Base Mac mini to Pro : Easiest Migration ever! With external Home drive!

[@BorderTerrier-yk2hw]

Like anything in IT, follow the logical and established steps and things will generally go right.

[@johnisaac9184]

I would like to thank you for sharing your information regarding your computer knowledge. I believe we crossed paths when I worked at the famous 1038 Albion Road. Cheers John

[@MacSoundSolutions]

@@johnisaac9184 hi John, thanks I’ve ever been to 1038 Is that Toronto?

[@johnisaac9184]

@@MacSoundSolutions Fairview Electronics. the best stereo shop in 1970. The shop was hidden at Albion rd &rexdale. Cheers

[@FDNY8231]

Why can't this work for the iMac M4? I tried the migration to an external ssd and while it did basically work the Apps did NOT. Soon as I moved them none of my apps would work right. Seemed like they needed relicensing or renewal. My guess is because the library settings for the apps stayed behind. I would just love to install MACoS and boot from an external, but I don't think it will work with Apple silicon like it did in my intel iMac.

[@MacSoundSolutions]

@@FDNY8231 You can only migrate data to the internal drive. You can boot from the external if you install Mac OS just Apple Intelligence won’t work. I also found some apps on the external drive when moved to the new computer were hit or miss, Final Cut and logic were ok but some games like resident evil 4 said it needed to be redownloaded from the App Store, perhaps they are tied to the serial number or computer id for licensing purposes, not sure., once downloaded my saved games were still there.

[@CeesTax]

Hi Lance, thanks again for this nice and instructive video. Just a question, which temperature monitor app do you use?

[@tibimutasunta2132]

What’s this issue about usbC connection problem in m4 Mac minis?🤔🤔🤔

[@MacSoundSolutions]

I have not had any issues with my drives but I have heard some folks have.

[@jimmysixe2483]

Curious on your take as to why not just install MacOs on the external drive and use the mac that way?

[@needinput9805]

Exactly what I did and works great

[@LumiSnowie]

apple intelligence won't work and swapping/paging performance is way slower than internal ssd

[@needinput9805]

@ Apple intelligence is worthless anyways

[@JohnSHigham]

@@LumiSnowieSwap still uses the internal drive. You seem to think the whole OS is now external, not just the home folder. 😂

[@jimmysixe2483]

@@JohnSHigham So if I load the whole MacOs on the external the swap will still occur on the main drive even though I am working off the external including my home folder?

[@Tigerex966]

I used to use carbon copy cloner in intel macs. It was great. I could make a carbon copy of my boot drive than simply use that to boot any other Intel mac that could run that version of osx Very simple with options to just copy all or a little.

[@lindsaybruce1396]

Okay, so I'm curious why you bought the upgraded iMac - was the base 16Gb just not quite enough for your needs?

[@MacSoundSolutions]

@@lindsaybruce1396 I never reached the 16 gig limit on the base model, I wanted to test out the graphics difference between the two, and I was offered two thunderbolt 5 enclosures which I will be reviewing, I will be selling one of the minis, not sure which. So far the pro graphics are getting almost double the performance over the base model.

[@gordonrobb]

@@MacSoundSolutionswill be interested to see the TB5 enclosure review. I feel like a 4Tb drive will be able to replace my raid0 setup that have now, and get same speed, freeing up a port.

[@gordonrobb]

Awesome video. Makes migration so much easier.

[@willoweb]

I’m interested to see the speedtest of the TB5 enclosures in raid0

[@alvin12341]

I have a bunch of SATA ssd with usb enclosure. How much performance will it drop compares to nvme? It shouldn’t, right? Since Im only moving user home folder, everything else like applications still remains in internal drive.

[@MacSoundSolutions]

@@alvin12341 the max read wriite speeds you’ll get is under 1000 MB per second which is still pretty fast. Make sure it’s a very reliable drive and enclosure because you don’t want your home folder ejecting on you during use which can lead to corruption a NVMe in a usb 4 like the Zike drive enclosure gets up to 3000 MB per second at best.

[@alvin12341]

@MacSoundSolutions I'm more concerned about random speed and USB trim supported,not sequential speed. Also, doesn't the keychain automatically unlock the encrypted external USB drive when the system starts?

[@svenisaksson3970]

One important issue. Does any migration precess include the licences for (non-dongle) copy protections. I don't think it does! Shouldn't you advise you viewers to de-authorise any copy protected software, before migrating. Following your advise would cause the user (including you) to loose all licences installed on the original drive, wouldn't it?

[@MacSoundSolutions]

@@svenisaksson3970 you will have to move your licenses from Mac A to Mac B but that is always the case, some licenses may transfer from the Time Machine back up and some that are tied to the hardware via serial number will not, but they’re not getting erased. You just have to un install the licenses on the old computer and reinstall them licenses on the new computer if they were single user licenses. My license for DMG AUDIO plug-in limitless did not transfer, but I was just able to reinstall the license on the new computer. Each plug-in is its own beast. Some use. I lock some allow you to install on multiple systems and some are single user Waves plug-ins only allow you to install on one system so you have to move your licenses to the cloud and then reinstall them on the new computer. But none of your licenses will get erased and you won’t have to reinstall all your plug-ins. You’ll just have to reinstall some of your licenses.

[@svenisaksson3970]

@@MacSoundSolutions The easiest solution is still to de-authorise all protected software before migrating, and then re-authorise it afterwards. That way, you can rest assured you don't lose anything.

[@MacSoundSolutions]

@ you’re not gonna lose any authorizations by migrating because you’re migrating from your backed up time machine drive to a new computer your licenses will still be on the other original computer but sure de authorize all plug-ins before setting up a new computer it’s just something one has to do.

[@AlienFactor]

but why did ya need 2 of them lmao

[@MacSoundSolutions]

@@AlienFactor I don’t, I will be selling one of them probably the base model. The pro has double the GPU performance of the base model and I wanted to test it.

[@Tigerex966]

​@Mcan you compare both now that you have both? Before you sell it And review that digital mixer. MacSoundSolutions

[@deejagers716]

you wait for studio like i know, why you show mini ?

[@MacSoundSolutions]

why not?

[@deejagers716]

@@MacSoundSolutions you say i go from macpro to studio which need to be delivered and now you have 2 minis, just ask 😆

[@fookoo567]

YAYYYYYYY

[@dolph9913]

I have the base model,; I installed an internal 2tb SSD for 300 bones.

[@MacSoundSolutions]

That's Cool and well aware that you can do it.. but it also voids your warranty. I have 4terabyte raid 0 external with faster speeds than the internal drive and still have my warranty.😉

[@ahgflyguy]

@@MacSoundSolutionsis there a reason you couldn’t just put your old 256 drive back in before bringing the machine in for service, if that becomes necessary? Or does the 256 / original drive become useless in the process? And if it does become useless, that’s a good reason to bring it in for service, right? “Help, OS is corrupted and I can’t reload!”

[@MacSoundSolutions]

@@ahgflyguymaybe and maybe not…

[@ahgflyguy]

@@MacSoundSolutions yeah, I don’t know if at the initial write to the NAND chips if there’s some cryptographic key somewhere else in the Mac that gets altered, making it so previously-paired NAND chips can never be used with it again. I don’t know enough about the silicon to do more than ask the question. Also, when your TB5 enclosures arrive, be sure to show that PASSIVE certified TB4 and TB3 cables work at TB5 speeds, and that active ones stay stuck at 40 Gbps (TB3 / TB4 speeds). People need to see that demonstrated, and I know I would link to a video of yours showing that when someone asks the question.

[@jansix4287]

I built my own Fusion Drive 2TB HDD + 256GB SSD into a Mac mini back in 2012. Cost me €70 all parts included and I guess my one year limited guarantee.

[@simonconquest]

Mmmmm. Getting a bit repetative now.