HT204350 Migration assistant in OS X Mavericks cannot find Time Machine disk

Well, the title says it all. My old Mountain Lion MacBook Pro had a harddrive crash and now I have installed a brand new SSD in it. It was not possible to use the Time Machine to restore the old system to the new disk during installation. So I thought, maybe it will work better after the basic system is installed. Nope. I can still activate Time Machine, but I can't regress even a single folder. And if I open the Migration Assistant it all goes well until I choose to use a Time Machine disk and then it just does not find any disk to use.
Of all the things you would expect from a specialised backup utility is that it should be possible to use for restoring a computer. If it isn't then why the **** have I been saving **** to it? I could have used the disk for a plain copy backup, a backup I could use.
I have seen a hundred of these threads when trying to find an answer. Has anyone found something that works? Has ******* Apple ******* fixed the problem somewhere?

In the sidebar of a Finder window, select the icon representing your startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) At the top level of the volume are folders with these names, among others:
Applications
Library
System
Enter Time Machine and select the most recent snapshot, which is behind the frontmost window. Are those folders present in the snapshot?

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Cannot find time machine

I bought the Time capsule over Christmas. Set it up and it worked fine. a month ago it kept telling me cannot back up time machine. I reset it to factory settings after I tried everything else on line to fix it. I have set it up and now I cannot find time machine. I turn Time Mchine to ON and it takes me to the screen that should have my time capsule...but it says "Set up other time capsule (set up a time capsule that is not listed here)"
I click on that and then clic on "Open Airport Utility"
I can see my Time Capsule. It has a green light on my computer and on the acutal machine. AirPort Utility says it found it and all the settings are correct. I go through until I get the end and hit FINISH.
(I have updated to Lion after Christmas..don't know if that caused the issue)
THere is no Time Machine icon on my desk top. Where is it?
Thanks!
Kara

kara1234 wrote:
when I do that I can see my "Kara's Time Capsule" on the very far left. Under "This pane shows your AirPort disks...there is nothing. It says No disks found
That being the case... Do as Eric Ross suggested and take it to your Apple Store for repair...

Migration assistant won't let me select visible Time Capsule disk

I'm using Migration Assistant to migrate from my Time Capsule backup after starting up the new computer. It asks me to select my disk, and my Time Capsule backup disk is visible (I've already entered my Time Capsule password). BUT, I cannot select the disk by clicking on it anywhere, and "Continue" remains greyed out. I've checked, and my backup is still on the time capsule. What's happening? Thanks. Doug

See Pondini's TM FAQs, for starters.

Airport utility cannot find time machine

Time Machine has orange flashing light and when I try to turn it on in system preferences, the computer scans for airport devices but finds none.

Have you do a reboot of the TC.. that will often fix things.
ie pull out the power cord.. count to 10.. plug in the power cord.. wait a minute for things to boot.
Does it show up now?
Or a full network reboot.. restart in correct order.. modem.. TC.. clients. 2min gap.
No luck then do a full factory reset of the TC.
ie pull out the power cord.
hold in reset button.
plug in the power cord. Do not release reset.
Front LED flashes rapidly after about 10sec. Release reset.
Wait for TC to boot up.
Use ethernet to computer to redo the setup.
Use all SMB names.. ie Short, 10-20 characters fine .. less is great.
No spaces.
Pure alphanumeric.
Nothing on the hard disk will change. But you might need to reset Time Machine and rediscover the backups.
See A4 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

Mac cannot find time machine

Have a Time Machine that I have not used for a while. I have had it connected to another mac. Now I want to connect it to my new Mac, but when I Open the application it is not recognzed.
I have connected the ethernet to the TC, and my Mac is connected to the same wifi router.
Any suggestions?

What mode is the TC running?
I recommend you do TC setups in full isolation to the network.. this is not hard.. plug in by ethernet and no other connection to the TC or computer.. ie run an ethernet TC to the computer..
Do a full reset of the TC.. and the computer will now be able to recognise it and you can complete the seteup.. then put the TC back into the network.

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.

HT204350 migration assistant mavericks.

I am trying to migrate to a new imac using migration assistant. I connected the old machine and new via ethernet cable. When the files began to transfer, the indicator reported over 400 hours to transfer. Suspecting the files were transferring via WiFi rather than ethernet cable, after over an hour with litte change in the counter, I disconnected the WiFi source and, sure enough, the machines stopped communicating. I also noted that Migration Assistant was telling me that connecting an ethernet cable would speed things up but the cable was already connected.
I stopped the transfer, switched off the airport and tried again, following to the letter Apple's Mavericks Migration Assistant instructions. I have been watching both machines search for each other for going on half an hour now and cannot understand why these machines are not seeing each other. Both are running Mavericks.

I noticed that the old imac's network preferences indicated that the ethernet port was "inactive". I bought a new cable, plugged the ethernet cable from the modem into the old imac to "reactivate" the port. Then reconnected the two machines via ethernet and ran Migration Assistant again and the migration went fine. I'm not sure which step caused the desired effect but that's what I did.

HT204350 Migration Assistant in Mavericks does not allow User account migration

Users accounts do not show up at all.

After a similar problem I found http://www.hardturm.ch/luz/2014/02/fixing-os-x-10-9-mavericks-migration-from-ext ernal-volume/ which explains that since Migration assistant logs you out, it also unmounts external disks. As AtlNCS Admin points out, they have a solution in using ssh and command line stuff to mount the needed disk remotely, but someone in the comments had a simpler solution: do not plug in the external firewire disk until after launchine Migration Assistant. So before running MA, eject the external disk that you want to migrate to the new machine (and unplug it) then start Migration Assistant and after selecting "migrate from an attached disk" THEN plug in the disk. It worked for me.

Time Machine disk not showing up in Migration Assistant

I have backed up my Snow Leopard with Time Machine and I'm trying to import my stuff into Lion using Migration Assistant. However, my Time Machine disk is not showing up in Migration Assistant even though it's connected and shows in Finder. Any idea why?

I couldn't migrate from Snow Leopard drive either -- Snow Leopard used PGP encyption, migration copied the files, but they seem inaccessible to Lion with "permission denied" errors.
It sounds like you did migrate successfully. It's normal for the permissions to be wrong -- Migration Assistant creates a new account with the files from the old one.
What I would do in your place is start over. First, decrypt the SL volume and uninstall PGP. You should do that anyway, because PGP is a turkey and not needed in Lion. Erase the Lion volume (assuming you have no data on it that isn't already on your SL volume), reinstall Lion, and then use Setup Assistant, not Migration Assistant, to do the migration.

ISO x 10.8.3 migration assistant will not recognize time machine disk

I recently had my computer wiped clean by Apple genius bar. After updating the ISO X 10.8 software to 10.8.3, I attempted to restore files from my Time Machine backup to the computer. Unfortunately, the migration assistant would not lock onto the Time Machine disk, as if it were not there. What can I do to restore my original files back into the repaired computer?
My imac was purchased new in December of 2008 and the back up disc was connected to it in Aug 2009. I think the original operating system was pre Snow Leopard - the only CD I have and dated 2010.

I am conserned about restoring using setup assistant because I need to transfer personal files and applications only.
You can do that in Setup Assistant.
Migration Assistant doesn't accept Time Machine backups of the computer it's running on; it only accepts compatible backups of other computers. You can't migrate a system to itself. To restore files from the same computer, enter Time Machine in the usual way, or else boot into Recovery and either restore the whole startup volume or erase, reinstall OS X, and restore in Setup Assistant.

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.

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.

Migration Assistant fails to recognize a Time Machine disk (itself migrated using Disk Utility)

So I outgrow my Time Machine disk. I listen to the advice (repeated in multiple places) that one can simply use Disk Utility's Restore tab, select the old time machine disk as source and the new one as destination, and click restore to copy block-by-block, then rename the disk.
This works very well. I have indeed been able to use Time Machine on the new disk without losing any of the history.
But now I am in trouble. I am also outgrowing my MacBook disk. I put a larger disk in and install Snow Leopard from scratch. Now Migration Assistant does not recognize the new Time Machine disk (perpetually spinning wheel). Renaming the disk to the old name does not help. M.A. does recognize the old Time Machine disk, but that means manually managing the changes (and giving up on the larger TM disk). I reinstall Snow Leopard and do not miss that time the option to restore from Time Machine, but it still does not see the new Time Machine disk.
How does one convince Migration Assistant to use a Time Machine disk that duly has Backups.backupdb as a root folder and where "ignore ownership on this volume" is not set?

Thanks, Pondini, but the Time Machine disk passes the Disk Utility repairs and only the spinning wheel was visible under both the Setup Assistant and the Migration Assistant.
I now have some good news, and some bad.
First the good news: Lion's Migration Assistant offers the option to copy user (and other) files from the previous OSX disk, not just the Time Machine disk. If this option was already in Snow Leopard, then I missed it.
Now the bad news..
I spent several hours reading (Pondini's and others') suggestions to ensure that my Time Machine is as seamless as possible, namely, for the next backup to be incremental. No luck: all user data are copied. Until the interface of Time Machine stops trying so hard to shield us naive users from making decisions on our own, one idea is to keep the iPod and pictures/video collection backed-up by the straight-forward rsync. Then whether Time Machine is really incremental will not matter, and in any case a spare copy of the documents you wrote by hand is nice in case the some blocks of the disk fail.
But I may have been the one who messed it. In Preferrences \ Time Machine \ Options... I excluded all users except the user "Admin" who restored the user accounts. The idea was to test first whether the mildest user will get a full backup. It may be that Time Machine does not look in the history to see if a given file or set of files already have some copy in the past. If a file does not exist in the very last backup, it is saved to the Time Machine disk.
If you're reading this and are keen on an incremental backup, try this: restore your user accounts using a user Admin, but do not start to backup until after the accounts are restored. Will the backup afterwards be incremental?

Migration assistant will not see my old Time Machine Disk

Just in the process of abandoning our trusty old G5 running Leopard for a new iMac with Lion.
I have everything backed up on Time Machine from the G5 and need to migrate iTunes as it is the sync center for a family of iPhones, iPods and iPads. So has all of the things bought from the iTunes store.
Migration Assistant refuses to see the Time Machine disk. It shows up on the desktop, so I know it is connected.
Any clues?
Everything I am reading in the threads does not give me confidence that the files on Time Machine will be able to be moved.
thanks
Terri

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.

How do I reinstall Lion if I get a new hard drive? My mac came with Leopard and I cannot find my upgrade disk for Snow Leopard

My MacBook Pro originally came with Leopard. I have the OS and Applications disks for Leopard but I cannot find my upgrade disk for Snow Leopard. I would like to perform a clean install of Lion on the new hard drive and restore some data from my Time Machine backup. I am not looking to restore the current image to my new hard drive. I have not yet removed the exisiting hard drive nor have I wiped my data.

The only way to do that is to buy a New SL Retail DVD. Or you could buy the Lion Install USB thumb drive from Apple for $69.
You must have SL installed to then install Lion or have a thumb drive with the Lion installer.
You could also create a Lion USB Recovery thumb drive using Lion Disk Assistant. But you need to have Lion already installed and the Lion RecoveryHD Partition on your drive to make the Recovery thumb drive.
Lion Recovery Disk Assistant

HT204350 Migration assistant in OS X Mavericks cannot find Time Machine disk

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