Migration Assistant in macOS has matured over many years from a flimsy tool that often failed in moving your identity — your apps , files , orientation , and other data — from one Mac to another . It ’s now quite true , and I ’ve used it several time in late years without fail .

But one bother point in time touch on to how fast filing cabinet transfer . Ideally , you want to connect two Macs with a Thunderbolt 3 or 4 cable television service . A USB - C plug does n’t see to it it ’s Thunderbolt — some USB 3.1 and 3.2 cable sport USB - speed of light plug , but when connected between two Thunderbolt 3 ports on Macs only conduct 480 Mbps ( USB 2.0 speeds ) rather of up to 40 Gbps . you could check the cable television service to ensure the lightning - bolt picture appear on both ends . If it does n’t , it can be unmanageable without quite a lot of item to verify that you have the right cable . bombshell 4 / USB4 cable television are universal and do n’t call for to be a special character . ( This columncan facilitate you order USB - only and Thunderbolt cables apart . )

What if you ’re sure , you plug the cable into both Macs , begin Migration Assistant ’s transferral , and the pep pill is terrible ? you could see in the transpose Your Information screen door which method acting is in exercise : at the bottom , it should show Current Connection and the method : Wi - Fi , Ethernet , or Thunderbolt . ( Ethernet is next best , offer up 1 Gbps ; Wi - Fi relies on a peer - to - peer method acting that ’s about 200 metre slower than Thunderbolt in my examination . )

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In some versions of Migration Assistant , you’re able to click Connection Details and see the available methods and how they test for carrying out in Migration Assistant . If you do n’t see Thunderbolt listed there , it ’s plainly not being used .

Some user have found the following can serve you reassign at Thunderbolt speeds :

This Mac 911 article is in response to a doubtfulness state by Macworld reader Isidore .

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