Cannot migrate files from old MacBook to new MacBook Pro

I have been trying without success to migrate files from my old MacBook to my new one. The Migration Assistant doesn't work. The new Mac recognizes the old one but the old one cannot see the new one. The old MacBook has OS 10.5.8 and the new MacBook Pro has 10.8.1.
Then I tried migrating from my Time Machine backup, with the external drive still connected to the old MacBook, but it kept telling me I didn't have enough space to copy anything, even when I unchecked everything except my Documents folder.
I went to the Apple Store and one of their "geniuses" told me I could connect the external hard drive directly to the new MacBook Pro and migrate the files from there. That didn't work either; I got an error message about incompatible software.
The genius also told me that I could back up the new MacBook Pro to the same external hard drive with Time Machine that I'd been using and that I'd be able to restore from backups from either computer, but that's not true. I cannot see any backups on the drive except from the new computer. Time Machine does recognize that there is space in use on the drive but will not show me any of the content.
Does anyone know how I can migrate my files, short of copying them to a flash drive and doing it the old-fashioned way? Thank you!

It is possible to merge accounts but it is not easy nor foolproof. The easier solutions:
1. Remove the account made in Setup Assistant and change the username on the migrated account.
See Mac OS X- How to change user short name or home directory name.
See Macworld | Changing the short username in Leopard - use the last procedure, "The Full Monty."
2. Log into the migrated, renamed account and delete the account made in Setup Assistant, then re-migrate your data.

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You are still under warranty. Call Apple Care. Make sure you get a case number as all repairs have an additional 90 days of warranty.
#1 - You have 14 days from the date of purchase to return your computer with no questions asked.
#2 - You have 90 days of FREE phone tech support.
#3 - You have the standard one year Apple warranty.
#4 - If you've purchased an AppleCare Protection Plan, your warranty last for 3 years. You can obtain AppleCare anytime up to the first year of the purchase of your computer.
Take FULL advantage of your warranty. Posting on a message board should be done as a last resort and if you are out of warranty or Apple Care has expired.

I followed the instructions to copy and paste ALL profile files from old PowerBook to new MacBook Pro, so why are no bookmarks now shown in Firefox?

From the page
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recovering-important-data-from-an-old-profile#w_copying-files-between-profile-folders
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It is normally best to only restore personal data that you really need (bookmarks, passwords, etc.) and not a full profile folder.
The xxxx in the name of the JSON backup (bookmarks-####-##-##_xxxx_$$$$.jsonlz4) denotes the number of bookmarks in the file and a file hash ($$$$) is appended to check if it is necessary to save a new backup, so only if there is a different hash because bookmarks were modified then a new backup is created.
If you remove the newer backups that were created before you restored the backup and only leave the bookmark backups from the saved profile then Firefox should rebuild the bookmarks when you remove all the places files.
*http://kb.mozillazine.org/Bookmarks_history_and_toolbar_buttons_not_working_-_Firefox
Can you attach a screenshot to clarify what you mean with ''all those hundreds of bookmarks, now residing in the profile folder''?
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenshot
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/how-do-i-create-screenshot-my-problem
*Use a compressed image type like PNG or JPG to save the screenshot
*Make sure that you do not exceed the maximum size of 1 MB

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/Home/Library/Application Support/iCal (copy the whole folder)
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/Home/Library/Keychains (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Mail (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Preferences/ (copy the whole folder)
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/Home /Library/Safari (copy the whole folder)
/Home /Library/Calendars (copy the whole folder)
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/Home/Library/Application Support/WebFoundation/HTTPCookies.plist
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I have chosen to fil migrate from old ibook to new MacBook Pro using Time Machine after establishing admin account. I now have two admin. accounts and wish to delete the later one and transfer files manually. I am worried I will loose both accounts. ??

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http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=site%3Adiscussions.apple.com +iphone+new+computer&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=
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How many files, and what total size?
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Matt

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Hi Cher A!
I think the answer you are looking for can be found in this article:
OS X: How to migrate data from another Mac using Mavericks
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5872
Specifically, see the information under the heading, “Time Machine or other disk migration.” Take care, and thanks for visiting the Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Braden

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