Home > Questions

How to Transfer Data from External Drive of Old Mac to New Mac?

How do I transfer photos and music from an external drive to my Macbook? These file were saved off my older mac onto the external drive.

Best Answered by

iBoysoft author Sherry Song

Sherry Song

Answered on Wednesday, November 26, 2025

Hello, before transferring data from the external hard drive to Mac, you have to:

  • Ensure a stable connection between the drive to your Mac.
  • Check the file system of the external hard drive of the drive. (It should be the file systems supported by macOS)

Then you can use these methods to try:

(1) Use iBoysoft MagicMenu. It is a convenient tool that allows you to move files between the external hard drive and your Mac.

(2) Copy and paste files with Keyboard shortcuts.

(3) Use the Terminal command cp to move data. 

(4) Drag and drop the files.

Hope you finally move the files. 

Also read: How to Transfer Files from External Hard Drive to Mac?

People Also Ask

Read More Questions

Read More Advice From iBoysoft's Computer Experts

usb flash drive not showing up on Mac

Fix USB Flash Drive not Showing up on Mac(No Data Loss)

This post provides proven solutions to fix the USB flash drive not showing up on Mac, including the best recovery tool, Desktop, the Finder, and the Disk Utility.

BitLocker drive encryption

How to Use BitLocker Drive Encryption on Windows 11/10

A complete overview of how to use BitLocker on Windows 11/10 to encrypt your data. Plus BitLocker recovery mode and BitLocker recovery key.