Clean Install to Migrate Assistant

My computer is pretty screwed up- and time machine isn't saving the day on this one. Anyway, I'm super paranoid about my itunes/iphoto/iweb files and I was thinking about doing a clean install of snow leopard then using the migrate assistant to get that stuff back on using a time machine backup. Can I do this? Should I do this?

David Kerman wrote:
Waaayyyy ahead of you. I backed up everything to a completely separate drive last night. Is there an article you can point me to that can describe exactly how to do this? I just don't understand that if i completely wipe my drives, and do a clean install, how can i access TM from the "new" system? Also will it allow me to pick and choose exactly what files to restore? Thanks for all the help.
It depends on what you want to do, and that depends on what's wrong with your system (which isn't clear):
If you only want to replace your version of OSX, without disturbing your settings, users, data, etc., don't wipe your internal HD. Do an +Archive and Install+ instead. See the *Archive & Install* section of the Glenn Carter - Restoring Your Entire System / Time Machine *User Tip* at the top of this forum. That's the easiest, quickest, and safest thing to do.
If for some reason you really want to erase your internal HD and reload your apps, users, configuration and data, see the *Erase, Install, & Migrate* section of that same Tip. That doesn't let you pick and choose, though. There are four categories: Apps, settings, Users, Other files and folders. Those are yes or no selections; you can't do much find-tuning.
If you want to fine-tune, your best bet is probably to do the +Erase, Install & Migrate+ but omit apps and perhaps files. Then use the normal Time Machine "Star Wars" display to selectively restore what you want. You will miss things that way, and have various difficulties, especially with apps that were installed with special installers (instead of just dragged into your Applications folder). That's because they put files in various places, so it's best to re-install them with the original installer.
If you're going to "fine-tune" what you want, you may also want to refer to this: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6185507

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Clean install VS migration assistant

Hello
I recently upgarded to a larger 120GB HDD for my G4 giga ether duo using the OSX Tiger's migration assistant. However, something went wrong and some of my daily used applicaiton like flash and photoshop are behaving badly. So I am considering doing a clean -install on the new drive to avoid any un-needed files and apps that accumulated on the old mac for the past 5-6 years.
My quesiton is, after I install osx tiger on the new drive, is there a way to migrate or copy just the app and user acct info that you need from the old HDD? such as email acct, iTunes songs, iPhoto pics, Address, app preference and such? and avoid the app that you dont need?
Any suggestions and commends are greatly appreciated
Michael Huang

Is there a way to migrate or copy just the app and user acct info that you need from the old HDD?"
Yes...just use the Migration Assistant and transfer only the user files.

How to keep a clean install with migration assistant

I have a mid-2009 13" MacBook Pro (5,5 - Intel Core 2 Duo - 2.26 GHz) with 8 GB RAM. I am currently running on OS 10.6.8 and want to upgrade to Yosemite.
I also plan to replace my original drive with an SSD.
I have had a series of Macs going back many years, usually getting a new one every few years and migrating everything from the old to the new. My Macs always start out fast but start slowing down within a short while. I was told this could be due to the fact that I am importing a bunch of old stuff onto my machines and that it would be better to keep the old stuff on a separate drive.
So I want to do a clean install of Yosemite and the small handful of other apps I need.
I will pull the original drive and put it in an enclosure and can either use it or my backup via Time Machine to migrate my files to the SSD via Migration Assistant.
What I am unclear on is what all I will want or need to migrate over, and what I want to avoid. I will bring my documents folder of course but I want to be careful not to bring over any unneeded apps, preferences, libraries, etc. Are there any resources for guiding me through the process? Is Migration Assistant the best tool for this?

Setting-up a new Mac from an old one, its Backups, or a PC

HT4796 I keep trying to install the migration assistant from pc to mac and the software will not install. It continues to get interrupted.

I am trying to install the Migration Assistant that will transfer my Itunes accout from a PC to a MABookAir. The install is interrupted and unable to complete. Would someone be able to walk me through where the glitch might be?

If there are problems with updating or with the permissions then easiest is to download the full version and trash the currently installed version to do a clean install of the new version.
Download a new copy of the Firefox program and save the disk image (dmg) file to the desktop
*Firefox 8.0.x: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all.html
*Trash the current Firefox application to do a clean (re-)install
*Install the new version that you have downloaded
Your profile data is stored elsewhere in the Firefox Profile Folder, so you won't lose your bookmarks and other personal data if you uninstall and (re)install Firefox.
*http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

Clean install and migration of only one or two program

How does one do a clean install and migrate only one or two applications.

I don't believe there is a "clean install" on the Snow Leopard disk if you launch the install from your standard system boot. I believe you need to:
1) Put the SL disk in the machine drive.
2) Restart your machine.
3) Hold down the 'c' key during startup, to boot from the SL disk.
4) Once the system boots up, it starts the Snow Leopard install process. However, you have a menu bar where you can run several system utilities, such as Disk Utility.
5) Run Disk Utility and erase/reformat the main system harddisk. This will give you a "clean" disk to install Snow Leopard on.
6) After Disk Utility finishes, proceed with the install process.
7) After intallation of Snow Leopard, restore any apps/data you want from backups and/or original installation packages.
Hope this helps,
j0hn

Clean install and migration

Yesterday I installed Leopard clean on an empty partition on an external drive, and used migration assistant to bring over all my accounts and apps. It worked flawlessly, and only one app had transfer problems (missing sync), which leopard warned me of at the end of the install. No sweat.
So far, no problems at all, and I have to say that on this G5 imac, leopard is certainly faster than tiger. I'm pleasantly surprised. No problems with internet connection, mail, etc., and I have my kids banging away trying to find any problems. If all goes well, I'm not sure if I'll clone back to the internal, or erase and install on the internal and use migration assistant to bring over the accounts and apps from the external. Any suggestions?

If the current installation meets all of your expectations, then I suggest cloning the Tiger volume to another partition on the external (for use if anything screwy eventually pops up—I still have Panther backed up), checking it out, and just cloning the new Leopard to the internal. Just my 2¢

Clean install - full migration - how clean?

I have just done a clean install (new disc) of OS X 10.5. I have the hold hard disc in an external case. If I use Migration Assistant and choose to transfer everything it offers, how clean does the OS installation remain afterwards?
For example I know from last time that the Dock will be filled with icons left-over from the old OS10.4 (question marks because the software is not really installed), which strikes me as not being particularly "clean".
So, really safe to transfer everything using the Assistant, or should I be more selective?
thanks
Nic

I just made another post on this issue. The migration assistant does not seem to allow disabling transfer of library items, while it is not able to identify conflict issues. If you transfer from/to the same OS level and architecture, you are likely to be safe, otherwise I would recommend manually reinstalling the applications and copying user documents using the Finder.
I ended up with background crashes after moving from a PPC PowerBook to a MacBook that took a while to identify.

Clean install or migrate for new MBP?

Is it worth the hassle of doing a clean install over using the migration assistant?
I have a lot of programs and stuff that I may not be able to get the dmg files or just installing so many will be a pain.
Does it make that much difference?

It has always been _trouble free_ for me, when purchasing a new mac on first boot-up to tether together and move everything. Your mileage may very. Hope this helps.

Mountain Lion re-install has migration assistant options greyed out. How do I choose only data I want?

I ran out of space on my Mac Mini so I bought the iFixit kit and added a second drive. This resulted in me putting a 60GB SSD system drive and a faster 7200 RPM 500GB data drive in the mini. I removed the original 500GB drive and placed it in an external enclosure.
After installing Mountain Lion I ran migration assistant. It shows all the data from the external drive, but everything is checked and it will only migrate to my 60GB OS drive. Of course this won't work.
I made a link to /Users to my second internal data drive but migration assistant still shows a -486.34GB of space needed.
So, instead of taking a week to upgrade my App Store purchases and install and configure everything (Mountian Lione Server, Xcode, Microsoft Office, Parallels...) how can I get migration assistant to allow me to just choose specific items to migrate?
As a side note, how can I make Mac OS X Mountain Lion use the second internal drive for User accounts *AND* recognize it properly? My link works but I'm early into this and would rather do it 'right' now then live with frankenmac later.
Thank you,
-Tim

Well, maybe I posted to the wrong forum...
I went in to speak with a mac genius too. All I got was, "In all the years I've worked on Macs, I've never seen the migration assistant with greyed out options." Ok. I guess I have more experience, I've seen it. They then suggested I run check permissions on the drive and buy Disk Warrior for $100. Sorry guys, the drive is fine. My TM backups are fine. It's not that.
I went ahead and bought a 1 TB drive. Even then, the migration assistant choices were greyed out. I went ahead and created a Fusion drive to take advantage of the SSD (the 1TB is only 5400 RPM). The directions can be found here. I then just ignored the greyed out options and brought *all* the data over to the 1.1TB drive. Everything works fine.
I'm bummed about not getting the apps and O/S pinned to the SSD but I figure if anything is getting used a lot, its where it needs to be.

Problems with CS6 after installing with Migration Assistant?

I just used Mac OS Migration assistant to get CS6 into a new computer. Everything was hunky dory on the first computer and I already deactivated CS6 on my older second computer.
But I am now having CS6 issues on the new one.
InDesign won’t start up and Photoshop thinks I’m using a trial version.
My feeling is that the problem comes from AAM. All my Adobe problems seem to come from this unpleasant program.
Can anyone suggest how I fix things please?

Simply install the software correctly.
Download CS6 products
Mylenium

Unable to install Oracle Migration Assistant for Access

I download Oracle Migration Assistant for Microsoft Access from
the web but I can't install it on windows NT. Oracle Installer
want a file nt.prd but I have a file product.jar. What is the
solution?
Thanks.
Sylvain Denis
null

Hi
I have the same problem, but I'm using oracle 8.0.5 client on NT
and don't have the Universal Installer just the regular
Installer.
So the installer don't recognize the products.jar file.
Is it possible to download the Universal installer ?
What's the solution ?
Oracle Migration Workbench Team wrote:
: When you bring up Oracle Universal Installer on the
: second dialog box it will ask you to enter the full
: path to the products you wish to install. You can enter
: the name and full location of the products.jar there.
: Regards,
: Marie
: Sylvain Denis (guest) wrote:
: : I download Oracle Migration Assistant for Microsoft Access
from
: : the web but I can't install it on windows NT. Oracle
Installer
: : want a file nt.prd but I have a file product.jar. What is
the
: : solution?
: : Thanks.
: : Sylvain Denis
: Oracle Technology Network
: http://technet.oracle.com
null

Fresh install and migration assistant

Hi all, I'm shortly to receive my MBP (getting ready to send it back for repair due to the possible whine)I'm wondering about 0 ing the hard drive and doing a fresh install of OSX minus the languages and printer drivers. My question is: will I still be offered the migration option once I've done that so that I can easily port the settings from my 14" iBook.
Thanks in advancve for any replies.
Ben

yes, the migration assistant will pop up, and btw you can call it anytime from applications

Migration Assistant VS swapping HD

I have a really, really old G5 1.8GHZ PPC one processor, and a really old (one less really!) G5 2.3GHZ PPC w/ two processors. I want to get rid of the 1.8GHZ box and move the data over to the 'faster' computer.
I would like to hear people's thoughts on a clean OS install on the 2.3GHZ machine and then running Migration Assistant VS. just taking the hard drive out of the 1.8GHZ and putting it in the 2.3 GHZ.
I would like to keep ALL settings etc as well as the data in the migration.
Pros and cons of either method?
Thank you

Thanks for your reply.
I am using OS 10.5.8.
I'm sure there is a bit of 'old stuff' on the original install but is is working perfectly in the old machine.
I know that Migration Assistant will copy MOST of the settings (prefs from my home folder, etc), but will it copy ALL of the settings? eg are there some obscure settings that might not get transferred?
As a test I cloned the original drive using SuperDuper and it appears to be working fine in the new machine. The hardware is similar but not identical (number of processors, graphics card, Super Drive, etc.). Is the OS smart enough to adjust for the change?
As you eluded to, I could do a clean install and replace the new home folder with my old one, but again I think there might be some obscure settings that may not get transferred.
Distilling down all my options I think it boils down to this:
1. I could swap the drive and everything would be OK (and new hardware would be detected). No negative effect from doing, just the positive benefit of running EXACTLY what I had on faster hardware. Obviously what ever 'old junk' that pre-existed on the drive would still remain.
2. Clean install, swap Home folder. This would remove the 'old junk' and then possibly reintroduce some of the 'old junk' that lived in my prefs folder etc. It might also miss some of the obscure settings living in other locations.
3. Clean install, use Migration Assistant. Basically the same as #2 above. Might transfer a bit more stuff but also transfer a bit more 'junk'.
To me it sounds like #1 is the best idea since everything is working perfectly. There is a trade-off between cleanness of the install and getting every last setting. I just want to re-confirm that #1 will take FULL advantage of the new hardware (the same as a clean install)

Migration assistant finds no volumes in time capsule backup

I hadn't updated my mac mini for ages and it started to run slower and slower. Before upgrading to Mavericks (from 10.6.8) I checked that Time Machine (backing up to a Time Capsule) had backed up recently (it had with no error messages), unfortunately the install failed (disk error) and I had to take it into the Genius bar. They wiped the machine and set it up for me to finish the install (via migration assistant) at home. Unfortunately once home and when selecting the option to migrate from a time machine backup it finds the Time Capsule but then displays the message "no volumes found in backup". Any ideas? Can I just skip migration assistant, set up a new account (with a different name to those in back-up) and then manually go into Time Machine to restore??

Yes.
Most likely, some folders were excluded from the backups as the result of a failed or aborted software installation.
Starting from a clean installation of OS X, set up a new administrator account and log in. Enter Time Machine and press the key combination shift-command-C. The front window will show all mounted volumes. All snapshots should now be accessible.* Select the one you want and navigate to your home folder (in the Users folder at the top level of the old startup volume.)
You should now be able to restore your user data. I suggest you do this in two stages. Quit all applications except the Finder before you begin.
Restore all the visible items at the top level of the home folder.
Hold down the option key and select Go ▹ Library from the Finder menu bar. Enter Time Machine and restore all items in the Library folder. Log out and log back in as soon as the restore is complete.
Any other invisible folders or files at the top level of the home folder that you want to preserve will have to be restored separately. For most users, that isn't necessary.
You'll have to reinstall all third-party applications from scratch, or restore them from another kind of backup, if you have one.
You'll have another problem if this is a new computer, or if you erased the startup volume: The next time you back up, Time Machine won't recognize any files as being the same as they were before, and will make a full copy of all files. There might not be enough space on one or more of the backup volumes for that. There are different ways of dealing with that situation, depending on your needs. The easiest way is to set the backup drives aside, if possible, until you're sure you'll no longer need the data on them, then erase them and start over. Meanwhile start a new backup on one or more empty storage devices. If that solution isn't workable for you, ask for instructions.
*If you don't see any snapshots in Time Machine, exit the time-travel view and then hold down the option key while selecting
          Browse Other Backup Disks...
from the Time Machine menu, which has an icon that looks like a clock running backwards. Select the backups of the computer by its previous name. If you don't have the Time Machine menu, open the Time Machine preference pane in System Preferences and check the box marked
          Show Time Machine in menu bar

Upgrading to Lion, There Must be a Better Way Than Migration Assistant!

I finally got around to updating to Lion and it's turned out to be a little frustrating.
First Attempt: simply updating over the top of my existing Snow Leopard installation. I had a variety of annoyances mostly surrounding the amazing amount of cruft laying around from years of installing, then removing apps and just upgrading new versions of Mac OS on top of the existing ones.
Second Attempt: Partition the drive, did a clean installation, used Migration Assistant and moved my old account to the new installation. This resulted in most of the cruft coming over, many of the annoyances remaining, and some settings and daemons mysteriously disappearing.
Third Attempt: Deleted the second attempt, did another clean installation, created a new account with the same name as the old account, and then copied only the data I really wanted (Documents, iTunes Library, Mail Data, &tc...). This resulted in dozens of annoyances stemming from permission problems.
So... how do I jettison all the artifacts from the past while only keeping the data I really want? How do developers deal with having more than one working installation on a Mac? Do they never move stuff between them?

I pretty much agree with baltwo on this. The only way to weed out the 'cruft' is to reinstall each program manually, copy data from your Pictures, Documents, Music, and Movies folders. Then to be very careful about what you move from the old Library into the new one. Invariably this process leads to missing templates and other issues that take several days - and longer - to resolve. The end result? Your computer doesn't run noticeably faster and you gain perhaps a whopping couple GB or less of drive space.
I speak from experience. I have performed this painful task twice (and was very thankful to have complete backups that I didn't erase because I didn't realize I was missing some templates for several months). My two work desktops and notebook go all the way back to Jaguar and they are no faster than my home computers of the same vintage.

Clean Install to Migrate Assistant

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