Do you do a Fresh install or Migrate?

[Raymond Lin]

I just got my M4 Mac Mini, upgraded from my ancient 2012 Intel iMac. Did a fresh install and it doesn't seem that difficult. On Reddit I see lots of people making their "migration" post. I wonder why they choose to do that instead of a fresh start.

(Mods - how do I start a poll ?)

 

[Raymond Lin]

Migrate, why wouldn’t you?

Because...it doesn't really take long, I store nothing in the internal drive. I only need to back up my download folder really. I use Safari so all my bookmarks and login and on iCloud. Even my Lightroom library catalogue is external.

I also don't need to set up the 2nd system to have both online.

I did migration once from a 2015 MBP to a 2020 Mac Mini once. Perhaps it was the early days of Apple Silicon and Adobe didn't have native apps and needed a translation layer but the migration broke Adobe suite to a point where no amount of uninstall and reinstall fixes it. Ended up having to restore the Mac back to factory setting and do a fresh install.

So that's why wouldn't I do a migration, I had a bad experience and I work in a way that mitigates the problems that come with a fresh install.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Seems an unnecessary manual step for me. Couple of clicks leave it to do its thing and then happy days. Each to their own, guessing you manually set up a new iPhone as well?

Bet you don't wait 12 years before getting a new computer though!