MIgration assistant doesn't detect my Time Machine external drive

Hello.
I just upgraded to Snow Leopard (cleaning first the Mac HD).
After installing SL, I then used the Migration assistant to restore all my previous files and applications previously backed up with Time Machine.
In the Migration Assistant I selected the Time Machine option, and my surprise was not to find my external hard drive in the hard drives list. The only drive that appeared on the list was the Mac HD.
The external Hard Drive can be selected with the finder but not possible though the Migration assistant.
Note: External HD has 2 partitions, one for Time Machine and other with extra data.
PLease help!!!!
Thanks
Pedro

Hi - I am trying to use Migration Assistant on a MacBook Pro to transfer my files from a La Cie external hard drive - which has all my files back up from a 2005 mac book (photos, music etc) The migration assistant does not recognise the LaCie Hard Drive although it is connected to the MacBook via a cable and I can see it on the desk top.
What did the last response mean when the hard drive needed to be formatted a certain way ? Why wouldn't migration assistant just recognise the files directly from an old mac ?

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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

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.

Hello I bought my wife a new MacBook Pro, in setting it up for her, I took her Time Machine external drive to migrate onto the new machine but her old MBP not only was on 10.6, it was my old machine which I was still Administrator for. i plugged in the

Hello
I bought my wife a new MacBook Pro, in setting it up for her, I took her Time Machine external drive to migrate onto the new machine but her old MBP not only was on 10.6, it was my old machine which I was still Administrator for.
i plugged in the external drive to start the migration process after entering her name and username from the old machine which gave me the options on transferring the old data over.
I also unchecked the Administrative end that had my info hoping that ONLY her data, files, etc., would be the ones sent over to her new machine which I wanted her to be the ONLY Administrator for. All went like clockwork until the restart.
Normally the screen should show the username and only need the password but both entries were blank, as in ‘Other’ sign in option available only. I entered her name and password, nothing….used her username and password, nothing. Used my old Administrator name and password, NOTHING!
I tried defaulting to factory settings from the Restore feature but it directs me to notify Apple. I tried in Terminal to change the password, nothing. I tried to boot from MY external drive and it doesn’t recognize it. I tried to even use my external drive which actually has the Mavericks upgrade, nothing!
Basically I can only get the startup screen which isn’t accepting the username/password or the Restore feature which doesn’t offer any options helpful!
Please, how do I start from scratch and start over here? Or simply change the Administrator name and password so I can proceed with everything thats already on there? I wish I could even boot from another drive but no luck on anything!

First, on the old machine, make your wife's account an admin one. Log into it and delete yours. Then, update the TM backup. Finally, use Internet recovery mode, ⌘⌥R, erase the HD, and restore the OS. One first boot, follow the steps outlined in Pondini's Setup New Mac guide.

How do I restore the entire system from a Time Machine external drive?

Hello everyone,
Up front - I have searched through numerous threads but have not yet been able to solve my problem - even though it is presumably easy for many.
So... I had to bring in my late 2009 27" iMac to Apple to replace the hard drive - mine was one of the thousands affected by the defective Seagate 1 TB disk recall. I was told that the disk would be cloned, but nevertheless I made a full system backup with Time Machine to a dedicated external hard drive.
A week later and I now have my iMac back - but when I boot, I only see a white screen with a pointer, so it appears that the drive was not cloned - but that I now have a blank 1 TB disk, correct?
I have also tried booting with the external drive attached, thinking that the dedicated Time Machine external drive would allow me to boot directly from it and restore the system if need be - I booted with CMD+R, tried again with ALT ... no luck.
And I cannot find my Mac OS DVDs...
So... is the drive blank, or am I missing something here?
If so, how can I boot from the external Time Machine drive, or is that not possible either?
Any pointers greatly appreciated, thanks very much in advance.

Call Apple to get replacement DVDs > http://support.apple.com/kb/HE57
1. Insert the Mac OS X DVD and press C key while your computer is starting.
2. Go to Utilities menu and restore the backup.
You should have made a clone instead of the backup because Apple gives the hard disk without OS X

I need to erase my hard drive and start anew, will time Machine(external drive) and all the discs I got with my computer be enough to restart things

I need to erase my hard drive and start anew, will time Machine(external drive) and all the discs I got with my computer be enough to restart things. And secondly does RAM memory cards go bad. Here's the info on my IMac:
Model Name:          iMac
Model Identifier:          iMac6,1
Processor Name:          Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed:          2.16 GHz
Number Of Processors:          1
Total Number Of Cores:          2
L2 Cache:          4 MB
Memory:          3 GB
Bus Speed:          667 MHz
Boot ROM Version:          IM61.0093.B07
SMC Version (system):          1.10f2

I need to erase my hard drive and start anew
Why do you feel you need to do this? That is such a 'Windows thing' to do!
And secondly does RAM memory cards go bad
Very rarely, but nothing in life is guaranteed (except death and taxes)! If you purchased RAM from a reputable source like Crucial or OWC it will carry a lifetime warranty.

My hard drive died. How can I start my computer with my Time Machine external drive?

My hard drive died. How can I start my computer with my Time Machine external drive?

Pondini wrote:
If you're on 10.7.2, yes, you can boot from the TM drive.
Beep, beep, beep....
Hold ON! Getting a call on the red phone.
"Yes...yes.... ok!"
It's confirmed, H.e.l.l. has finally frozen over! TM drives are now bootable!
Still it's not a real bootable clone, can't run the computer off the external drive for long in only Recovery mode, still requires the boot drive to be replaced if it not functional, and with TM backing up every hour, isn't going to offer much software protection as the TM drive is just as likely to be as messed up as the internal boot drive.
For a iMac it still requires the computer to be taken in to Apple for a drive replacement, as ONLY Apple can do it due to proprietary connections and firmware on the iMac hard drives.
But it is bootable!
The backup time factor can be controlled using TimeMachine Editor, from every hour to just when the user thinks it's necessary.
Apple lurches slightly forward! Hurray!
Question is, can one restore from earlier stable TM's or just the last one? In this bootable fashion?

Lion time machine - external drive spin up causing apps to crash

I have a 1TB external drive set up for time machine backups on my 27" iMac running Lion 10.7.3 that seems to be causing my Adobe CS 5.5 suite of apps (photoshop in partiucular) to crash as the drive spins up. If an adobe application or lion/time machine is asking the drive to spin up I have no idea, but it seems random, and when it does, the adobe app(s) freeze and the beach ball from **** just spins. All other applications remain uneffected which leads me to believe it's related to a scratch disk function of some sort. I've googled high and low to find an scrap on insight into this issue and have found nothing...
Few questions:
• Why does the time machine external drive randomly spin up even though there are no backup processes running?
• Why would an adobe app would need to access an external drive?
Before anyone says it, I know I can always just eject the drives, but I'd rather keep my backups running for obvious reasons. If a complete wipe and install is the only solution recommended by the doctor, I will. It's just maddening to regularly loose work. Any help is greatly appreciated!
iMac: Mid 2010 27"
Processor 2.8 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics ATI Radeon HD 5750 1024 MB
Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3 (11D50)
Adobe CS 5.5
Photoshop CS5 / v12.1 x64
Illustrator CS5 / v15.1.0
InDesign CS5.5 / v7.5.2
External Drives
Firewire800: 2TB Hitachi G-Drive: http://www.g-technology.com/products/g-drive.cfm
USB: 1TB Western Digital MyPassport 0730

Set the TM drive not to spin down, I think there is a setting in the system preferences.
Could be the G drive feature,
consider making option key bootable clone drives
Most commonly used backup methods explained

Migration Assistant doesn't allow me to choose what drive.

Well, I got my new computer. I tried to migrate a drive from my old computer using Migration Assistant. and it doesn't allow me to choose what drive.
In my old computer I have 5 drives. The original HD (was 10GB, was replaced last year by a 40 GB) and on my Hitachi 250 GB drive that I added 2 years ago, there's a partition with 4 drives.
I wanted to migrate one particular drive from there (called Current work).
First I did a mistake. I connected both computer via the firewire in the afternoon when there was enough daylight so I don't have to do it later at night (the computers are under the table.) I thought it's OK since I'm not pushing any button yet ("migrate now", "transfer", and such).
I turned on the new computer and a message appeared: you must restart.
That's strange, I said to myself. it's a brand new computer. Usually It says that when there's a problem, but OK I restart and when it's back on, I see that my external drive (Neptune from OWC which was still hooked up in the old computer) is on the desktop. And it took just a few seconds. I open it and all the files, etc. are there. It did copy the whole external drive !
I'm not an computer expert but I believe the Mac Pro did notice that's there's a firewire hooked up and then, without asking me, migrated the external drive and that's why it asked me to restart. I would have prefer if it tells me "restart so migration can begin".
I don't mind for now that my external drive is on my new computer. I can always erase it if I don't want it. It is still external right ? so it doesn't intrude on the 640 GB of my HD so I just keep it.
But it also copied/migrate Mac HD 40 GB which is full of OS 9 and I almost never use it anymore. I don't want it coz it has applications and they advise not to migrate applications (certainly not applications with issues).
They say migrate folders, settings but re-install applications.
And it migrated also another drive called "Scratch" which has only personal date no system, no software.
Anyway, I erased everything and re-installed using the Install disk that came with the computer.
BTW, what they say in the manual (p. 90: Re-installing the software that came with your Mac Pro) is different than what really happens.
They say insert disk, double- click on Install and then click options in the "Select a destination" pane of the installer. Then click "erase and install" Problem is: there's no "Select a destination" pane. Or any options.
I had to go to Disk utility and erase, then re-install OS X.
Then re-install the applications using "Install applications" (the other disc that came with the computer. )
OK, I did that. Then while everything is empty, new, I used Migration Assistant.
Now here is the reason why I post this.
They say hold T key until you see a firewire icon then select a drive. I can't see when there's an icon coz I have only one monitor, so I just hold and hold the T-key and turn on the old computer. The screen shows "waiting for you other computer to restart" 2 min.... 5 min... 7 min. Nothing happens. I stop holding.
I look at the desktop and I see that the icon of the old 40 GIG Mac HD is there. (and I believe with a firewire logo, but not sure about that.)
I have the impression that if I kept the T-key longer it would have migrate the other drives as well.
They say keep the T-key down until you see the firewire (then let go I suppose. As I said I don't see what's going on on the desktop of my old computer so I kept the T-key for a few minutes. I also tried another time to let go after 1-2 min. No difference.
I shut down the new comp. and the old computer screen appears automatically (both are connected to the monitor; the old with analog port, the new with digital port) and sure enough the firewire icon is moving on the screen.
I go back to the new computer and put the old 40 GIG Mac HD in the trash. Actually, when it touched the trash, I just saw an eject icon and the drive disappear. Did not go in the trash which is empty. So I guess I ejected, not sure what's the difference but I looked for it to see if it's anywhere in the computer. Could not find it. Not in the HD, not in the desktop. Good, I don't want it there. Is it hidden somewhere ?
So I tried again but wondering perhaps the old computer should RESTART not turn on (it was off) so now I wait until it's on, then push restart. I hear the gong when it shuts off but that's it, no other gong when it comes back. I keep the T-key. But nothing happened. Just see the message "waiting for your other computer to restart"
PS: BTW Target mode (which seems to me similar to Migrating with "Migration Assistant") will not work for me because it must be SATA, mine is ATA.
I didn't try but read that it has to be SATA.
Is it the same ? In migrating they say hold down the T-key (T for target)
And how come that my 40GB HD which is ATA did migrate (not that I wanted too but still).
Also, this drive ("Current Work") that I want to migrate to the new computer is in my external drive. Can't I just drag it ? If it has only personal data, files and folders I know I can, but It has system (OS X) and applications. It's the one I use and boot on, in my old G4 but I want to transfer Files and folders and settings, so the new computer will know what are my Safari preferences, Automatic fill-in, and perhaps it will move my iTunes music Library too ?
Basically everything except applications. Although I would like my Nikon scanner to be in the new computer as well as the LaCie DVD recorder but I guess I can do that later, separately ?
What are the settings or info I need ? Because if it's just Safari preferences, automatic fill-in and other such small thing, it might be better to just do it again in the new comp and forget about the hassle of migrating.

Try getting into Windows and then plugging in the Superdrive. The drive will only be attached to one OS or the other, not both.

Mavericks doesn't mount my Time Machine backup drive

Since I downloaded and installed Mavericks, it can't find my external Time Machine backup drive. Not found by disk utilites - not on my desk top.

I had a similar issue but I think I've solved it (temporarily atleast). You can try this and see if it works for you.
I restarted my MacBook with the external drive still plugged in. Once the system restarted, it ran the file-system check process (i.e. fsck_hfs process under Activity Monitor. If you're wondering what it does or why it utilizes a lot of CPU, here is some information: https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/ man8/fsck_hfs.8.html).
It ran the process for about 10 to 15 minutes (probably depends on your external drive size) and then Time Machine recognized the backup and just completed a backup minutes ago.
If you're interested in more information about the make of my MacBook, external drive and the problem I had, continue reading:
I've a 500GB WD My Passport with two partitions: Mac-Journaled partition for Time Machine backups and a FAT-32 partition for other stuff. My computer is a late-2009 white MacBook on which I've been running Mavericks since mid-October.
Yesterday I noticed that though both partitions showed up, the backup partition was orange and not green (which is the color usually) and the backup hadn't started automatically. I manually selected the partition in Time Machine and the backup began.
But today when I connected the external drive, only the FAT-32 partition showed up. The backup partition was not to be found anywhere other than the Disk Utility, where it was greyed out. The Repair Disk/Erase Disk didn't work (even when I did that in the boot screen after using the Command+R). I tried to earse the whole disk and partition it but even that was unsuccessful.
So that's when I restarted my MacBook with the external drive plugged in. My two cents: keep another backup (flash drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, or a good old DVD) of very important information.

The Migration Assistant can not find my Time Machine Backup

Hello,
I had to reinstall Mountain Lion on my iMac. So I made a fresh backup with TM on friday, everything was fine with it.
Then I formated my HD and installed 10.8.2 from the AppStore. After setting up the Admin-Account I opended the Migration Assistant
to migrate my User Account from the TM-Backup, but it is not showing up. There are 4 backups on the Time Capsule, but only 3 are
showing up. And for sure it is mine, which is missing. :-(
When I start in Revorery-Mode and choose to set up the iMac from a Time Machine Backup, the latest Backup is from the 1. of November,
which I really don't want to use right now.
Would be very nice to get some help in here.
Thank you

No, both the backup and the new system are OSX10.6.
I'm afraid your solution doesn't work. If I go through finder and open up the folders on the backup, and try, for example, to open my "Movies" folder (which is one I dearly hope to recover), I get a message that:
"The folder "Movies" can't be opened because you don't have permission to see its contents."
I have tried Repair Permissions, but this doesn't help. All of the important folders have a little red stop sign on them.
Thanks though.

Migration assistant cant see files on time machine backup

Hi all,
I just bought a new 27" iMac, and wanted to transfer files from a time machine backup i have on an external drive, from my old machine.
I dident try this on the first setup, but waitet till i had configured it first, so i use migration assistant.
I startet migration assistant just fine, and it could se my time machine backup(1)
Heres the problem
when i select the backup i want to use and click continue, all i get is a little white box under the imac icon(2).
It whont show me a list of things to transfer. Please help.
Bonus info
I tride to use disk utility to repair my disk, but no luck there.
when i select the drive, it whont let me repair disk permissions, no matter what disk i choose.(3)
I am able to access and mount the time machine image, browes the backup and copy files manually.

No, both the backup and the new system are OSX10.6.
I'm afraid your solution doesn't work. If I go through finder and open up the folders on the backup, and try, for example, to open my "Movies" folder (which is one I dearly hope to recover), I get a message that:
"The folder "Movies" can't be opened because you don't have permission to see its contents."
I have tried Repair Permissions, but this doesn't help. All of the important folders have a little red stop sign on them.
Thanks though.

Migration assistant doesn't detect my HDD.

There were some problems on my Dad's MacBook. After trying to solve the problems (including, going to the support service of the shop he bought the Mac), I decided to get lost of all the data and to reinstall the Leopard on the computer.
So first I made a Time Machine backup on a external HDD, before I reinstalled Leopard on it.
Then I connected my HDD (LaCie 320GB) to the MacBook. I saw the symbol on my desktop.
He asked if I wanted to use this HDD for Time Machine Backups, I canceled.
Than I opened Migration Assistant, but when he wanted me to choose from which HD I wanted to copy all my stuff, there was only MacIntosh HD, the internal HD of the MacBook.
For some reason he didn't detect my HDD, although it was on my Desktop.
Does anyone know how comes? What to do?
Are there other possilities to copy the old stuff from the HDD to the MacBook?
Thanks in advance!
PS: MacBook, 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, Mac OS X 10.5.4

Hello
Migration Assistant looks for an installed Operating System. Your TM backup on the external drive is just an archive that Migration Assistant cannot access, and so it does not see it.
You could have made a clone using SuperDuper and migration assistant would see that and be able to work with it, but alas, not the TM archive.
Another thing you could have done and could still do is reinstall the TM backup using the Install DVD and selecting Restore from the TM Backup. Much like you did, but use the Time Machine backup as the source of the files, and that would have put everything back as it was.

Migration Assistant Does not see my Time Machine Backup disk

I have a TM backup disk connected via Firewire that I have several months of backup on. I did a clean install of SL. When I went to restore using Migration Assistant, the MI does not show the TM backup disk. The disk is mounted and visible through the finder. Time Machine itself sees the disk just fine. But when I run MI, the only drive it shows me is the one where the new SL is installed.
I found another post describing the same situation and the solution there said to make sure that the TM disk is formatted the same way, ie GUID. I check with Disk Utility and both the SL volume and the TM volume are formatted GUID.
HELP!

sorry, i don't know what else it could be then. if you have another external drive you can try doing a full system restore from the TM backups onto that drive and see if MA will recognize that drive and migrate from it. other than this there is always manual migration. slow and tedious but it can be done. see this link for help with that
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6185507

Migration assistant can not find a time machine back-up

I'm attempting to restore data from my old mbp to my new mbp 15". I hook up my time machine back-up from the old mbp and open migration asst. Get throught the windows till it attempts to find my time machine - just hangs up here.
Any ideas to try would be appreciated.
John

No, both the backup and the new system are OSX10.6.
I'm afraid your solution doesn't work. If I go through finder and open up the folders on the backup, and try, for example, to open my "Movies" folder (which is one I dearly hope to recover), I get a message that:
"The folder "Movies" can't be opened because you don't have permission to see its contents."
I have tried Repair Permissions, but this doesn't help. All of the important folders have a little red stop sign on them.
Thanks though.

MIgration assistant doesn't detect my Time Machine external drive

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