Connect two iMacs in order to exchange data

Hello everyone,
I am about to buy a new iMac and would like to connect my old iMac via wire to exchange data. I do not want to use the migration assistant as I want to clean up my data. So is there a way to connect these two computers in a way that the old one appears like an external device in the finder of the new one?
Sorry if this questions has been asked before but I have been browsing the web for the past 90 minutes in order to find an answer to this question - no luck so far or I am just searching with the wrong keywords.

There is a way to do what you want: Target Disk mode.
The only thing you need is a FireWire 800 cable and a Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter for the new iMac. After connecting both iMacs with the Thunderbolt cable, hold the T key while your old iMac is starting up to start up in Target Disk mode, so the old iMac's hard drive will show up in the Finder sidebar of the new iMac as an external drive. There you can transfer the files you want to your new iMac.
If you have got an old iMac with FireWire 400 instead, everything is much more difficult, because you may need a FireWire 400 to 800 cable too.
Another way would be to connect both Macs to the same network and transfer your files over Wi-Fi, but it is a long and slow process

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