Migration assistant can't find external hard drive

I bought a Macbook Air and I can't move my files from the Time Machine created by my previous MacBook. Specifically, migration assistant can't find the external disk. I can see the external disc on the desktop, it's just the migration assistant that can't find it. I've done software update, I've attached and detached the external disk and restarted the Air in all imaginable combinations, migration assistant still can't see the external disk. Anyone know how to fix this problem?

franz1 wrote:
The top one has icons showing the two partitions from the external drive and the Air's HD.
That sounds like the Today (Now) display, the one that's show in full when you first Enter Time Machine. It's not a backup; it's the current contents of your Mac.
When I clicked on the 2nd window, it seems to be a back up from July 20, which I remember making on the old MacBook. It has one folder on it with my username.
Yes, that's a backup.
When I click on this folder, I find 4 folders inside it titled: Applications, Users, Library and System. I clicked on Applications and it was empty
That sounds like you'd excluded Applications from backups. Or else you didn't wait long enough for all the apps to be displayed.
sometimes the names of programs covered with a see-through "no parking" sign - a circle with a slash through it
That's an incompatible app.
Is this the Time Machine's records?
Yup.
Can I click on the July 20 date and click on restore? Will everything just come back on it's own?
No. You can restore individual items that way (if you have permission to them), but not a whole system. You can restore "simple" apps that way, too, but not "complex" ones -- ones that came with their own installers, because they install other files in other places. If you don't restore those other things too, the app won't work well, if at all.
Can you post a screenshot of the Migration Assistant window that should show your backups (something like this):

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Migration Assistant can't find my hard drive - can you help?

Hi, I've just bought a new MacBook Pro (Lion) as my 6 year old iMac (Snow Leopard) has died. I wanted to restore my data from my iMac, via my Time Machine back-ups which are stored on a WD MyPassport. When using the migration assistant, I've followed the instructions, but the assistant refuses to see the hard drive and all I get is "Looking for Other Computers" and a spinning wheel. I've done this before when a hard drive went south and it worked really well, but this is not good at all.
Any advice gratefully received. Thanks.

John Brandt wrote:
Setup Assistant never sees the source drive:
Does it show anything at all? The disk should have a yellow icon.
Is the main issue that I am trying to migrate from too old of an OS X version (e.g. 10.4.11)?
I don't think so. I don't have a Mac running Tiger, so couldn't test it, but many folks have done it without a problem.
Have you run Verify Disk or Repair Disk on the old Mac and/or the backups? If there's a directory problem, it may boot the old Mac, but the new one may not recognize it.
If all else fails, you may have to do it manually. Try starting the new Mac normally, logging on as a normal (Admin) user, connect the clone to it, and see if it appears. If so, you should be able to manually copy from the backups via drag & drop.
If so, you'll have to be careful of two things:
User accounts: If the old Mac only has a single account, the first account you set up on the new one should have permission to copy from the backups. If not, either set up a second account on the new Mac and try it, or use Get Info on the backups to grant the user account on the new Mac permission to read the data on the backups.
Special files/folders like Mail and Address Book / Contacts. You can't just copy the files since the structure has changed, but you may be able to import the old mailboxes via File > Import Mailboxes from the Mail menu on the new Mac. Similarly, you may be able to use File > Import in Contacts on the new Mac to import contacts.
(Note: it's late here, and I'll be going to bed soon, but will be back tomorrow.)

Migration assistant can't find 2nd hard drive.

Hello. I'm trying to use Migration Assistant to transfer data (music) from a 2nd hard drive
I have installed in my older tower. MA has no problem finding my first drive but no detection of my second. Is there simply a preference I'm overlooking? Any help would be great!

franz1 wrote:
The top one has icons showing the two partitions from the external drive and the Air's HD.
That sounds like the Today (Now) display, the one that's show in full when you first Enter Time Machine. It's not a backup; it's the current contents of your Mac.
When I clicked on the 2nd window, it seems to be a back up from July 20, which I remember making on the old MacBook. It has one folder on it with my username.
Yes, that's a backup.
When I click on this folder, I find 4 folders inside it titled: Applications, Users, Library and System. I clicked on Applications and it was empty
That sounds like you'd excluded Applications from backups. Or else you didn't wait long enough for all the apps to be displayed.
sometimes the names of programs covered with a see-through "no parking" sign - a circle with a slash through it
That's an incompatible app.
Is this the Time Machine's records?
Yup.
Can I click on the July 20 date and click on restore? Will everything just come back on it's own?
No. You can restore individual items that way (if you have permission to them), but not a whole system. You can restore "simple" apps that way, too, but not "complex" ones -- ones that came with their own installers, because they install other files in other places. If you don't restore those other things too, the app won't work well, if at all.
Can you post a screenshot of the Migration Assistant window that should show your backups (something like this):

Migration Assistant can't find External HD on MacBook Pro Mid-2012

Hi, I have a MacBook Pro Mid-2012 running OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2 and I am trying to use Migration Assistant to transfer Time Machine backups that are on my external hard drive, that I backed up from my old MacBook Mid-2010. The problem I am having is that Migration Assistant can't find my external hard drive. My MacBook Pro can find it when I plug it in (I see it in Finder), but Migration Assistant can't. Can anyone help or should I go to the Apple Store? I need help with this problem as soon as possible.
Thanks in advance,
- Daniel 

Since no one replied I figured out how to do it myself.
1.) First I plugged in my external hard drive with my Time Machine backups on them, then I opened Finder and click on my external hard drive under devices.
2.) Next I clicked on and opened the folder named "Backups.backupdb"
3.) Once inside that folder I could see folders with the backups from Time Machine and all of the folders names were the date I backed up that backup. I clicked and opended the lastest backup folder.
4.) Inside that folder, I clicked and opened the folder named "Macintosh HD"
5.) Inside that folder, I clicked and opended the folder named "Users"
6.) Inside that folder, I clicked and opended the folder named "Daniel" which was my Username on my previous Mac.
7.) Finally I could see and access all my folders from my Time Machine backups from my previous Mac.
Keep in mind this is only helpful if you are trying to access old backups (backed up from another Mac) on a new or different Mac. (Sorry for the blurry images)
Hope this somehow helps someone else,
- Daniel 

I transferred data from my external hard drive to my restored Mac Book Pro via migration assistant and now my external hard drive in time capsule has red minus signs. How do I get rid of that without getting rid of any of my data?

I used Migration Assistant to transfer my data from my external hard drive via Time Capsule to my restored Mac Book Pro. When I now go into Time Capsule I there are red minus signs in the corner of all the folders that are contained in my back up. How do I get rid of this and access my previous back-ups?

Select the drive and Finder > Get info and at the bottom "ignore permissions on this volume"
You can copy the files, but the ownership on the files still belongs to the other user account, once your done copying, then perform a #6 Reset Users Permissions and that will set all the ownership to that account.
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
Another method is to copy the entire folder, then change it's permissions.

Migration Assistant Won't Recognize External Hard Drive

I have a PowerPC G5 and made a bootable backup of the computer's content to an external firewire hard drive. I tested the backup to make sure that it booted and everything was fine. So, I then did a clean install of Leopard to the machine. After the computer restarted, I reconnected my external drive and it mounted fine. However, when I went to use Migration Assistant to bring over all of my applications, it would not recognize the hard drive as an option to migrate files from.
The hard drive is formatted as Apple Partition Map, and works fine as a bootable copy. Does anyone know why Migration Assistant will not recognize it?
I recently did a clean install of Leopard on my Macbook this weekend using a different external drive with a bootable backup of the drive (GUID formatted) and then used the migration assistant to move all of my files and everything worked just fine.
I can't find any reason that I shouldn't be able to get my applications through migration assistant from the external hard drive but maybe someone knows how to fix this or of a workaround.

Very curious, indeed.
Welcome to the Apple forums where we do try to sort things out
Your delineation of the problem and comparison to your MBP is perfect.
I migrated my G5 from a second internal disk, but actually used the setup assistant when Leopard came alive.
You might see what happens if you eject your external HD and then do what you need to to connect it back (turn off/on - unplug/plug, etc.)
Are there any errors when Migration assistant runs?
It is perhaps that Spotlight is doing its thing and the drive is not available until it is indexed?
I would remove the external HD temporarily from the SpotLight indexing list and then see what happens.
I recall that there were some odd issues with external drives taking up to 1/2 hour to be recognized by Leopard, but I don't recall why.
I am not sure these things will help, but they will eliminate some of the possibilities, and when we have eliminated the probable, what is left is where the answer lies
I wonder if Leopard is confused by the external drive not being GUID?
Try this - - connect the GUID external drive to your G5 and see if Migration assistant sees it. Obviously do not migrate anything, but if you can see that one, we may have a solution.
Keep us posted.

Migration Assistant won't see external hard drive

I have just done a clean install of Leopard onto my MacBook Pro, previously running Tiger. Now, I want to migrate my old user and programs from a backed up volume on an external firewire hard drive. The problem is that Migration Assistant won't recognize my external hard drive.
I have no other problem mounting or reading the external hard drive from leopard.
Could the problem be that the external drive has the Apple partition map instead of GUID as reported here? http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1329665
Any suggestion, solutions or work arounds are gratefully appreciated.

That isn't a valid link to your picture (it's a link to the file on your computer). You would need to post it to a serve (and remove the spaces in the name) and post that link here.
However it would appear that your short name is 'dalechristiansen' so presumably you originally created a user with that short name and your full name as.. the full name (unless it was just 'Dale'. Whatever you did before when you created your account is what you should do now. Then you can copy the equivalent folder's contents. (You might have problems replacing some of the root level folders, in which case you shuld copy their contents into the equivalent folders).

Macbook Pro: Migration Assistant not connecting to external hard drive? Help!

I've had my hard drive re partitioned today and all my data was dragged onto an external hard drive.
The genius guy said to connect the drive & use migration assistant to transfer everything.
I understand I could drag and drop files but I want everything to be done properly through migration assistant but it won't pick up the external drive , however it's files are accessable through finder. Migration assistant just constantly gives me the message, 'looking for computer'.
Why is this? Could someone help? I'd be really greatful!
Thanks,
Joe

Pondini wrote:
The genius guy . . . isn't.
Tell me that isn't possible

Migration assistant does not recognize external hard drive

I just had a new hard drive placed in my computer, and am trying to restore my old data using an external hard drive and migration assistant. However, after I click on transfer from time machine or disk, the external hard drive is not recognized. Help.

Boot into Recovery from the backup drive by holding down the option key at the startup chime. Select Restore from Time Machine. If that doesn't work, install OS X and then follow the prompts to transfer your data from a backup. If that too doesn't work, set up an account and then restore your data in the time-travel interface.

Can't find External Hard Drive on Finder

My external hard drive is no longer visible on the desktop, or in the finder. It appears to still be working, because my sons' iTunes accounts (located on the external) are both working fine. How can I make it appear again?
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Message was edited by: cvw2

I'm having a similar...but slightly different problem.
My external drives (both firewire and usb connected) are showing up just fine in Finder...and I'm able to do all the normal things that I can do on them (moving things around, adding things, copying things, re-naming folders, etc..etc..etc).
BUT, what Finder has indeed stopped doing, is it has stopped showing search results for anything that is located IN these external drives.
For instance, my externals are where ALL of my music is kept. I do a lot of dj'ing, and therefore have quite a bit of music digitized (around 400 gigs)...so I've never kept music on my internal hard drive on the laptop. As well, I have another external USB drive that serves as my hard drive for dj'ing. It goes out with me to gigs, and my dj software reads from it (because music that I would actually play out at gigs is only a percentage of my overall music library, and I certainly don't want to be lugging my main music library hard drive around town all the time).
Anyway, at various times, I end up searching for song files, or album folders, or whatever in Finder...and it has (out of the blue) completely stopped "finding" things in the external drives.
Quite baffling.
Has this happened to anyone else....and/or does anyone know how to fix this?
Thank you!!!
cheers.

Can't find external hard drive for time machine restore

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Hi,
I've had an external hard drive for my mac now for over a year. It's been working wonderfully, however, recently the hard drive can no longer be recognized by my mac. It doesn't come up in the Disky Utility and it doesn't come up in System Profiler. Naturally, there's a lot of stuff on there I want to keep. How can I get this thing mounted again?

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