How did I not know about Migration Assistant!

[keyman_sam]

When I switched from PC (15 yrs) to Mac, it was a painful process. Tons of installations, authorizations, finding out stuff doesn’t run on a Mac etc

Then when I moved from a 2018 Mac mini to 2021 MBA it was the same thing all over. The process took about a week, and many things got lost (plugin presets, etc). Well, not this time.

I just upgraded from an MBA to a Mac Studio using Migration Assistant and holy cow it actually works! All I had to do was unauth all my plugins on my old machine, then used a TB4 cable. The whole process took about 30 mins. Then I had to disable SIP and give permission to run kext drivers etc.

Once that was done, all projects loaded up just the way they did. A few wonky plugins (SubLab, LABS) needed reinstall but everything else runs like a charm. This is such a life saver!! Even my logic presets are intact. I’m never installing stuff manually again!

[chagzuki]

Yeah, I've used it twice to change machine and it seems to have worked well. There were a few issues with some plugins and authorisation, but I must have figured out how to correct those without too much trouble.

The downside is that one ends up with all the mess accumulated on the prior machine, whereas starting afresh would allow for streamlining.

[zvenx]

If I had to list only one thing why I prefer macs over pc's (and yes I use both), it would be migration assistant.
It is imho the best thing about macs..
I have even used it to switch from intel to apple silicon and have used it for almost all my macs since os X came into being.. Nary a problem.
Greater than even slice bread imho
rsp

[Michael L]

The downside is that one ends up with all the mess accumulated on the prior machine, whereas starting afresh would allow for streamlining

Best to first clean up the old machine before Migrating.
Use EtreCheck Pro & Daisy Disk.