Welcome to the fold. You're anxious to use your Mac, but you've amassed years of data on that PC. Switching platforms doesn't mean starting over: You can still use those old files. Apple makes it easy with a free utility called Migration Assistant. Here's how it works.
What you need before you start
Before you get too excited and try to start transferring your PC's data to your new Mac, you'll need to have a couple of things at the ready.
- You must have the administrative username and password associated with the PC.
- Both computers must be on the same network, either through Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
- You should perform a drive performance check before running Migration Assistant or you may not be able to properly use the software.
- Click on Start on your PC.
- Click on Run.
- type cmd into the Run window.
- Press Enter.
- type chkdsk into the Command window.
- Press Enter.
If your drive performance check uncovers issues, you'll need to run a drive repair process.
- Type chkdsk drive: /F (Change the name "drive" to whatever the name of your Windows startup disk is) into the Command window.
- Press Enter.
- Press Y when prompted.
- Restart your PC.
You will need to repeat the steps above until the drive performance check returns without any issues. You can then use Migration Assistant to move your data to your Mac.
How to migrate your data from your PC to your Mac
First, connect your Mac to your PC either through Ethernet or by making sure both computers are on the same local Wi-Fi network.
On your new Mac:
- Launch a Finder window.
- Click on Applications in the sidebar.
- Double-click or control-click on the Utilities folder.
- Click on Migration Assistant.
- Click Continue.
- Click From a PC. when prompted to select how you want to transfer your information.
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Click Continue.
- Click From a Mac... when prompted to select how you want to transfer your information.
- Click Continue.
On your PC:
- Make sure you've downloaded and installed Migration Assistant on your PC.
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Launch Migration Assistant on your PC.
- Launching Migration Assistant on the PC is a one-way trip: It's only designed to transfer data from your PC to a new Mac. After launching it, Migration Assistant for Windows will try to connect to its Mac counterpart. A security code will display on the screen.
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Confirm that the code on your PC is the same on your Mac.
- Select the files, folders, and settings you want to transfer from your PC to your Mac.
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Click continue.
There are other ways to move files between Macs and PCs. Thumb drives will work on both machines, so you can manually transfer whatever files you want to use, for example. But Migration Assistant provides an elegant, convenient and absolutely free way of managing the transition to becoming a Mac user, as long as you have the time to use it.
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