New Mac - Migrate or start fresh?

By Dave Nason, 9 December, 2015

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

Hi.
So I have a new Macbook arriving in the next couple of days, replacing one I've had for 5 years. I'm wondering what is the best way to approach setting up the new one.
Because I've accumulated a lot of rubbish and some buggy behaviour on the old one, I would ideally like to start fresh; just re-downloading the apps I still want, and copying over the files and folders I still want.
From an iTunes point of view, I guess this would involve copying over the iTunes media folder from the old one and importing into iTunes on the new one.
However I'm wondering will this cause me a world of iTunes pain?!
For example, if this makes it essentially a new iTunes library, will I end up with it uploading everything again to iTunes Match / Apple Music, giving me duplicates or something on those services?
Will I have syncing issues with my iPhone and iPad?
I've been using Apple products for several years now but this is my first time moving to a new Mac, so any advice appreciated.
Thanks, Dave.

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Comments

By Tyler on Tuesday, December 29, 2015 - 18:45

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

If your music is in the cloud, you should be able to access it simply by signing in with iTunes. You can either stream your library or download it for local listening. This could take some time depending on the size of your library and the speed of your connection. When you connect your iPhone and iPad, you should also have the option to transfer purchases from those devices on to your new Mac.

By KE7ZUM on Tuesday, December 29, 2015 - 18:45

I just migrated everything via a time machine drive and all went well. No issues. Everything wen toff without a hitch. I did this last year when I set up my new air.

Take care.

By Apple Khmer on Tuesday, December 29, 2015 - 18:45

It's all on what you wnat. I mean, if you want everything from your old MacBook to your new one, you can migrate your data. It won't bring any of the bugs and/or other stuff from your previous Mac.

By KE7ZUM on Tuesday, December 29, 2015 - 18:45

True, it's much easier then trying to figure out what goes were in terms of libraries and stuff.

Good luck.

By Apple Khmer on Tuesday, December 29, 2015 - 18:45

I migrated all of my data and everything is where it should be. Anything I didn't wanted or need was readily deleted.