Thanks for your thoughts on this Peter. Another possible complication not previously considered is that the Mac Mini has a T2 chip which may inhibit migration anyway. Perhaps a completely new manual set up then item by item copy from Super Duper would be safest way but would take weeks!
Alan > On 8 May 2019, at 8:03 am, Peter Hinchliffe <hinch...@multiline.com.au> wrote: > > > >> On 8 May 2019, at 6:34 am, Alan Smith <sma...@iinet.net.au> wrote: >> >> What is the best way to migrate complete data and settings from an >> unreliable 2012 MacBook Air to a still-in-the-box 2018 Mac mini? Both macs >> have internal 256 GB SSD. There are Time Machine and Super Duper backups. >> I will be the technical assistant for my brother in law who owns the macs. >> >> I proposed to use Migration Assistant from Time Machine but this has a >> complication. The MBA has a 1TB external data drive using symbolic links. >> Time Machine includes the data drive in its backups to two disks, internal >> and external on Time Capsule. >> >> Can Migration Assistant use Time Machine in this case? If expedient the >> external TM backup disk can be removed and a new backup made of just the MBA >> SSD on the TC internal disk. >> >> The MBA has bad days when it fails then restarts several times. This has >> been happening for some months. A direct migration from MBA to Mini would >> not seem to be feasible. >> >> Your help would be appreciated. >> >> Regards >> Alan >> >> >> > > Logic tells me that all the files archived by Time Machine end up in the same > Time Machine folder on the TM drive, regardless of origin, but I agree the > restoration process through Migration assistant could well be unpredictable. > > My first insticnt would be just to try it. The worst that could happen is > that the files base on the MBA’s internal drive will be restored to their > correct locations, but those originating from the external drive might be > ignored (worst case scenario). It’s also possible that MA, not finding a > matching location on the new 2018 Mac, might just create one and proceed > regardless (best case scnario). > > I think that if you wind up with the worst case scenario, you’d just have to > spend some time manually dragging over the folders and/or files which were > ignored. In the best case scenario, there’d be nothing else to do. > > Dunno. I haven’t been faced with this situation before so I can’t report from > experience unfortunately. Hopefully, there might be others on the list who > are more enlightened. > > Kind regards, > > Peter Hinchliffe Apwin Computer Services > FileMaker Pro Solutions Developer > Perth, Western Australia > Phone (618) 9332 6482 Mob 0403 046 948 > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > Mac because I prefer it -- Windows because I have to. > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Settings & Unsubscribe - <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>
