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I have a 2017 iMac running Ventura 13.6.7 from an internal 2TB SSD.
I plan to migrate it to an external Thunderbolt 4 nvme SSD (2 or 3TB),
then plug that external drive in to an M-series iMac and boot from it for the forseeable; never using the internal drive.
I also plan to use a 4tb hdd usb external for Time Machine.
Are there any issues I should be aware of?
iMac 21.5″ 4K, macOS 13.6
Stiofán wrote:
OK so, say I install Sonoma from the M-series to the external nvme to make it bootable, then plug the nvme into the 2017 iMac and migrate.
Ok, that should be fine.
Migration Assisitant would just see that as me migrating to a new mac with a newer OS, right? Only migrating apps and files etc but not the old OS.
Yes, that should work as well. Migration Assistant doesn't migrate macOS, just the data you select.
Ref: Transfer to a new Mac with Migration Assistant - Apple Support
The only issue I can think of is Apple does not support booting from an external drive with an operating system that is older than the one that came with the Mac. So, for example, if your new M-series Mac is running macOS Sonoma, this will be an issue if that external bootable drive is running Ventura.
Hi Tesserax - thanks for reply.
OK so, say I install Sonoma from the M-series to the external nvme to make it bootable, then plug the nvme into the 2017 iMac and migrate.
Migration Assisitant would just see that as me migrating to a new mac with a newer OS, right? Only migrating apps and files etc but not the old OS.
Great. I also plan to use a 4tb hdd usb external for Time Machine. Which I presume should work ok.
You see, I'd buy an M3 iMac with 2TB internal but its very expensive and I would then have to buy similar spec (and expense) with every new iMac I get in the future! I like to keep things simple though and kind of dislike booting from external. But its cheaper and lets me leapfrog to my next iMac.
Boot iMac from an external nvme ssd
