Migration Assistant difficulties

Hello
I have just bought my first Macbook Pro and would like to transfer all the data and settings as quickly and easily as possible. I was advised in the Apple store top connect my old PC to my Mac with an ethernet cable and use migration assistant to transfer data etc. I have tried this and my Mac cannot see my PC and vice versa. Has anybody got any tips for a very frustrated user.
Cheers
Cashy

Have a read here http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/Setup.html
Stefan

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HT5097 How do I find my files after a TC restore using Migration Assistant?

How do I find my TC backup?
My difficulties started with my MacBook Pro going totally dead. Took it to the Apple Store, where they identified a problem with the RAM. They fixed it, and also reinstalled Lion, but without my applications - Pages, iPhoto, my documents etc.
When I got back home, I used Migration Assistant, which I found in Utilities, connected to the Time Capsule with an Ethernet cable, and it said at the end that it had transferred all my info. During the process I had to create another ID. I added a "1" to my old id, of course...easiest thing to do....and then I changed the Login procedure so I could switch to that user ID. I'm not sure that worked, because when my MacBook Pro went to sleep, I found the original icon, rather than the one for the name1 name. So that may be part of the problem, but I don't know.
Anyway, then I entered Time Machine, but all that is there is the last few days/hours of activity.
I don't know much about computers, but I think that the new name1 user ID and the restored data may be linked somewhere and if I could just find it perhaps this would get resolved.
I can see the applications now, but when I look for, for example, Pages documents, there is nothing there. Ditto for iPhoto. For iPhoto I also tried file>import, which brought in some old files from MobileMe, but not the photos I had on my MacBook.
I would prefer not to have the name/name1 and just have everything back as it was, but I don't know how to do that either.
Hope someone can help me! Many thanks!!!

Never mind! I finally figured out - duh - that if I logged out and then logged in under the new name1 ID, I could find everything! HOOORAY!

Migration Assistant from a backup disk...

Is it possible upon first booting (or subsequently) to import the user account from a FireWire disk? I mean, it is so easy to import from another Mac with Migration Assistant but is there no similar way to import from a backup disk?
I'v done it the hard way by dragging and dropping the files but it seems like the permissions are always messed up and need time-consuming repair. It is also very difficult getting the preferences to be accepted while the application is already running.
Hoping there is an easy way, because I prefer to wipe the hard disk and install freshly.

no, MA will not understand that. then you'll have to migrate things by hand. check out this [link|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6185507] for a list of things to move.

How to recover Mail and Mail Downloads when you can't use Migration Assistant

I have a MacBook 2.4gHz that had a 750GB HD that crashed yesterday. Disk Utility said "This Hard Drive has failed, recover or backup what you can, then reformat." So, I removed the 750GB HD and replaced the original 160GB HD and reinstalled OS 10.7 on that Drive. I put the 750GB HD in an external case and hooked it up by USB (only available hookup with my external case). I can see all my content and tried to use Migration Assistant, but it hangs up at "preparing content to transfer." So, I decided I would have to drag all the old content onto my new user on the internal HD. I moved Movies, Pictures, Desktop, Documents, Music, and Downloads. However, I can't move any of the parts of the hidden User Library, primarily because I can't find or see it.
My question is how to access the User Library in a non-bootable (although having OS 10.7 installed) External HD. I've tried the ~/Library/ in Go>Go to Folder, but it goes to the running HD User folder, not the external. Can anyone tell me how to crack into this folder? I'd like to retrieve preferences, mailboxes, address book, etc.
I realize it could be lost, but literally everything else is still present. FYI: I plan to hang onto the 750 until the replacement HD arrives, so I can be reminded what Applications I had installed. There isn't room for all of those on the smaller HD.
Thanks,
Ronda

Update: I managed to get Migration Assistant to move something, but it didn't work out as I expected. Because I've already installed the OS and some applications that I need, as well as copying over most of the user files except the library, there wasn't much room left on the smaller disk. I purchased the firewire 9pin to 6pin cable that would allow me to use the firewire port on the external drive and selected the main user. There wasn't enough room to move all of the user, so I selected only the "Other Files" folder (about 2 GB), not all the items I had already copied. I set that to install last night at 9:32pm. At 4:00am it said there was still 10 hrs and 29 minutes to go. My husband checked it at 6:45am and it said 19 more minutes. When he arrived home at 4:30pm, it was finished. When I arrived home and logged out of the administrator and in to the main user, immediately it showed my desktop with all the folders that I had placed in the sidebar of the Finder window and everything looked exactly like it had on Monday before the crash, then the beachball started spinning and when it finally came up for air, all those folders were gone, my dock appearance was gone and everything was back to the bland new user settings that Mac OS starts with.
My mail file did get moved over with its thousands of messages, but not mail uploads nor the desktop appearance settings and it doesn't appear that any other settings have migrated either. It's difficult to tell, since I can't install my applications on the smaller drive.
The replacement drive from WD arrived, but it is a 2TB "upgrade" and it doesn't even fit in my MacBook, so I have to send that back and wait longer.
I'm still trying to recover my appearance, and combine the various users into one. If anyone has suggestions on how to get the mail uploads folder, preferences, etc. I'd love to hear them.

Migration Assistant stalls: Solutions and tips

As a long-time Mac user and fairly competent OS X guru, I was not a happy camper when I found myself floundering through the process of migrating my 2007 MacBook Pro with OS X 10.7 to a brand-new MacBook Pro with OS X 10.8 this weekend. What was even more frustrating than serial freezes of the Migration Assistant was the lack of a clear roadmap to solving the problem. Fortunately I'm the persistent and methodical type, so I DID solve the problem and figured it was worth taking the time to write up some tips for future sufferers who might feel as though the only solution is to throw up their hands, take both machines to the Mac store, and fork over $99 to have them keep the machines for several days to do what ought to be easy.
1. Buy a Firewire cable that fits both of your Macs. 2007 and later MacBook Pros have the 9-pin socket as well as a 6-pin socket. The 9-pin to 9-pin cable works just fine. I think a 6-pin to 9-pin ought to work but haven't yet tested.
2. When you first start up your new machine, DO NOT go through the standard migration process. Just set up a temporary admin account as if it were a new machine that you were not going to migrate. Don't use your usual account name or the name of any account that's on your old machine -- just set up a temporary account that you can delete later if you don't need it. Oh, and a word to the wise: don't use a stupid password just because this is a temporary account! You might forget to delete that account and leave the whole machine vulnerable in case it got out of your hands.
3. Once you've got your new machine all booted up, do a Software Update. OS X 10.8 was installed on my system, but the current version is 10.8.2. What I didn't know (and no one at the Apple Store told me even after I had problems) was that 10.8.1 contained a fix for Migration Assistant freezes. Why I couldn't learn that by searching the Apple database I haven't the foggiest -- it's the kind of thing that ought to be front and center and well-known by all Apple Geniuses, don't you think? But now you DO know: update your machine before running Migration Assistant and you'll save yourself a lot of time and frustration. BTW, I could not do this through the Apple Store: 10.8.2 requires 10.8.1, so I had to search for the 10.8.1 update, install that one, and then download 10.8.2 and install that, restarting the system after each install. Sooner or later there will be a cumulative update, so if you're reading this sometime in the future it might not be so difficult. But it's always good policy to get the OS to the current level before trying anything fancy.
4. Once your software is all updated, turn off wi-fi on both machines. Migrating via wi-fi seems to be the default, and you could spend many, many hours waiting for that to happen. Turn off the wi-fi and plug in your Firewire to connect the machines. Theoretically this process also ought to work by plugging both machines into the same Ethernet router, but I haven't tested that yet either.
5. Start the Migration Assistant on your new machine. (Just type "Migration" into the Spotlight box and you'll find it). Tell it that you'd like to migrate "from a Time Machine backup or other hard drive" rather than from another computer. That's not strictly true, but that's what you have to choose to make the Firewire work. Then start the Migration Assistant on the old machine and wait for the new one to find the old one via Firewire. Duh, that one took me a while to figure out, and I only stumbled across it after the two machines connected via Firewire couldn't find each other and I threw up my hands and connected the old Time Machine backup to the new machine and restarted the process to try to migrate via TIme Machine backup. I hadn't disconnected the Firewire, and the two machines found each other on that connection within seconds. I'm sure Firewire was far faster than doing the same task via USB drive would have been!
6. Having already had the process stall on me several times, I was cautious about how much I wanted to migrate at a time. So I first did only "Applications," and then restarted the Migration Assistant to do "Settings," "Users," and finally the rest of my files. Each one took a while (several hours, with files being an overnight run - I have a LOT of stuff), but the results were just about perfect except for a couple of apps that didn't quite get all re-installed. I imagine that you could do it all in one go if you wanted to -- I'd just been burned too many times to want to try that :-)
7. One other tip: if your migration DOES hang, don't hestitate to CMD-Q and kill it on both machines. It doesn't hurt a thing although it may leave some partial (and non-functional) accounts hanging around. I haven't gone back to look for those yet, but eventually I will and I imagine they'll be pretty easy to clean up. And of course the corollary is that you can run the Migration Assistant as many times as you like, even importing apps and users from multiple machines if you like. Kind of useful if you're consolidating machines.
Hope this helps anyone who has similar problems now or in the future. After Thanksgiving I'm going to try migrating an old iMac running 10.6.8 to a new Mac Mini by connecting them both to the router since I don't have a 6-9 Firewire cable. I'll pop in to update this posting and we'll all have a bit more generic feedback on the best way to use that Migration Assistant. Sheesh, maybe the Apple Geniuses will all read this and be able to better advise their customers and keep those loyal folks who have used Macs for many years and are willing to do their own migrating from running into the same brick walls that I managed to find.

It may have completed the migration. Have you logged out and then looked for a new user account to see if your migration was completed?

Migration assistant now seeing my User file only back ups on my time machine, nor am I able to drag the entire user folder to my new desktop.

I cannot recover my system on a clean install when I try to either use migration assistant or drag and drop of my backed up user profile. I did not back up anything else. I can see the file on my external drive but migration assitant does not see it as a restore and when I drag and drop the file to my desktop, the system informs me I do not have permissions to transfer all of the files.
What can I do?
Any help would be very much appreciated.
Thanks,
Persol

persol19 wrote:
Yes, there were no system files included. Soley the items that are incopassed within the user file.
Rats. It's awful that Apple doesn't warn folks about that.
Since I am not able to use them as backups, what is the best way to restore all of my previous preferences, calenders, notes, adressbook, etc.?
Would it be best to replace each file in the library of the new machine with the coresponding folders of the new machine?
That's going to be difficult, but is about your only option (assuming you have no other backups).
Part of the hassle is, you have to do it "piecemeal" -- you can't just delete the old home folder, or any of the "default" sub-folders (Desktop, Documents, etc.), and drag in the one from your backups -- you'll get a message about it being a required folder, so you can't delete it.
So you'll have to do it with the contents of the sub-folders.
Make a large pot of coffee.
For future reference, many long-time users consider a good backup plan to start with a minimum of two full backups, via two different apps, on two different pieces of hardware. These should be updated regularly.
For "primary" backups, Time Machine (built in to OSX) is quite good. You might want to review the Time Machine Tutorial, and perhaps browse Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.
#27 in the FAQ link has some suggestions for "secondary" backups.

Tips for Restoring Without Migration Assistant?

I'm upgrading my HD this week and looking for a humane way to restore my data without using Migration Assistant, used for the past five restorations...corrupt files and all. I long for a fresh start but dread the old, tedious method of restoring data by hand. Is there an easier way? If not is there a guide for what settings files I can safely bring over and what to avoid? I'll have a bootable SuperDuper or CarbonCopy Cloner backup.

I'm actually with you 100% on this baltwo. There really is very little that can't be resolved with a fresh reinstall of Snow Leopard's default installation. So the options are as follows starting with the easiest and progressing to the more difficult:
A. Clone the legacy OS & User Accounts back over to the new drive, followed by a default SL Install + Software Update to freshen the OS if so desired.
B. Install the OS and use Migration Assistant to restore all User Accounts and Applications.
C. Install the OS and use Migration Assistant to restore ONLY user data (Photos, Music, Videos, Documents, etc...). Followed by reinstalling all 3rd-party apps and manually configuring all previous settings (i.e preferences & networking).
D. Install the OS and manually moving only desired user data and reinstalling all 3rd-party apps and manually configuring all previous settings (NOTE: This option is reserved for only the most extreme circumstances as it involves a serious commitment of time and introduces the potential for permissions issue when trying to integrate legacy user data with a virgin user account).
Like baltwo, I have never had to perform options D, and option C perhaps only once. My user accounts, and all of their data, have successfully been migrated across some 5 Macs since the option to do so was introduced. I believe I still have some data within my primary user account that was generated back in the OS 8 & 9 days.
Rest assured, when problems arise they are rarely the result of data found within your user account and are more likely the result of corrupt OS or App files. As a result I have never hesitated to migrate my complete user account over when I upgraded my Mac. OS Software and Apps may come and go, but my user account is rock solid and completely portable with the help of Migration Assistant. I think baltwo would agree.

User name - Migration Assistant

Is there a way to change the user name from an old computer when using Migration Assistant to set up a new MBA? I want everything from the old computer, but want to change the user name.

After your computer is all set up, changing the User ID is difficult.... but if you set it up first with your real name and set up a user id that you want first: then you should be able to use the "set up later" option for migration assistant as long as the actual account holder name is the same. You would still be you but with a user name that you desire.
check out the User Guide pdf which you can download from the Apple Support site. I downloaded the user guide for the 11" at<http://support.apple.com/kb/index?page=answerlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmanuals.i nfo.apple.com%2FenUS%2FMacBook_Air_11inch_Late2010_UG.pdf&answerid=16777216&src=supportsite.manuals.search> If you are looking for the 13", you would go to a similar url .... check out the Apple Support > manuals site. I find it simpler to read the user guides on my computer before actually opening an apple notebook box.
Message was edited by: Rhyd

Problems with migration assistant between macbook running leopard and macbook pro on lion

Hi,
I've just got a macbook pro running lion and am having difficulties transferring through a network from a macbook (running latest version of leopard) onto it.
It just keeps telling me to update migration assistant on my macbook, which I've tried doing but it already says it's completely up to date.
I've tried checking that filesharing/firewall etc. is enabled on both.
Does this mean I have to get a firewire cable? What do I need to do?
Thank you for any suggestions.

Turn off your Leopard machine, leave your Lion machine on. Connect your firewire cable between both computers. Start up the Leopard computer and immediately press and hold down the T key until the FireWire icon appears. The hard disk of the Leopard computer should become available to the Lion computer and will likely appear on desktop.

Migration Assistant copied everything, even when unchecked.

My Snow Leopard boot disk had 12 years of accumulated crud, and was running slowly.
So I did a nice clean install of Lion on a fresh partition.
Redid some configuring, like sudoers, Flash, Time machine interval to 4 hours, locate.updatedb, etc.
Wanted my old "Location" info (about a dozin networks).
Gave Migration assistant a try.
Unchecked EVERYTHING except Network Settings:
Perfect. Only 24 KB. Probably just a couple of .plist files.
What could go wrong? I'm running from a non-admin account.
It copied all the Users.
It copied all the Applications.
It copied all the root level cruft.
My pristine boot drive is burried deeper in crap that the American Constitution.
My backup is a day old, and I worked all day.
Another half a day to undo this mess.
Next time I will find the config file and copy it myself.
But why did it do this?

I entered Time Machine to restore Lion from yesterday's backup
Selecting Lion in the left column left "Restore" grayed out unless I also selected some folders in the right column.
This wouldn't get rid of all the garbage on the disk.
Selecting MyComputer on the left, and Lion on the right looked better.
Started the Restore.
It first deleted all the files on Lion except:
/Volumes/Lion/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi
Everything seemed to get restored except the System folder.
"You can’t copy “System” because it has the same name as another item on the destination volume, and that volume doesn’t distinguish between upper- and lowercase letters in filenames.
So I renamed System to System1 and restored System.
Tried to boot. "Lion" was not offered as a boot volume.
Moved everything from System to System1 except boot.efi which was already there.
Now "Lion" was offered as a boot volume, but wouldn't boot.
Ran Disk Utility repair disk on Lion.
"Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required."
Still won't boot.
Oh!
There is no private. no var. usr. dev. nada.
I have overestimated Time Machine.
This is more difficult than it should be.
Reinstalling, and then Restoring from Time Machine should work.
Will sleep in it first.

Migration Assistant from 10.4.10 to 10.5.4...

Just bought a 24" imac running 10.5.4 & i need to transfer all my apps, prefs, settings, & files from my 17" intel imac.
I know i just use the migration assistant but will it work from tiger to leopard properly? Is there anything i need to be aware of?
cheers

DJstylus wrote:
I know i just use the migration assistant but will it work from tiger to leopard properly?
Yes, it should.
DJstylus wrote:
Is there anything i need to be aware of?
Yes, choose to migrate the first time you boot your new Mac from Setup Assistant. If you don't, you will create a new home folder, making migration more difficult because it will migrate your old Home folder as a new user account and your primary user account will not contain the migrated data.
See this article It's old but still the most comprehensive one I've found.
-mj

Migrating from G5 mac to Mac Book Pro: How to use the Migration Assistant?

Unfortunately, my G5 Mac died with a logic board defect. Fortunately, all the data are preserved as the harddisk is fully working (and ready to migrate)
Now to come to my question: I want to migrate the data from my G5 harddisk to my MacBook Pro using the migration assistant. My major interest is to preserve my preference settings as well as the application support folder within the library folder. Will I run into trouble as some of the applications won´t run properly on Intel Macs or will the migration assistant automatically sort those out. If not, it seems like a lot of manual work I´ll have to do.
How have others done the port from G4/G5 to Intel Macs (additionally, it will be from Tiger to leopard to make things even more complicated)?
Thanks a lot for your help
Wolfgang
Thanks very much for your help
Best regards
Wolfgang
Message was edited by: Wolfgang Fogel

Hi Wolfgang,
Using MA from a PPC to an Intel Mac can give you some trouble down the road. Usually, the problems caused by this are difficult to track down, so you are better off moving selected files manually.
Kappy has written a helpful guide for the PPC to Intel transition, which you can read in this thread:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6630396&#6630396
Hope this helps...

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 assistent, can't find my external HD, help!

I have reinstalled OSX 10.8.6 on my moms Mac mini2,1, 1,83 GHz, 80 Gb harddisc, 2Gb ram, bus 667MHz, to keep the speed fresh. The time machine copy from her mac is on a Iomega external hardisc 160 Gb, the "disctool/help" detects it as Toshiba MK1652GSX Media, physically it has two USB connections. But when I use Migration Assistant it doesn't appear as a option to choose.
On this external harddisc I have a Timemachine copy that goes back to 2008. I can see the harddick on the screen, I can connect the harddisc to Timemachine and it can start to copy and save, I can even copy back my moms documents, but still Migration Assistant can't find it.
I need to migrate all her applications, iPhoto for instance as the most important as well as her I need to migrate her letters and adresses.
What do I do?

Dear MrHoffmann
Maybe it is because I am foreign, that I don't understand correctly, and for that I am very sorry. I can't imagine what a restore of a Time Machine disk is then. And I tried to find out what a scratch disk is, and the online computer dictionary told me it was an external HD, with a space for not permanent files. Maybe I misunderstood that too. Where do I then perform a restore of the backup? And where am I told if the disk is vail and bootable... sorry for my lack of understanding. As I understand I am not able to boot from a Time Machine backup, at least before Lion, and I am talking about Snowleopard. And I am not able to understand Install logs. This just sounds too difficult and far beyond what I am cabable of with my skills. Sorry.
But on the other hand, I like to learn. And I am returning to my moms house for a few days in the end of september. And with me I can bring all kinds of tools to examin her Time Machine disk, extra hardisks, my macbook with the same system and age as my moms old Mac Mini2,1 (2006) and other things, mayby if I can find out excactly what to do, I can find out what was wrong with her Time Machine disk or Migration Assistent, to prevent that from happening again.
Thank you for taking your time to help me :-)
Bodil

Populating MacBook with Migration Assistant?

I've just received a new (to me) MacBook as I upgrade from an older iBook. The MacBook arrived with Lion and MS Office 2011 installed. I used Migration Assistant to move my user files over to the MacBook. All I wanted to do was move these from one machine to the other. Instead, I've ended up with essentially two computers on one. When I boot up I'm greeted with two icons, the MacBook and the iBook. I have to select which to open and use the appropriate password. My documents file on the MacBook is empty, but if I open the iBook icon, everything is there. That's no what I wanted - I don't want to have to be constantly moving between machines, while on the same machine! How do I undo this mess I've made???
And while I'm at it. I wanted to move some of my apps over - like my Adobe CS apps so I could keep the settings rather than do a clean install. But I don't want to move my oder MS Office 2008 apps - woried these would delete the newer 2011 apps??? Worse I'll end up with MSOffice 08 on the iBook partition and Office '11 on the MacBook. MA apparently won't let me select specific apps to move, and I don't want to delete them from the older iBook, so any suggestions?
How do I undo this ibook/macbook mess I've created on the MacBook? Then can I move selected apps over (or can I at least move all apps and then delete the older ones I don't want on the MacBook?)

Make every effort NOT to use a network connection in order to perform a migration. It is very much preferable to use a Time Machine backup. It will be much faster, and less prone to difficulties. More info here.
There is a silver lining to your difficulty. It has permitted you this chance.
BTW, is this a new Macbook Air? If so, Setup Assistant would be the way to go. I would even consider a re-install of OS X if the unit has nothing on it. Migration Assistant will in the end take longer, and be more of a headache for this one situation. This only applies to a brand new unit.

Migration Assistant difficulties

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