HT201250 Migration assistant doesn't see my external disk although it's connected and turned on. What should I do?

I had to reformat my HD. Now I'm trying to restore from my Time Machine, back up external disk using Migration Assistant. The M.Assitant doesn't see my external disk though it's connected and turned on. What should I do?

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Migration assistant doesn't "see" Time Machine disk

Just got a new logic board, and they wiped the hard drive. My Time Machine disk mounts, and I can see the files. However, migration assistant doesn't list it as a source. (Yes it's formatted Mac OS Extended [Journaled])
Time Machine recognizes it and wants to use it as a new backup disk, but it doesn't want to show me anything from the old back up. I didn't do a new backup of the "new" computer. I don't back up applications just users.
2.2 i7 MbP 8GB 10.7.4
thanks
DLS

Just back home from a follow-up visit to the Genius Bar on this migration issue (from MacBook Air to new MacBook Pro).
Previous efforts to migrate had taken endless hours and seemed to hang at the 20-mins-remaining mark.
At the store, even after we manually turned off WiFi before connecting the Thunderbolt cable, Migration Assistant seemed to turn WiFi back on and start the migration over WiFi.
In the end, we used the Air (source) in Target Disk mode, which forced the computers to use the Thunderbolt cable. Migration took a little over half an hour, as opposed to 12 hours or more that Migration Assistant was saying earlier when apparently trying to use WiFi.

Migration Assistant Does Not See Attached External Disk

I just purchased a MacBook Air to replace an aging MacBook Pro. Both are running the latest Mountain Lion (10.8.3). I want to move my files from the MBP to the MBA using Migration Assistant. I first tried doing this over wi-fi, but when I learned it would take more than 99 hours, I chose to cancel the operation.
So I connected a new Seagate HD to the MBP and configured Time Machine to back up to it. I let Time Machine run all day, creating hourly updates after the initial backup. I then disconnected the drive, attached it to the MBA and rebooted. I ran Migration Assistant and chose to migrate from a Time Machine backup. However, Migration Assistant does not see the disk. Yet the disk is mounted on the desktop, I can read and write to it, and I can see the Time Machine backups. Only Migration Assistant seems unable to recognize the disk.
This isn't the first time I've had problems with MA (see my posting history). When it works, it's terrific - my new computer has all the settings and preferences as the old. My applications are all registered and operational. So I'm very frustrated that I can't get it to work with my new MBA. It really does diminish the experience of getting a new computer. That, plus I don't want to spend days and weeks moving things over manually, re-installing, etc.
C'mon, Apple. Why is Migration Assistant so difficult? I'd chalk it up to user error, but this many times?

So, finally after fourten hours of unattended "migration," I let it continue overnight and in the morning found that the time remaining had not moved a minute. I canceled MA and found that not one iota of data had transferred.
As far as I'm concerned, Migration Assistant ranks lower on the Apple success list than Open Doc, Newton, Pink and Taligent.
Now I have to manually install software I want to use on the MBA, apply licenses, and all the other stuff I would expect from Windows.
NOT happy.

Migration Assistant doesn't see the startup disk from the old G4

Hi,
I just got my new iMac and was about to transfer stuff from my old G4 which have two internal disks. But I stumbled into serius problems right away. Migration Assistant is not able to see the startup disk from the G4. It sees only the other disk.
I have tried to disconnect the extra disk and checked that the startup disk is forced with the jumper to be the master disk. With this configuration it won't start the G4 at all. Having he jumper in the cable select slot results to shut-up with the T-button (firewire) startup and normal startup without the T-way.
What should I do? I can't figure out what the problem is.
I enclose some System Profiler data of the problematic disk if this helps to find the solution.
Model: MAXTOR 6L060J3
BSD Name: disk0
Protocol: ATA
Unit Number: 1
OS9 Drivers: Yes
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD NAme: disk0s10

Ok. This is really simple to do.
The idea of the dual drive iMac is that the System and Apps reside on the fast SSD and that the user directories reside on the HD.
You first need to create the same accounts on your SSD as on your old iMac.
The next step is to change the path of the user accounts from the SSD to the internal HD. Duplicate or copy the Users directories on the SSD to the HD.
Change the path in System Preferences > User & Groups > Unlock to make changes > Select User account in sidebar > Right-click > Choose Advanced Options > Home Directory > Choose the Volumes/your_hd/Users/user_name.
Restart your iMac and restore from Migration Assistant.
Remember to keep the empty directories on the SSD, in case you ever have a HD failure or replacement, you will have to change the path back to the SSD.

Migration assistant can't see time machine disk

New hard drive to replace broken one - Migration Assistant doesn't see the external hard drive with my time machine backup, even though it mounts to the desktop... Anyone else had this problem? Using a MacBook pro with OSX 10.8.4

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

Migration Assistant can't see my external hard drive.

Migration Assistant can't see my external hard drive with my back-up info on it. I need to migrate my user data from an older back-up ( OS X 10.4.11) to a recently installed OS X 10.5.8 system on a Mac Pro. The external drive is not bootable. Any ideas?

Great news, thanks!
On iTunes see this...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Expand the External drive section & it's 6 steps.
More info, especially the Wrong Way part...
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive/

Migration Assistant doesn't see SuperDuper backup

Anyone out there know why Migration Assistant won't see a SuperDuper bootable backup on an external HD? I just get a completely blank box in the Migration Assistant window.
I don't want to do a full restore/copy back as there may be problems on the backup and I want to choose what to migrate back to a clean internal HD.

Unless you can test your Migration Assistant.app by connecting a different "good" external volume, I can't think of anything else to try.
I'd suggest also asking at the [SuperDuper forum|http://www.shirt-pocket.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=b4871cfda0b9d4f1fba ed6a37dd88b06&f=6] - questions posted there are answered directly by the SD developer, Dave Nanian.
Message was edited by: jsd2
Just to be sure - you are booted from the internal HD, correct? Migration Assistant won't show the startup volume.

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

HT4889 Migration assistant doesn't see my 3TB Time machine it just keeps looking for other computers

I just did a clean install of Mountain Lion on my iMac and Migration Assistant doesn't seem to see my 3TB Time Machine. It continuously looks for other computers, and nothing else. I know the files work because I loaded it on my other MBP and it sees them just fine? am I just inpatient or is something wrong?

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.

Migration Assistant doesn't see external HDD (NOT a Time Machine)

Mid-2010 MBP running 10.6.8 died... HDD was alright so I put it in an enclosure and USB-'d it to my brand new MBP running Yosemite.
The new MBP sees the "Macintosh HD" within Finder just fine and individual files are transferable.
However Migration Assistant gets stuck forever looking for the drive. How do I fix this?
Thanks in advance!!

Yes, I could, but I gave up and just re-created all of the users and groups and reset folder permissions manually.

Migration Assistant doesn't see Time Machine volume

I'm moving from a MacBook Pro running 10.6.8 to a MBP running 10.7.5. I thought this would be pretty simple ... just attach my Snow Leopard Time Machine external drive to the Lion MBP and run Migration Assistant.
But when I go through the MA steps, MA does not see my TM drive. I've made sure I have the latest upgrades and have run Disk Utility's First Aid on the TM drive.
Ideas? I know I can try MA with other interfaces but using TM allows me to work on my old computer until my new one is ready.
The TM drive is a 500GB Iomega eGo drive.
Thanks.

jtfey wrote:
I've done Migration Assistant installs before and when MA asks if you're restoring from another computer or a TM drive, and I select TM, the name of the TM drive shows up.
Not if it's directly-connected. It shows the Computer name and the name of the HD that were backed-up, per the sample posted earlier.
If it's on a network, the name of the volume it's on is shown, like the 4th item in the sample.
Plus, the first time I tried doing a restore I saw the source as "Macintosh HD" and went ahead and ran MA. About 85 minutes later it was done and no data had been transferred from the 10.6 MBP to 10.7 MBP. Nothing.
The data would be in the transferred accounts, not the one you ran the Migration from.
This is the first 10.7 MA I've done. I would not have imagined that Apple would design software that asks you for your TM drive and then, when you make that selection, you never the name of the TM drive show up.
I couldn't agree more. I've submitted requests to change that several times, including during beta testing of both Lion and Mountain Lion. Please add your voice here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html Maybe if enough of us do so, they'll listen.

Migration Assistant Doesn't see the Source Mac

Hello there,
I'm trying to transfer an application from my powerbook (10.5.5) to my desktop Mac (MDD, 10.4.11) using Migration Assistant. I'm very familiar with the use of Target Disk mode and Migration Assistant (MA). However, MA gets stuck in the window that says in the bottom ... " waiting for your old Mac to restart." The FireWire symbol is on the powerbook's screen and its icon shows on the MDD's desktop. I can open the "mounted" FW powerbook, etc. but MA doesn't see it.
Any thoughts?
Thanks a lot,
Jacobo

Not sure that Migration Assistant in Tiger could handle Leopard's way of doing things. Will try to check tomorrow.
Is there no other way to install it?
Sometimes, connecting the FW cable after it's booted into Target mode helps, I've seen this a couple of times.

Migration Assistant Doesn't See Time Machine

I've seen a few threads on this topic but no answer.
I upgraded my Mac Pro from 10.5 to 10.6, but when I tell the Migration Assistant that I want to restore from Time Machine, it doesn't see it or any of the other 3 drives that are in this machine. I just want to restore the user accounts and groups because one of the other drives is a data drive with lots of folders that only certain users have access to.

Yes, I could, but I gave up and just re-created all of the users and groups and reset folder permissions manually.

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 doesn't see the portable drive with my time mache of my old mac

I bought the new macbook air, and want to put the settings and such from my old macbook air onto this new mac
my old mac has snow leopard
my new one has lion
I use a WD harddrive for time machine, it is formatted for mac
what can i do to get these settings on the new mac?
Slofke

You want to transfer from the Time Machine backups of your old Mac, right? Did you connect the drive to the new one? And select From Time Machine or other disk?
Does the Select the Source window (on Setup Assistant) or Select your System window (on Migration Assistant) not show the backup disk? If so, try just clicking the Continue button.
If that doesn't help, the backups may be damaged. Try to repair them, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

HT201250 Migration assistant doesn't see my external disk although it's connected and turned on. What should I do?

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