calculated, I clicked on a twistie to reveal it's sub-sections. Then, selecting/deselecting sections gave me the new sizes. Once I had everything I could get that would fit, Migration Assistant allowed me to continue and successfully install the data I had selected.

#2 - Y0u can connect the eternal drive to the old Mac and copy the contents of the Documents, Music, Photos and Movies folders to the external drive. Note: make sure you can open the libraries from the external drive before deleting from the internal boot drive. ...

I got the new Mac Mini because my older MacBook Pro 2017 had died - ie, it won't even power on. The 2017 has a soldered-on hard drive - which can't be removed and placed into an enclosure for data retrieval. (At least not at my level of proficiency in hardware repair.)

I did, however, have a full Time Machine backup. Again, Time Machine actually has an option to "Restore ... to ..." a different location, including external drives. However, that option is not currently working on Sequoia 15.5. I did report this in a feedback to Apple.

Instead, I used the "Copy" command, within Time Machine, to copy the data that wouldn't fit on the Mac Mini into a large external drive I had formatted for the purpose of holding the MacBook Pro's extra data. That required slightly different steps, but worked great! Now, I have all the data from the MacBook Pro's much larger drive stored nicely on an external that I can even add to my new Mac Mini's Time Machine backups.

And, as far as the comment:

In the future always get the same or more storage than you had on the old Mac.

I hadn't planned and budgeted for a new computer at this time, so coming up with the cost of a replacement at all - let alone an additional $400 to push the Mac Mini's 256 GB to a full 1 TB - wasn't an option. I had to make due with what I can currently afford while still budgeting for a new high-end MBP within the next year or two.

rkaufmann87 wrote:

IF the computer was purchased directly from Apple and is less than 14 days old, then return it and buy one with adequate storage. What you are attempting to do is to put 1 gallon of milk into a 1 pint cup, meaning it simply won't work! Computers are no different. You cannot migrate more data than the amount available storage on the new computer. This means if you have 750 GB on the old computer (akin to 1 gallon of milk) and only have 256 GB of storage (akin to a 1 pint cup) a migration is NOT possible.

If you purchased from another reseller other than Apple talk to them about returning the computer and getting one with adequate storage.

When it comes to buying a computer NEVER EVER buy based on price, buy based on your current needs. You likely knew you had more than 256GB stored on the old computer so why would you think you would be able to have a successful migration?

Thanks for taking the time to answer, rkaufmann87.

Returning the computer is a bit much for this situation, and NEVER EVER is a bit extreme for any situation. I did buy the Mac Mini from Apple, and I did know exactly what I was doing in buying the lower-disk-sized Mac Mini. As noted in one of my earlier replies, I hadn't budgeted for a new computer at this time, so couldn't afford the extra $400 it would cost to upgrade the disk to 1 TB at this moment. I did need another computer to continue the work I had running on the MBP, however. And, I could do the work with a lower-end computer temporarily. I knew that I could use external disks for the extra data - however, I didn't know that I wouldn't be able to use Migration Assistant (which I was actually wrong about, so I was able to migrate some of the data using Migration Assistant). I didn't know that Time Machine was going to have an issue with the "Restore .... to ..." function. However, the "Copy" function within Time Machine worked perfectly to allow me to copy my excess backed up data to an external drive - and now everything is functioning perfectly.

Long story short, if a person needs to buy a less-expensive computer than what they already have, especially in terms of storage size, it is completely doable! They can use Migration Assistant to get their settings and whatever smaller amount of data will fit on the smaller drive. They can use Time Machine to copy the remaining data to an external drive as needed.