HOW TO Migrate your Mac manually >

1 Pick your folders

If you want to copy your Mac’s data and apps manually to an external drive, the place to start is your Home folder: Macintosh HD/Users/[Your user name]. This contains the key folders for things like your documents, music and photos.

2 Get all the apps

Apps may live in multiple places on your Mac. Macintosh HD/Applications (and its subfolder Utilities) is where most of them will be, but some apps may be tucked away in the Applications folder in your Home folder.

3 Know what to copy

There’s no need to copy apps such as TV, Music or Stocks: they’re on your new Mac already. You can also choose to download Apple’s free apps from the App Store if you’re short of space on your external drive.

4 Expect the unexpected

As a rule of thumb, if an app came with an installer then it may not work if you simply copy it from your Applications folder to a new Mac. Chances are it’s put components in your Library and maybe in other places too.

5 Look in the Library

Macintosh HD/Library contains tons of things: fonts, preferences, plug-ins and more. The simplest, fastest thing to do is to copy the whole thing, but the downside is that doing so will also copy redundant things from long-lost apps.

6 Don’t rush to delete

Unless you’re in a desperate hurry to get rid of your old Mac, don’t delete anything from it (or if you cloned the drive, don’t delete the clone) until you’re absolutely certain that your new Mac has everything you need.