Speed up Mac Data Transfer

kadams
Contributor

Has anyone found a way to make data migrations faster? I need to find a way to move data quickly from one computer to the next. Migration assistant with thunderbolt takes about 1 to 2 hours. Its way worse with ethernet. I tried time machine backup but that causes a bit of trouble. I usually have to hunt down a user and ask them to backup with time machine etc. Users typically don't want to stop working to do anything else. Also the time machine restore takes about the same amount of time. I've been looking for ways to speed this up and i've found nothing. Completing this is part of one of my projects. I just don't see any other way at the moment.

6 REPLIES 6

mistacabbage
Contributor

Thunderbolt is going to be your fastest option.

isThisThing0n
Contributor

I usually login as root then rsync the whole user home folder including the user library via thunderbolt to the new computer using target disk mode or via a external drive.

You obviously have to make sure the account already exists on the new machine and is FileVault enabled etc. Also disable any anti-virus monitoring which may slow down the transfer. Applications will also need to be already in place but if your org uses a standard set of programs then this shouldn’t be a issue.

Once complete change the permissions on the copied home folder:

chmod -R -v -N /Users/<username>
chown -R -v <username>:staff /Users/<username> chmod -R -v 700 /Users/<username>
chmod 755 /Users/<username>

Restart.

I find this by FAR the fastest method if you are dealing with large amounts of user data.

Migration assistant is not a good option.

kadams
Contributor

@oliverr, each department uses specific applications. I feel like this method could have some issues.

donmontalvo
Esteemed Contributor III

mistacabbage
Contributor

If you're going to update rsync this seems easier than the above link.

/usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

brew install rsync

stolen from https://www.belightsoft.com/products/resources/apfs-bootable-clone-with-command-line

donmontalvo
Esteemed Contributor III

@mistacabbage nice having different options, we went the compile route to limit what gets installed to just the tool we need.

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https://donmontalvo.com