How to get the migration assistant to complete?

Question

I have a time capsule on ethernet that has had two machines hooked to it, a PB G4 and a MacBook Pro 15".
While on vacation, the PB G4 wouldn't boot. So I have a new MacBook that we just got and want to migrate from the last Time Machine backup.
I start the MacBook, and the migration assistant starts up. I tell it I want to restore from the time capsule. It shows the time capsule in the list.
It prompts me for a name and password. But the name is protected -- it won't let me put in a name. I put in the password for the time capsule. It says Connecting ..., and I get a dialog box that says "Checking Time Machine Backup…" Then i ran an errand, and when I came back 3 hours later, it was still stuck at the same place.
So how do I actually do the restore?
I thought about just creating a new account and then restoring what I need (the address book, bookmarks, mail, and documents). But how would that work -- how would the new account find the files from the old machine?
On my older MacBook Pro, I've used the option command to "Browse other time machine disks," but all I get is an empty selection box with the title "Choose Time Machine Disk To Browse." If I select the time capsule in Finder, I see the two sparsebundles. I've shown the package contents for the PowerBook and see 3 small files called: token, info.plist, and info.bckup. There's also a folder called bands, and it contains a bunch of files that it describes as UNIX executable files.
I'm getting desperate and frustrated trying to get restored -- especially because I was supposed to deal with some mail that I can't get to.

Answer 1

chuckbo wrote:
I have a time capsule on ethernet that has had two machines hooked to it, a PB G4 and a MacBook Pro 15".
While on vacation, the PB G4 wouldn't boot. So I have a new MacBook that we just got and want to migrate from the last Time Machine backup.
I start the MacBook, and the migration assistant starts up. I tell it I want to restore from the time capsule. It shows the time capsule in the list.
It prompts me for a name and password. But the name is protected -- it won't let me put in a name. I put in the password for the time capsule. It says Connecting ..., and I get a dialog box that says "Checking Time Machine Backup…" Then i ran an errand, and when I came back 3 hours later, it was still stuck at the same place.
So how do I actually do the restore?
I thought about just creating a new account and then restoring what I need (the address book, bookmarks, mail, and documents). But how would that work -- how would the new account find the files from the old machine?
On my older MacBook Pro, I've used the option command to "Browse other time machine disks," but all I get is an empty selection box with the title "Choose Time Machine Disk To Browse."
that should have worked. I don't know why it didn't.
If I select the time capsule in Finder, I see the two sparsebundles.
mount the sparse bundle by double-clicking on it.
I've shown the package contents for the PowerBook and see 3 small files called: token, info.plist, and info.bckup. There's also a folder called bands, and it contains a bunch of files that it describes as UNIX executable files.
don't look inside that folder from finder. that's pointless. you need to mount the sparse bundle to actually see what's stored inside. after the bundle is mounted (if it mounts succesfully) you can try running Migration Assistant to migrate from the mounted virtual volume or you can try browsing it with Time machine. both should be possible.
I'm getting desperate and frustrated trying to get restored -- especially because I was supposed to deal with some mail that I can't get to.