I just tested the use of Migration Assistant and thought for a moment there was a way of using MA from the source drive, but that option requires the target system to be booted on a different computer 😢. However, my initial proposal works beautifully, and is more flexible than either CCC or SD offering a variety of sources to migrate from as well as the ability to migrate Applications, User(s), "Other" files and folders, and System & Network, or any combination of these. User(s) and Other files and folders allows specifying individual folders within those categories. This is a very workable solution the only major stumbling block I can find is the lack of automation and I am a huge believer in automation where any kind of backup is concerned.
I did encounter one surprise, every time I switched the boot drive, I had to log back in to my Apple ID. Not a big item, just unexpected.
If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?
