I transferred files and photos from MacBook to iMac via ethernet cable and using migration assistant. However every time I transferred, it created a separate user and it transferred all files and photos again and again. So now I have 3 users accounts ?

Question

I transferred files and photos from MacBook to iMac via ethernet cable and using migration assistant. However every time I transferred, it created a separate user and it transferred all files and photos again and again. So now I have 3 users accounts with all files and photos saved 3 times on same iMac !! Any idea how to avoid this ?

Answer 1

Yes, you ran into a very understandable problem.
When you use Migration Assistant, it cannot over-write the account that you happen to be using at the time. Upon migrating accounts, it will tell you that it is going to create a new one, but that message is easy to miss.
If you have three identical accounts, log in to the account you want to keep, and delete the redundant ones in System Preferences > Users & Groups.
Now that you know, the easiest way to migrate accounts is to use Setup Assistant when you first get a new Mac. That eliminates any possibility for this to occur, but most people are so eager to use their new Mac that they elect to migrate later.
That's OK too, but in that case you would want to create a temporary account whose sole purpose is to run Migration Assistant so that you may migrate your old one with an identical name. Be sure to give the new account Administrator privileges. When that finishes you would log in to the newly migrated account, and delete the temporary account.