After reinstalling Snow Leopard, migration assist and doesn't see my time machine disk.

I had to erase my hard drive and reinstall Snow Leopard and when I tried to us Migration Assistant, it didn't see the Time Machine disk. Restoring from Time Machine directly didn't work because I couldn't gain access to and backup prior to the reinstall although the backups are all there when I open the Time Machine disk and look at folders from before the reinstall they all open perfectly. How do I get to restore from pre-reinstall dates backups?

I couldn't get Mail to open. It bounced in the dock but wouldn't open. All other programs were very slow, Disk utility showed the disk couldn't be repaired, so I erased and reinstalled and restored from time machine. Everything we OK for a couple of weeks, then all the response times became very extended or wouldn't open at all. Took the iMac to the Apple Store where they checked out the hardware and found it to be OK. They told me to erase, reinstall and use migration assistant to bring only my profile over. The erase and reinstall were fine, but the time machine drive could not be seen by migration assistant, and I don't have access through the time machine utility to any backups prior to the first reinstall.

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Migration Assistant in Lion won't recognize Time Machine backup from Snow Leopard

I just got an iMac with Lion. I am trying to use the Migration Assistant to move my files/apps etc from a Time Machine backup to the new computer. The MA will not recognize the backup drive - (external firewire 800). I can see the backup drive on my desktop but it does not show up as an option to choose in the Migration Assistant. Any idea what might be wrong. The backup is from an iMac running Snow Leopard and all the system software was last updated on Dec 9th. It think it is as current as I could get with Snow Leopard. Any ideas what is wrong?
Thanks,
Chad

This happened to me after hard drive replacement under the Seagate Drive Recall at the local Apple Store. Here's what I learned from the process:
I Wagged the Mac home, fired it up (with naked OS installed at the Apple Store), and it wouldn't see my Time Machine drive with Setup Assistant - not on firewire 800 nor USB. Just a grey spinner that lasts forever. When I try just continuing anyway, it offers me something that looks plausible, but then puts up a dialog about duplicate user name, and no matter what I enter, it always says "that user already exists". So I think - maybe Migration Assistant. Complete the setup, create an account, watch the nice welcome movie. BAM - there's my Time Machine drive on the desktop. OK - it has to work . . . but no. Same behavior in Migration Assistant, plus the new OS offers to start making backups on my Time Machine disk - it's not recognizing it at all.
So - back to the Apple Store - let the genius figure it out. It turns out there are multiple problems. First, the "genius" who imaged my new machine picked 10.7.2 but my machine had 10.7.5 - turns out, it's not enough just to have right cat. Even a point release older OS may not recognize a newer Time Machine drive. The guy at the desk said "We have images of everything but the 10.7.2 has free iLife in it, so they like to use that one". What the heck? They don't image what you had originally as a matter of sane process?
Having figured that out, we re-image 10.7.5 at the store thinking we've fixed it. But no - Setup Assistant still won't see the Time Machine drive. Not on USB, not on Firewire. Not in a box, not with a fox.
So here's the second trick - newer machines have a recovery partion. see: http://www.apple.com/osx/recovery/ Boot with the option key held down, pick that partition, then you'll get a "system restore" option, to restore your whole system from a Time Machine backup. My drive was recognized by the recovery partition restore process when neither Setup nor Migration Assistant would. Obviously, there's something broken in Setup/Migration Assistant.
Takeaway:
- if you're getting a drive replaced by Apple, make sure they image *exactly* the same OS
- if Setup Assistant fails, use the recovery partition for system restore
- Use Recovery Disk Assistant http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433 NOW to make yourself a recovery thumb drive just in case. With Apple's new "no media" approach to the OS, you're hosed without it.

I used the Migration Assistant to move data from my Time Machine to my new Mac.   Most data has been moved successfully but none of my iPhoto pictures have been moved.   Looking at my Time Machine now I find that the earliest back-up is dated after the Mi

I used the Migration Assistant to move data from my Time Machine to my new Mac.   Most data seems to have been transferred successfully but none of my iPhoto pictures have been transferred.
My Time Machine now shows the earliest available Back-up to be after the Migration Date.   My iPhoto pictures seem to have either been lost in the migration process or are locked in my Time Machine prior to the earliest back-up date now accessible.
Any advice on recovering my old iPhoto pictures would be greatly appreciated.

First go to iPhoto Preferences, look in both General and Advanced tabs to make sure that things are set to import from camera into iPhoto.
Then if that doesn't help, connect the camera and open Image Capture in your Applications > Utilities folder and see if you can use Image Capture to reset the import path from the camera to iPhoto.
Image Capture: Free import tool on Mac OS X - Macgasm
Message was edited by: den.thed
Sorry John, I didn't see your post when I clicked the reply button. Dennis

I have just upgraded to Mavericks and have been using Time Machine on an external disk with Snow Leopard. Can I continue to backup with Time Machine on the same external disk or do I need a new disk since the operating system has changed?

I have just upgraded to Mavericks and have been using Time Machine on an external disk with Snow Leopard. Can I continue to backup with Time Machine on the same external disk or do I need a new disk since the operating system has changed?

Hi there,
I found that Time Machine in Mavericks will sort it all out for you. You shouldn't need to buy another backup drive, unless you have insufficient space left and can't afford to delete whats on there. It should just work fine.

How to get pass login after reinstalling snow leopard

I tried unsuccessfully to upgrade to maverick and got an error message stating that the Macintosh HD disk is damaged and to erase the disk and try to install again. I did erase the Macintosh HD disk, reinstalled snow leopard because I have a mid 2010-2011 iMac and reset my password. I was successful but a lot of the icons were missing and did a software update. I ran into problems when I downloaded some software updates and the computer re- booted and now I can't get pass the login screen. Every time I put in my password, the computer accepts the password and I think it is going to bring up the desktop but it just go back to the login screen. I really don't know how to solve this problem, so I'm hoping someone could tell me what to do.

Hello, I try to avoid Safari myself, but are you really on 10.5.6 & not 10.5.8 yet?
Does Software update show a newer Safari?

Snow Leopard (10.6.4) Doesn't See Time Capsule Printer But 10.5.8 Does

Snow Leopard (10.6.4) doesn't recognize the Lexmark printer connected to my Time Capsule v 7.4.2. However, the printer is nicely recognized on Leopard (10.5.8) on my PowerBook as well as on the two Windows computers in my Home. In fact, with printer sharing activated on my PowerBook, the printer appears in the Add Printer dialog of my Mac Mini as a shared printer from the PowerBook, but not directly from the Time Capsule.
I have tried rebooting, upgrading to the latest software upgrades to no avail.
Any ideas ?

After all, the printer wasn't "Bonjour visible" in the list of available printers on 10.5.8 either, but it still worked after the earlier setup. Restarting the Time Capsule fixed the problem.

Migration Assistant doesn't see USB Time Machine drive

My dad recently got a new MacBook Pro and wants to restore from his Time Machine backup, stored on a USB drive. He didn't use the Setup Assistant at the start - I'm really not sure why, but anyway...
Now we're looking at Migration Assistant, and it can't find the Time Machine drive. On the 'Select your disk' screen, the wheel just spins and spins. The backup drive is plugged in and mounted. We've checked the drive for errors using Disk Util, and it's fine. Moreover, I tested this with my own MBP and it's backup drive and the same problem occurs.
He also tried booting from the install DVD and using the 'restore' option from the Utilities menu, without success.
Is this because he has started to set up the machine using a user (as admin) with the same account name as the Time Machine backups? This website suggested that maybe that's what happening: http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/Setup.html. Before I take him through a reinstall, etc, I'm hoping to confirm that this is really the problem!

Just create a new user account with a different name. Logout of the current account and log into the new one. Be sure the new account has admin status. You can then try migrating and see if it now works. Also see OS X 10.5- Migration Assistant keeps "looking for other computers".
See User Tips for Time Machine for help with TM problems. Also you can select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to locate articles on how to use TM. See also Mac 101- Time Machine.

Migration Assistant Mav.: not showing ML Time Machine backup

Hi Mac community,
my own MBP mid 2010:
clean install of Mavericks
connected FireWire 800 external hard disk with recent Time Machine backup done in Mountain Lion
started Migration Assistant, selected the Time Machine disk, and transferred all user data
everything worked absolutely PERFECTLY and now Mavericks runs smoothly with all my old user data
So I wanted to do the same thing with a relative's late 2009 iMac:
still in Mountain Lion, doing Time Machine backups to TWO different USB 2.0 hard disks
browsing the Time Machine disks manually to check whether all the files are there -- they are, including the (hidden) ~/Library folder
clean install worked fine, Mavericks runs OK
starting Migration Assistant in Mavericks ⇒ and - OH HORROR - the connected external Time Machine hard disk does not show up as a source - in fact, NOTHING shows up
So I copied over the data manually, for which I had to enable the root account (how else would one delete/replace a whole ~/Library folder??)
Then I tried to fix permissions manually (because other users could now read the files in the home folder).
All the old data (mails, contacts, calendars) is still there, but the whole thing doesn't really run smoothly; each time one logs into the account, keychain asks weird questions and dock icons pointing to programs show questions marks again. Later today, I'll try to fix permissions for the home folder as a whole (Recovery Boot ⇒ Terminal ⇒ resetpassword ⇒ Reset Home Folder Permissions and ACLs), but I'd rather do another clean install and somehow get Migration Assistant to offer me the Time Machine backup as a source for user data transfer - AS IT SHOULD in an OS that 'just works' ...
Anything I could do to convince Mavericks to use my old Time Machine backup??
This is a real nightmare for me ⇒ I f*cked up a relative's system -- really hope I can fix it again.
Cheers, folks!

sorry, i don't know what else it could be then. if you have another external drive you can try doing a full system restore from the TM backups onto that drive and see if MA will recognize that drive and migrate from it. other than this there is always manual migration. slow and tedious but it can be done. see this link for help with that
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6185507

Migration assistant does not see my time machine disk

I had an issue with my hard disk on my imac in which I had to re-format and reinstall the OS. Since 10.7 is not available as a "rescue reinstall disk", I had to reinstall 10.6. When that finished, the install asked if I would like to transfer my stuff from Time Machine. I said "yes". Unfortunately, my time machine disk does not show up! Migration Assistant thinks my "macintosh HD" system disk is the only disk available as the time machine backup. So I skipped migration. I went ahead and did all of the OS upgrades to get back to 10.7.3. I re-connected all external disks (I have 4-the time machine disk included) and tried migration assistant again. The only disk migration assistant still thinks is available as the time machine backup is the macintosh HD system disk, not the one called "Time Machine Backup". Time machine backup is a western digital 2TB usb 2.0 disk.
So....
I decided this morning to re-do everything again (since I still could not get my data back). Guess what?!?! the same thing is happening! Migration Assistant thinks that the macintosh HD is the time machine disk and does not see any others - even though the disk is there and mounted!
Please help! I would like my data back, but I am not able to pay Apple at the Apple store or a phone call to them for help!
Thanks!
Diana

Diana Stephens wrote:
Migration Assistant thinks my "macintosh HD" system disk is the only disk available as the time machine backup.
Those are your backups. Migration Assistant shows the name of the disk and system that were backed-up, not the disk they're on. It will not show the disk you're running from.
See the tan box in Using Migration Assistant on Lion.

Clean install of Lion but Migration Asst. doesn't see my Time Machine

So I did a clean Lion install and it worked perfect. I made a Time Machine backup right before I installed. During the install process I tried to import from a Time Machine backup and Lion did not see my disk. So I finished the install, and my backup disk appears just fine. If I start time machine, I can browse the disk. But if I go migration assistant it will not see the disk. Am I doing something wrong here?
TIA

Are there any directions somewhere for how to do this? Thanks.
For questions like yours, the definitive place to start is here:
http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html

Migration assistant source doesn't see target

target: MAVERICKS 10.9
source: LION 10.7.5
i'm trying to use Migration Assistant to transfer from an older mac to a new one. On the new one, I can get to a page that offers a code: 'Transfer Information to this Mac'. But the older/source computer doesn't offer an opportunity to input that code as it runs the Migration Assistant -- the wheel continues to spin. File sharing is enabled on the source computer. Software is up to date.
I'm doing this transfer over WIFI since I don't have the appropriate firewire, etc.
I've tried numerous ways to get this going.
I should add:
-I am doing this AFTER completing the Setup Assistant
-source computer is a Chinese OS and the target is an English OS.
(i don't see how these points would matter but i thought best to mention them.)
any advice would be weclome.

They both need to be on the same network. Ideally on Ethernet, otherwise it might take days to copy GB's over wifi.
Here is the Apple info on the subject…
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5872
See if that helps clarify the process.

Migration assistant doesn't see my time machine backup

Since upgading to mavericks migration assistant no longer sees my backup on my external drive that I use for my time machine backups. The drive mounts fine and I can access my backups through my finder using "enter time machine", but I can not restore because migration assistant can't see the drive. I don't knoe if it's a time machine issue or a mighration assistant issue. I have tried on several macs and with several different hard drives but migration assistant cannot restore from my time machine backups. I suggest everyone make sure they can restore from their time machine backups because this may be a major problem and result in complete loss of data. I have found no solution yet.

Here are the articles I have on Migration Assistant. None of them had the answer to your problem (or at least I couldn't find it). Check what you did versus the recommendations in the articles is about the best I can offer.
Migration Assistant
Migration Assistant (2)
Migration Assistant – Tips and Tricks

Snow Leopard 10.6.2/10.6.3 + Xserve + Time Machine = crash

We have an Xserve (Xserve 2.1) with two 1TB internal drives. Drive 1 is configured as the root drive and has users' home directories. Drive 2 is configured as a backup. Under Leopard, we used Time Machine to backup drive 1 to drive 2. All worked well under Leopard in that regard.
However, after upgrading the Xserve to Snow Leopard, in particular 10.6.2, we began seeing hard crashes/kernel panics every few days. It took awhile to track down. I ran diagnostic tests etc, but after looking at the logs, it appeared that the slapd and Time Machine were not on good terms with one another. I disabled TM, and the crashes/kernel panics stopped. I also found out that OD was somehow hosed in this process, so I rebuilt it, and all was well there too.
I just updated the Xserve with 10.6.3 and noted that one of the improvements was in slapd/TM, so with a certain amount of hope and trepidation, I deleted all the old TM backups, verified the integrity of drive 2, and re-enabled TM.
Unfortunately much the same is happening. TM backed up quite a few GB but then ended abruptly, and drive 2 was nowhere to be seen. DiskUtilities could not find the drive to mount it, nor was I able to find it with the command line utils. It was just gone. Now when this happened in 10.6.2, a simple reboot was insufficient to bring the drive back online.
So, to get the Xserve up and running ASAP, I did a full shutdown of the Xserve. After re-powering the Xserve, the drive was back and I immediately disabled TM. I decided not to wait for the eventual crash/kernel panic to see if that would happen.
Anyone have any insight as to what is happening? What can be done? No backups is not a good idea and I would prefer to use TM, since users are used to it. At this point I am stumped.

Perhaps not the answer you are looking for but...
After my boot disk crash (see the xserver discussions) I found to be the case that my TM backups and my CCC clones of my drives often missed vital files. For example I was left with many zero byte MySQL databases. Fortunately I had copies. I always have multiple backups and different methods, but it still took me days of nerding to get 'back'.
Now before I do an update I buy an external drive that the Xserve can boot, I boot from the SL CD and I make a clone of the boot drive using Disk Utility. I test the clone and make sure it can boot, and then I run the upgrade. (A suggestion from MrHoffman on these forums, well worth adopting).
I am putting off 10.6.3 until I have done this procedure.
Drives are only a hundred units of whatever currency you use. The reassurance of having something that boots and is a bit for bit copy is priceless. Some would say I still dont do enough.
I would say these issues stop Xserves being easy to deploy (without occasional long visits) in colocation......

Migration assistant can't find backups on Time Machine drive that contains backups from multiple computers

My Retina Macbook Pro died due to a hardware error. During the diagnosis I was asked by Apple support personnel to format and reinstall OSX, which I did but did not fix the issue. The mainboard has since been replaced and I am trying to restore the TimeMachine backup I have.
The USB disk containing the TimeMachine backup contains TimeMachine backups for two different computers, my last Mac and the one I owned before that, which died earlier this year.
When I plug the drive in, I am able to browse the backups from both machines, as shown in the screenshot below.
The problem comes in when I attempt to run the migration assistant. I select the first option (restore from USB drive, etc). The migration assistant finds the USB volume and in the list underneath shows backups from a single computer - which it calls Unknown. The date of the last back is shown as 10 December 2012, the same date as the last backup from my old Mac (doolittle). There is no trace of the backups from my new mac.
Any ideas of how to get around this?
Thanks
Andrew

http://pondini.org/OSX/MigrationProblems.html

If I have backed-up my Macbook while using Time Machine with Mavericks, can I erase my drive, install Snow Leopard, then re-load my Mavericks backup from Time Machine?

Hi there. This is my first time using this community, so thanks for reading. It pretty much says it all up there on the top. I backed up my computer with Time Machine while using Mavericks OS. For the sake of optimizing my computer and giving it a fresh start, I want to erase my drive and re-boot it with Snow Leopard, which I have a disc for. Once all that is done and I have a "brand-new" computer, will I be able to reload my Time Machine back-up?? Thanks!!

Some info on these threads.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/23976586#23976586
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6162

After reinstalling Snow Leopard, migration assist and doesn't see my time machine disk.

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