Migration Assistant, 5+-year-old iMac to new iMac

A friend of mine just bought a new brand new iMac and was told by someone at the Apple Store that her old computer or operating system was "too old" for her to use the Migration Assistant to import her files, which she finds very frustrating. She's not particularly computer savvy but does have a lot of files that are important to her.
I really didn't think any Mac should be too old to do this. Her old iMac is somewhere between 5 and 7 years old. I was over at her place to look at it and it was powered down, so I didn't get a chance to peek at the system profiler, but from what she told me about when she got it I assume it's either the last generation of G5 iMac or the first couple generations of Intel iMac (which look more or less the same from the outside).
There really shouldn't be any issue for her just starting it in Target Disk Mode and using Migration Assistant from her new computer, right? The one trick is that of course the new iMac doesn't have FireWire but if we used a FireWire to Thunderbolt converter, would that work? Or, alternately, could they be connected by Ethernet? Or is there something about the age of this computer that I'm missing?
Thanks in advance; if needed I can go over to her place (she lives up the street from me) and find out exactly what model of old iMac and OS she's using.
Josh

Joshua Fruhlinger2 wrote:
There really shouldn't be any issue for her just starting it in Target Disk Mode and using Migration Assistant from her new computer, right?
Right.
FireWire Target Disk Mode is the only option to migrate from a Mac running OS X 10.4.11 "Tiger" to a Mac running Mountain Lion.
Start the older Mac in Target Disk Mode. When asked "How do you want to transfer your information" select "From a Mac, PC, Time Machine backup or other disk" then click Continue. On the next screen be sure to select "From a Time Machine backup or other disk" and not "From a Mac or PC".
This is a peculiarity that applies only when transferring information from Tiger to Mountain Lion.
The Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter will work. That's what I used.
Obviously, any old PowerPC apps will not work on her new Mac.

Similar Messages

Migration Assistant using firewire not working between new iMac and G5. Ah!

I unpacked my new iMac 21.5' last nite and spent three painful hours trying to use Migration Assistant to tranfer files from my old iMac G5, which is using OS X 10.4.11.
I follow all of the instructions ver batim: connect the 400/800 firewire between the old and the new iMacs, start migration assistant on the new iMac, reboot the old iMac holding down the 'T' key until the firewire symbol pops up on the screen. At that point, the new iMac sits there with the message 'waiting for the other iMac to restart.' It never seems to recognize the old iMac. I tried rebooting, reconnecting the cable, etc. No luck.
I also tried using the ethernet option with no luck. The computers find each other but after entering the 'code' twice, the old mac gets stuck 'searching for other computers on the network.'
Any advice? I'd really like to use my new iMac!!!!

May not help but give this a try on the G5:
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger and Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
I would also first turn off both computers then connect the FW cable. If both computers have a FW800 port then you can use a standard FW800 cable. Boot the G5 into TDM. After the TDM screen appears boot the new computer normally.

Photo transfer and update from 5-year-old Macbook to new iMac using Time Machine resulted in half of 2014's photos being un-viewable (only a gray triangle with exclamation point shows). How do I fix it?

I turned on my new iMac for the first time today and set it up using a backup on Time Machine from my old Macbook, which is running OS X 10.9.5 and has iPhoto version 8.1.2. When I went to open iPhoto on the new computer, it said I had to update the photos to work with the new version. Now, my photos from part of July 26, 2014 and onwards do not show up in the new iPhoto. The albums and spaces for the photos are there, but only a gray triangle with exclamation point shows in their place. Every other photo from 2003 to half of July 26, 2014 appears to have updated without issue. None of the fixes/rebuilds I tried worked. When I open up TimeMachine, it has no backups that I can use for the new computer (perhaps, because I wanted to still have access to use my old backups for my old laptop so told it not to use them for the new computer). My most recent half a year's photos are the ones I need the most. How do I make them appear on my new iMac?

Do you still have the old Mac? Then check, if the iPhoto Library has the newer events from July 26 onwards.
If yes, copy the iPhoto library from the old Mac to the new mac by connecting both computers. And then try to upgrade the copied library.
If you no longer have access to the old mac, you could try to inherit the backup of the old Mac and try to restore the iPhoto Library from it.
See Pondini's FAQ: http://pondini.org/TM/B6.html

I am trying to transfer files from my MacBook Pro to my iMac using migration Assstance and they cannot find one another. My MacBook Pro uses Migration Assistance 1.0.6 and my new iMac uses 10.5.3. What can I do to allow sharing?

How does one transfer Files from an old MacBook Pro to a new iMac?

10.5.3 is at least part of the problem. You need to apply the latest updates to that mac.
See How do I set up a new Mac from an old one, its backups, or a PC? Select the appropriate link and follow the instructions carefully.

Migration Assistant from old iMac to new iMac

I have just purchased a new iMac and on startup the setup assistant allows me to move all my data and setup from my old iMac to my new iMac. However when I start although both iMacs seem to acknowledge each other the transfer does not occur.
I new iMac asks me to install sharing software which I have done successfully.
The new iMac gives me a number to enter onto the old iMac via Migration Assistant. The old iMac finds the new iMac and asks for the number. Upon entry the new iMac moves from 'Searching for computers' to 'Preparing information' but then after about 10 minutes says 'Error connecting to network'.
The new iMac is connected to my router via an ethernet cable, my old iMac is connected to the network via wireless. I don't have a firewire cable to use.
Any help appreciated.
Message was edited by: Guy Emerson

FireWire cables are dirt cheap and that's how you should be doing the migration. You might have to start over, wiping the new machine's HD, and restoring the software as described in the Everything Mac manual that came with it. See Best Practices and Setup new Mac for more details.

After using "migration assistant" from my old iMac to my new iMac, some tools stick while using Photoshop CS 6 Extended. My current operation system is 10.10 Yosemite. I was wondering if UN installing then RE installing CS 6 might solve the problem. If th

After using "migration assistant" from my old iMac to my new iMac, some tools stick while using Photoshop CS 6 Extended. My current operation system is 10.10 Yosemite. I was wondering if UN installing then RE installing CS 6 might solve the problem. If this is recommended, I would need complete instructions on doing this. I have there serial number for the product.

using migration assistant is problematic.
at this point yes, you should uninstall everything migrated, clean and then reinstall properly using the installation files.
cleaner: Use the CC Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems | CC, CS3-CS6
installation files:
Downloads available:
Suites and Programs: CC 2014 | CC | CS6 | CS5.5 | CS5 | CS4 | CS3
Acrobat: XI, X | 9,8 | 9 standard
Premiere Elements: 13 |12 | 11, 10 | 9, 8, 7
Photoshop Elements: 13 |12 | 11, 10 | 9,8,7
Lightroom: 5.7| 5 | 4 | 3
Captivate: 8 | 7 | 6 | 5
Contribute: CS5 | CS4, CS3
Download and installation help for Adobe links
Download and installation help for Prodesigntools links are listed on most linked pages. They are critical; especially steps 1, 2 and 3. If you click a link that does not have those steps listed, open a second window using the Lightroom 3 link to see those 'Important Instructions'.
window using the Lightroom 3 link to see those 'Important Instructions'.

I had a data migration done from old iMac to new iMac, how do I use that file to find my old email contacts, Safari bookmarks, etc ?

I recently had a data migration from old iMac to new iMac 11.2
How do I use that data file to get old email contacts, Safari bookmarks, etc ?

FireWire cables are dirt cheap and that's how you should be doing the migration. You might have to start over, wiping the new machine's HD, and restoring the software as described in the Everything Mac manual that came with it. See Best Practices and Setup new Mac for more details.

Import (v. 7.1.5) iPhotos from old iMac to new iMac (v. 9.2) using Migration Mgr. over fire wire. All photos ( many dups) appeared in EVENTS and PHOTOS in the new Mac – but NO ALBUMS.

Attempted to import 6.5 GB of (v. 7.1.5) iPhotos from old iMac to new iMac (v. 9.2) using Migration Mgr. over fire wire. All photos (plus many dups) appeared in EVENTS and PHOTOS in the new Mac – but NO ALBUMS. I read a previous response to a similar question -- to copy the pictures library to the new computer. How best to do that?

There's actually an option to iPhoto Library Manager that makes this all almost work flawlessly (and work well enough for me). With the exception of Photo Albums that the pictures are part of, if you select "Library > Rebuild Library..." and then select "Scavange Orphaned Photos" check box, then it will put all the Photos and Movies into the "Scavanged Photos" album. It matches the modified pictures to their originals. It preserves all the event names and photo groupings. All the meta-data I could spot check it got right (although with 44k pictures, I only checked a few). If you fail to select this option, however, it will find no pictures at all when it goes to rebuild the library (this was true of the small test libraries I tried as well as the big, monster 280GB library I just finished converting). The conversion process took 5 hours to run, but in the end produced a library my new iPhoto can read and that I can interact with. I'll be suggesting to the iPhoto Library Manager folks a notation that would estimate the number of Orphaned Photos and display that number as a hint to the user that the option would be useful.
Edited: Thanks to Old Toad and LarryHN for their help in finding which of the many options to transition this library to 9.5.1 I needed to use. Sorry if I took my frustration of the past several months out on you guys for generously trying to help me.

How to migrate safari bookmarks from old iMac to new iMac?

How do I migrate safari bookmarks from old iMac to new iMac? Where are the bookmarks located?

Move the file ~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist over, where ~ is the item in the Finder's sidebar with the house icon.
(57085)

Can I install CS6 from old Mac on new iMac using apple's migration-assitent

Can I install CS6 from old Mac on new iMac using apple's migration-assitent?

you may be lucky, but you should expect problems if you do that.
you should properly install your adobe software using the adobe installation files.
Downloads available:
Suites and Programs: CC 2014 | CC | CS6 | CS5.5 | CS5 | CS4 | CS3
Acrobat: XI, X | 9,8 | 9 standard
Premiere Elements: 13 | 12 | 11, 10 | 9, 8, 7 win | 8 mac | 7 mac
Photoshop Elements: 13 |12 | 11, 10 | 9,8,7 win | 8 mac | 7 mac
Lightroom: 5.7| 5 | 4 | 3
Captivate: 8 | 7 | 6 | 5
Contribute: CS5 | CS4, CS3
Download and installation help for Adobe links
Download and installation help for Prodesigntools links are listed on most linked pages. They are critical; especially steps 1, 2 and 3. If you click a link that does not have those steps listed, open a second window using the Lightroom 3 link to see those 'Important Instructions'.

HT5361 I want to permanently remove years old emails from my IMac Mountain Lion system. How can I do this by year instead of laboriously doing it one message at a time?

I want to permanently remove years old emails from my IMac Mountain Lion system. How can I do so by year rather than slowly removing one message at a time? Many thanks.

Another option is to create a smart mailbox that includes emails with date received before a desired date.
Then, select one message in the Smart Mailbox and cmd-A to select all. Then delete.

How do I Install CS5 that is on a DVD/cd that I purchased years ago onto my new iMac that doesn't have a DVD drive? Hoping to avoid purchasing an extern DVD drive.

How do I Install CS5 that is on a DVD/cd that I purchased years ago onto my new iMac that doesn't have a DVD drive? Hoping to avoid purchasing an extern DVD drive.

You can download the CS5 installer from Download and Installation Help
Install then enter your serial number.

I have "migrated" my Time Capsule files to my new iMac and most of the files to me "I don't have permission to view files" I am they admin....will I thought I was. What gives?

I have "migrated" my Time Capsule files to my new iMac and most of the files to me "I don't have permission to view files" I am they admin....will I thought I was. What gives?

You should be able to change the permissions on the files.. this is yet another bungle by Mavericks I suspect.
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH13799
Sometimes it is because you Migrated wrongly.
http://pondini.org/TM/E10.html
It is not up to Mavericks because sadly the guy who wrote all this great info died recently.

How do u transfer pictures/tunes from 4 year old mac to new mac

how do u transfer pictures/tunes from 4 year old mac to new mac ?

These articles should help:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527?viewlocale=en_US
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1229

My iMac has two admin accounts (because I used Migration Assistant). How do I get the iMac to start up in the 2nd account?

My iMac has two admin accounts (because I used Migration Assistant). How do I get the iMac to start up in the 2nd account?

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
Open System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Options, press the padlock at the bottom left corner of the System Preferences window and choose the second user account next to "Automatic login". Your computer will always log in to this user account whenever you start up Mac OS X.
If you haven't got anything in the first user account, you can remove it from System Preferences > Users & Groups after logging into the second user account

Migration Assistant, 5+-year-old iMac to new iMac

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for