I recently had an old iMac with a BTO 1TB Fusion Drive that unfortunately died on me, but I had been backing everything up on a 4TB Time Machine drive, which has nothing else on it aside from a USB A to C adapter cable. When I got my new Mac Mini, I also went for a 1TB setup. I've been migrating data between Macs for over 20 years without a hitch, but this time I'm running into a space issue and I can't figure out why. Can anyone help?
2 Answers
There are a few things that could be causing this:
1. The new version of macOS may take up more space than the old one.
2. Your new Mac might already have some apps pre-installed that are using up space.
3. Even if your old drive's data technically fits, the system might not see it that way if it leaves minimal space available.
4. If the source drive is formatted in APFS, it could show more than 1TB due to its de-duplication features.
You could also consider migrating data via a direct Thunderbolt cable between the Macs. Just make sure both are updated to the latest compatible version of macOS first!
It sounds like your old Fusion Drive might have been completely full. If that’s the case, it's likely you need a bit more storage than 1TB for the migration. Keep in mind that system data can vary a lot between your old and new Mac.
Thanks! That’s a good point about the Thunderbolt method. I discovered that I could pick and choose which files to bring over, so I'm thinking about doing a minimal migration and leaving most stuff on the Time Machine for now.