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A
adobenflor
Participant
August 6, 2025
Question

Move LrC and PS from Mac mini 2018 Intel to Mac mini M4 2025

  • August 6, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 322 views

to switch from Mac mini 2018 (Intel) to Mac mini 2025 M4 do I need to reinstall LrC and PS? or I can install the system from a Time Machine backup file

thanks for the answers

2 replies

E
ExUSA
Legend
August 7, 2025

Yes, you MUST reinstall your apps. Do not migrate anyuthing except data files from your Intel Mac to an M4 machine. You want the Apple Silicon versions of your apps, not the Intel versions.

johnrellis
johnrellis
Legend
August 7, 2025

The Apple Migration Assistant (invoked by the Setup Assistant) will transfer apps correctly:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/102613 

 

Most apps, including Creative Cloud, are "universal binaries" built for both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs. For example:

$ file /Applications/Adobe\ Lightroom\ Classic/Adobe\ Lightroom\ Classic.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe\ Lightroom\ Classic 
/Applications/Adobe Lightroom Classic/Adobe Lightroom Classic.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe Lightroom Classic: Mach-O universal binary with 2 architectures: [x86_64:Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64] [arm64]
/Applications/Adobe Lightroom Classic/Adobe Lightroom Classic.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe Lightroom Classic (for architecture x86_64):	Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64
/Applications/Adobe Lightroom Classic/Adobe Lightroom Classic.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe Lightroom Classic (for architecture arm64):	Mach-O 64-bit executable arm64

 

If you have an older app for which the developers haven't provided an Apple Silicon version, it will most likely run well on the Apple Silicon Mac using Rosetta 2. Mac OS is flakey about automatically installing it -- sometimes it does, but if it doesn't, it's easy to install manually:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/102527

E
ExUSA
Legend
August 7, 2025

It is supposed to, but I'm a firm believer in clean installing apps on a computer. I see no reason to tempt fate by copying them.

johnrellis
johnrellis
Legend
August 6, 2025

I've used the builtin Mac migration tools many times over the years to move my entire user account and apps, and it's always worked smoothly (including from a 2019 Intel Macbook Pro to a 2023 M2 Macbook Pro).  Many others in the forums have reported similar experiences.

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