As it has been quiet here for the last few days, I decided that it would be a good time to ask the following question.
In the past, I completely rebuilt my MacBook whenever I got a new = computer; roughly every six or seven years.
With all the customizing that I have done in terms of AppleScript, homebrew, Keyboard Maestro, Python, Swift, and other custom settings I am dreading the thought of having to rebuild my next MacBook because a grounded up rebuild will not only be very time-consuming, but will also be a train wreck (i.e., I am likely to miss reinstalling a number of packages or other customization in teh process).
With that in mind, what is the best practice when moving from a highly customized existing MacBook to a new MacBook; for example, do people use macOS's built-in utility that copies everything from the old MacBook to the new MacBook no matter how much garbage is copied in the process?
Would very much appreciate peoples comments and thoughts on this.
IMO, use Migration Assistant unless you've got good reason not to -- things like your current machine having software problems, or maybe a move from Intel to Apple Silicon. You can always have a good tidy up before migrating if you're worried about old applications and other cruft.
I help with half a dozen old->new machine moves a month, the majority are done with Migration Assistant, and I spend far less time fixing those post-migration than I do getting "clean" installs working properly again -- "clean" installs often require getting brew installs and Python setups back to how they were, and downgrading things so old, inherited, pipelines will work...
I know some people like to clean-install every new machine. Me, I want to get back into the same comfortable working environment ASAP.
Heck yes. I always used to migrate and clean up, but last time I installed everything from scratch and it was a slog—not least because the frequency at which the OS demands specific reauthorisation is much greater than it used to be.
If a user has a relatively simple Mac setup and is not used to debugging software issues, then setting up afresh might be the better option—arguably.
Agreed and exactly act drove me to post the question.
I recall that the last MacBook I got I rebuilt from scratch and it literally took weeks including going through each applications settings; it was bloody awful.
I think that is a good compromise subject to being able to do a good clean up before migrating. That said, what else is on the list of a "good cleanup":
Archive / delete old data
Confirm / review System Settings
I find these can drift with time
Delete old apps
Delete old backups
Yikes, that is a lot of migrations particularly given I "struggle" with one (I find it takes a lot of time to get all the settings right)!.
I am / was firmly in that camp but am moving away because once you start setting up Keyboard Maestro and all the infrastructure that comes with it, it is hard to see the benefit given the number of files and apps that get brought in!
But it really depends on how much "maintenance" you do during the life of the machine -- if you keep on top of things there's little to do pre-migration (there may be post-, especially if the migration forces a new OS and updated/replaced apps).
And if you didn't keep the old machine tidy, why start now? You obviously didn't think it worth your time before
I know, I know -- a chance for a fresh start and all that. But it'll last a couple of months and then all go to pot again...
Agreed. And I do keep my MacBook as clean as possible but when developing new macros -- especially when using Claude, homebrew, Python and more -- files get added all over the place.
The other challenge is that some companies create software that is incredibly bloated and really hard to fully remove. I got fed up with LogiOptions+ when LoginPlugIn got forced on me as part of teh install. It put files all over the place -- even in the root directory -- which I ultimately removed as part of my move to the far lighter and far more flexible BetterMouse.
Agreed and exactly why I am coming around not to mention the amount of time it takes to build from scratch!!
I certainly cannot and will not do the rebuild from scratch again as it was far too time consuming and that was before all the customization and items I have added in the past 8 to 9 months with Keyboard Maestro, so that is a no go.
I will certainly follow @Nige_S and give it a very thorough cleanup before.
What are bets practices / thoughts of archiving folders that have not been touched in isn say teh last two years as a means of good hygiene?
Make sure that you’ve named them properly so you can find them again.
Compress a folder if you don’t want the filenames of its contents to clutter up the results of basic file searches.
If you have a file server (local or in the “cloud”) or other archival system, you could clear the folder (or the zip of it) away to that—if it suits you. It depends on your needs and preferences.
What do you mean by “hygiene”? Are you thinking of folders that are subdirectories of ~/Library? If so… and if you think that you might perhaps need the data in them, again I would suggest zipping them up and then filing the zip files away.
Of course, any data that you are sure won’t be needed can be deleted.
If this is a compliance requirement, compliance may also mandate how you do this. If it's a business requirement there should already be an SOP in place (even if you're a solopreneur) -- if not you should talk to legal, finance and IT (you in different hats, if you're solo). Yes, I include finance -- archiving costs, both resource-wise and your time, and the better you do it the more it costs.
Unless you're dealing with multi-GB or TB projects you may, like most people, find it is more cost effective to simply upgrade local storage and your backup provision instead of archiving (admittedly more painful at current prices). And if you are dealing with large amounts of data you'll probably have a system in place already -- use it!
Similar applies to personal data -- except you'll have to make all the decisions yourself! If you haven't touched it in two years, do you even need to keep it? If you do, with what level of protection/redundancy? Only you know the "cost" of failure -- in quotes because it's not just money, imagine the "cost" of losing the only copies of those family photos from 15 years ago -- and that determines how much time, effort, and money you'll spend to mitigate.
There's no one-size-fits-all answer -- you'll have to consider each piece of data and act accordingly. And you'll probably end up with multiple tiers, with the "who cares" being deleted, "nice to have, just in case, but not that worried" on a single drive on a shelf, and "I'm dead if I lose this" stuff on a UPS-backed NAS that not only replicates off-site but is also backed up to a cloud service and you regularly back up to disk or tape to store at a secure off-site facility.
And you'll still lose data, so keep your fingers crossed at all times
I have no problem finding files as I have longe implemented a naming convention that I follow as closely as possible so files are easy to find and never represent clutter.
In terms of hygiene I mean "clean, organized and structured"; only keep what you may need and need, file them in a consistent hierarchical structure, and name them consistently.
On a day to day basis I do follow the above so in this case I am essentially talking about taking folders, files, etc, that are ay 2+ years older and offloading them elsewhere.
Business wise and personally are one and teh sam was I am self-employed so I there will be less arguments as I will be speaking with myself.
I should be clear in what I mean by archive which is really keep backup copies at my finger tips. I currently back everything up using [Arq](https://www.arqbackup.com) for off site storage a both CCC and Time Machine for local storage. I keep copies of offloaded folders and files on a local TB4 drive (I know, I know, I don't need such fast drive fro backup purposes but when I want a missing file I am grinning ear to ear at how fast I can find it and retrieve it) using both Arq and CCC.
The only thing that I do not like is that I end with multiple part folders of the same name; for example, on my archive drive I have a folder called Income Tax that contains subfolders from 2020 to 2023 for my tax returns, while on my MacBook I also have a folder called Income Tax that contains folders from 2024 to 206 for my tax returns. The challenge is that when adding folders to teh archive it becomes a very manual process [until I decide to create a macro]. Any better ideas?
