Retiring Your Computer

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Overview

When it comes time to retire your computer – possibly to migrate to a new one – there are several things you should consider doing before returning it.

Here are some suggestions.

Backup Your Data

There may be multiple places you have data stored, so you’ll want to think very carefully about what locations you’ll need to check.  Below are some examples of common locations.

Local Home Folder

Most of your data is likely to be stored in your local home folder.  

Check through these folders for things you may want to keep, and back them up appropriately.

It is NOT recommended you manually back up your Library folder unless you’re completely confident you know how to restore it later.  Improperly restoring your Library folder to a different computer can lead to malfunctioning apps, corrupted settings, or even lock you out of your user account.
The more stable way to preserve the information in your Library folder is by documenting the application settings you want to restore later.  See section below for “Application-Specific Preferences / Settings”.

Local Scratch Drive

If you have a local Scratch drive on your computer, be sure to check it for any data you want to keep, and back up as appropriate.

Application-Specific Preferences / Settings

Also consider the preferences/settings you’ve set on applications that you may want to duplicate later.  Here are some common examples.

Browser Bookmarks / History

Many browsers offer synchronization services that allow you to sign into an account and backup your bookmarks/history/settings to the cloud.  Signing into the account on a new computer will allow you to restore this data automatically.

If you’d prefer to download your own copy of your data, most browsers have a method you can use to create a backup copy of your browser bookmarks and history that can be restored later.

1Password

If you use 1Password, it may have stored some limited sign-in information on the computer to make your sign-ins faster.  Before retiring your computer, be sure you have a copy of your Emergency Kit, which contains all the information you’ll need to sign in on a new computer.

Parallels / VMware Virtual Machines

If you’ve used any virtual machines on your computer, they’re likely stored in your user home folder.  Be sure to back those up if you intend to keep them.

Backup Methods

There are many different methods available for backing up your data.  Production Drives, Backup Storage and Best Practices goes into detail about some of these different methods, but here are some basic tips.

Time Machine

Apple’s Time Machine feature is great at capturing almost everything in your user folder and saving it on an external hard drive for later restoration.  

Please note, however, that migrating your full user account using Time Machine is unsupported on Film/Video computers, and doing so may lead to stability issues.

Instead, it’s recommended you restore any Time Machine data to a newly-created local account on the new computer.

Apple Support:

External Drive

Copying files directly to an external hard drive is usually the most straightforward way to back up data.  However, before you start copying, make sure the drive is formatted as “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)”.

It is not recommended to use exFAT or APFS for backing up data.

Apple Support:

Cloud Storage

You can upload copies of your data to cloud storage – such as FileCloud.  This functions not only as a backup, but also as a way to access your data from any internet-connected device.

Cloud storage is best used when storing individual files.  Trying to copy entire folders can result in incomplete uploads and/or scattered downloads.  If you’d like to upload an entire folder, it’s recommended to compress it into a .zip file first, then upload the .zip file.

Clearing Your Data

Once you’re confident you have your data backed up, you should begin purging your data from the computer.

Sign out of Applications

For any applications that allow you to sign into an account, it’s highly recommended to sign out.

This may include applications like:

  • Web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari)
  • Messaging apps (Slack, Discord, Messages)
  • 1Password
  • Adobe Creative Cloud
  • Final Draft
  • iLok
  • Mail
  • Zoom

Note that this is not an exhaustive list, and you should look through your Applications folder for any other apps from which you may want to sign out.

Sign out of iCloud

If you signed into the computer with your Apple ID, be sure to sign out and disconnect all services from the computer.

Apple Support:

Delete Sensitive Files

It’s highly recommended that you delete any data that may be considered sensitive, even if your hard drive is encrypted.

The easiest way to do this is to drag the files/folders to the Trash folder in the Dock.  Once everything has been put in Trash, you can right-click on it to immediately (and permanently) delete its contents.

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