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.

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Migration assistant can't see time machine disk

New hard drive to replace broken one - Migration Assistant doesn't see the external hard drive with my time machine backup, even though it mounts to the desktop... Anyone else had this problem? Using a MacBook pro with OSX 10.8.4

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 Time Machine volume

I'm moving from a MacBook Pro running 10.6.8 to a MBP running 10.7.5. I thought this would be pretty simple ... just attach my Snow Leopard Time Machine external drive to the Lion MBP and run Migration Assistant.
But when I go through the MA steps, MA does not see my TM drive. I've made sure I have the latest upgrades and have run Disk Utility's First Aid on the TM drive.
Ideas? I know I can try MA with other interfaces but using TM allows me to work on my old computer until my new one is ready.
The TM drive is a 500GB Iomega eGo drive.
Thanks.

jtfey wrote:
I've done Migration Assistant installs before and when MA asks if you're restoring from another computer or a TM drive, and I select TM, the name of the TM drive shows up.
Not if it's directly-connected. It shows the Computer name and the name of the HD that were backed-up, per the sample posted earlier.
If it's on a network, the name of the volume it's on is shown, like the 4th item in the sample.
Plus, the first time I tried doing a restore I saw the source as "Macintosh HD" and went ahead and ran MA. About 85 minutes later it was done and no data had been transferred from the 10.6 MBP to 10.7 MBP. Nothing.
The data would be in the transferred accounts, not the one you ran the Migration from.
This is the first 10.7 MA I've done. I would not have imagined that Apple would design software that asks you for your TM drive and then, when you make that selection, you never the name of the TM drive show up.
I couldn't agree more. I've submitted requests to change that several times, including during beta testing of both Lion and Mountain Lion. Please add your voice here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html Maybe if enough of us do so, they'll listen.

Migration assistant - doesn't see Time Machine drive

I'm using a netatalk based Time machine drive which works perfectly from my old 2006 MBP.
I'm trying to use Migration Assistant to restore the data to my new 2010 MBP. Time machine on both macs sees the netatalk drive, however, Migration Assistant does not - there is just an empty window with a spinning progress wheel.
Any ideas?

This seemed to be a problem with mounting the Time Machine sparsebundle from the old MBP.
I solved it by:
1. Launching Disk Utility,
2. Drag sparsebundle into the drive list on the left (takes ages, ignore spinning wheel)
3. select the sparsebundle
4. Click Repair
took a few hours, but now I can mount the image and once mounted manually, Migration Assistant sees it.
Although it makes sense, it's not obvious that you need to mount the disk image manually for Migration Assistant to see it when Time machine sees it as a destination without doing that step.

Migration Assistant Doesn't See Time Machine

I've seen a few threads on this topic but no answer.
I upgraded my Mac Pro from 10.5 to 10.6, but when I tell the Migration Assistant that I want to restore from Time Machine, it doesn't see it or any of the other 3 drives that are in this machine. I just want to restore the user accounts and groups because one of the other drives is a data drive with lots of folders that only certain users have access to.

Yes, I could, but I gave up and just re-created all of the users and groups and reset folder permissions manually.

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.

Mavericks Migration assistant does not see time machine backup of older Lion Mac

Used to have a Macbook Pro. It was stolen (circa July 2014). Luckily I had up to date Time Machine Backups. The Macbook Pro was completely up to date running the latest OSX Lion (circa July 2014) when stolen.
Bought a new Macbook Air just now (Mar 2015).
Plugged in the old Mac's Time Machine Backup Disk, Migration Assistant doesn't see the old Mac's Backups.
So I setup the new Macbook Air without restoring.
Plugged in old backup drive, am able to navigate to old Mac's Time Machine Backups.
Tried running Migration Assistant many time , but still it does not see the the old Mac's Time Machine Backups. (although they continue to show in the drive if I navigate to it)
Pls help so I can migrate the old Mac to the new Mac!!!!

Thanks Turbostar.
Well, I think there should be solution to use TIME CAPSULE restore as it should I mean I bought Time Capsule because it is easy to use and I really do not want to solve any issues or make any workarounds.
I think APPLE should resolve this ASAP. Meantime maybe anybody knows any trick about this issue?

HT201250 Migration assistant doesn't see my external disk although it's connected and turned on. What should I do?

I had to reformat my HD. Now I'm trying to restore from my Time Machine, back up external disk using Migration Assistant. The M.Assitant doesn't see my external disk though it's connected and turned on. What should I do?

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Set up and migration assistant can't see time machine back ups

Hi. Trying to cut this short.
I Tried installing osx 10.8. Halfway through the installation it told me I didn't have enough free space. Helpful.
i tried to restore from time machine, the back ups were viewable, but it said i couldn't as the disk was in use or couldn't be un mounted.
Ive now deleted the hard drive and reinstalled 10.7.5.
Set up couldn't restore from time machine back ups as it couldn't find them.
Ive started osx and tried to use migration assistant. It can't see the time machine back ups.
However, if I open the time machine app it can see the back ups.
I've rebooted in recovery and

Seems my text has vanished. This site is terrible on my iphone. Would expect better.
I've rebooted in recovery and tried to restore from time machine but again it won't find the back ups.

Migration Assistant Won't Recognize Time Machine Disk

Hi,
I'm trying to restore a Time Machine backup using migration assistant. The backup is on a USB disk connected directly to the computer. I can open the volume and browse the files. I used Disk Utility to check the volume and it found no errors.
When I run Migration Assistant, it sees no backup disks and instead tries to search the network for other computers, even though I said I had a disk.
This is very frustrating. What am I doing wrong?
Frank

You may have been bitten by a bug we've just identified.
See #D10 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
If so, home folders are not affected, and there may be a way to recover them.
Post back with your results and we'll work on a recovery plan.

Migration Assistant doesn't see the startup disk from the old G4

Hi,
I just got my new iMac and was about to transfer stuff from my old G4 which have two internal disks. But I stumbled into serius problems right away. Migration Assistant is not able to see the startup disk from the G4. It sees only the other disk.
I have tried to disconnect the extra disk and checked that the startup disk is forced with the jumper to be the master disk. With this configuration it won't start the G4 at all. Having he jumper in the cable select slot results to shut-up with the T-button (firewire) startup and normal startup without the T-way.
What should I do? I can't figure out what the problem is.
I enclose some System Profiler data of the problematic disk if this helps to find the solution.
Model: MAXTOR 6L060J3
BSD Name: disk0
Protocol: ATA
Unit Number: 1
OS9 Drivers: Yes
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD NAme: disk0s10

Ok. This is really simple to do.
The idea of the dual drive iMac is that the System and Apps reside on the fast SSD and that the user directories reside on the HD.
You first need to create the same accounts on your SSD as on your old iMac.
The next step is to change the path of the user accounts from the SSD to the internal HD. Duplicate or copy the Users directories on the SSD to the HD.
Change the path in System Preferences > User & Groups > Unlock to make changes > Select User account in sidebar > Right-click > Choose Advanced Options > Home Directory > Choose the Volumes/your_hd/Users/user_name.
Restart your iMac and restore from Migration Assistant.
Remember to keep the empty directories on the SSD, in case you ever have a HD failure or replacement, you will have to change the path back to the SSD.

Migration assistant does not recognize time machine backup

Hi Guru,
I made a time machine backup today, 10.8.2, then made full reinstall of system in Apple store, in Berkeley, because my iMac experinced some unstability.
we installed new Mac OS, and now I face a problem: migration assistant does not recognize hard disk with buckup.
Finder sees this disk, it has Backups folder.
OS: 10.8.2
BackUp made: Time Machine 10.8.2
Hard Disk: Lacie 500MB
any ideas?
Thank you

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.

Time machine restore-just got a new hard drive, used migration assistant to restore to time machine but cannot find files.

Sounds like i have a similar story to another user out there. 5 year old dropped my computer and hard drive was gone.
I just got a new hard drive and used Go-utilities-migration assistant to restore with time machine-- it
took several hours and seemed to be doing ok, but when done none of the files/photos/ect are available?
I did however find a back up on my Time machine labeled "sparse bundle"?
How do i get my files restored on my computer? Thanks!

Try restoring the specific files.
http://pondini.org/TM/15.html

HT4889 Migration assistant doesn't see my 3TB Time machine it just keeps looking for other computers

I just did a clean install of Mountain Lion on my iMac and Migration Assistant doesn't seem to see my 3TB Time Machine. It continuously looks for other computers, and nothing else. I know the files work because I loaded it on my other MBP and it sees them just fine? am I just inpatient or is something wrong?

This happened to me after hard drive replacement under the Seagate Drive Recall at the local Apple Store. Here's what I learned from the process:
I Wagged the Mac home, fired it up (with naked OS installed at the Apple Store), and it wouldn't see my Time Machine drive with Setup Assistant - not on firewire 800 nor USB. Just a grey spinner that lasts forever. When I try just continuing anyway, it offers me something that looks plausible, but then puts up a dialog about duplicate user name, and no matter what I enter, it always says "that user already exists". So I think - maybe Migration Assistant. Complete the setup, create an account, watch the nice welcome movie. BAM - there's my Time Machine drive on the desktop. OK - it has to work . . . but no. Same behavior in Migration Assistant, plus the new OS offers to start making backups on my Time Machine disk - it's not recognizing it at all.
So - back to the Apple Store - let the genius figure it out. It turns out there are multiple problems. First, the "genius" who imaged my new machine picked 10.7.2 but my machine had 10.7.5 - turns out, it's not enough just to have right cat. Even a point release older OS may not recognize a newer Time Machine drive. The guy at the desk said "We have images of everything but the 10.7.2 has free iLife in it, so they like to use that one". What the heck? They don't image what you had originally as a matter of sane process?
Having figured that out, we re-image 10.7.5 at the store thinking we've fixed it. But no - Setup Assistant still won't see the Time Machine drive. Not on USB, not on Firewire. Not in a box, not with a fox.
So here's the second trick - newer machines have a recovery partion. see: http://www.apple.com/osx/recovery/ Boot with the option key held down, pick that partition, then you'll get a "system restore" option, to restore your whole system from a Time Machine backup. My drive was recognized by the recovery partition restore process when neither Setup nor Migration Assistant would. Obviously, there's something broken in Setup/Migration Assistant.
Takeaway:
- if you're getting a drive replaced by Apple, make sure they image *exactly* the same OS
- if Setup Assistant fails, use the recovery partition for system restore
- Use Recovery Disk Assistant http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433 NOW to make yourself a recovery thumb drive just in case. With Apple's new "no media" approach to the OS, you're hosed without it.

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" Time Machine disk

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