Migration Assistant Issues and Tips

So I had to restore my MacBook Pro after it didn't shut down properly and wouldn't start up.
I'm using Lion, latest patches.
I wanted to share what I've learned in the event someone encounters a similar situation like I did.
I tried searching Communities but I couldn't find much that helped me out.
Operating system wouldn't load at all.
I am using a Time Capsule with Time Machine.
If you are trying to restore from Time Machine (and you had to reload the OS) I suggest reloading it after you've logged in.
When you are prompted to create a user account, do not create one with the same name you used before. Create a
temporary account and call it temp.
Use the temp account to restore only the Users first. Do not select any other options like Applications, Settings and Other Files.
(Doing this can leave you in the dreaded 'Transferring files to support applications' hanging forever state - I figured out what causes this which
I will explain later)
The restore of Users from Time Machine/Time Capsule was successful for me.
I then re-started my laptop and pressed the 'Option' key during start up to get in to the recovery drive. I am doing this only to access the disk
utility to 'Verify and Repair permissions'. - Which needed to be done as it reported some permissions needed to be fixed.
I then rebooted back into Lion.
I installed EACH section one by one.
I chose not to restore Applications. I have a list of all the programs I've installed - luckily - and I have the original disks so I can re-install them. I think you can restore Applications successfully despite what some people have reported/suggested.
The reason why I restored each item, Users, Applications, Settings, Other FIles, one by one is because I was running into an issue. I was running into an issue when I tried restoring all 4 options mentioned above.
I found out one of the things that causes the 'Transferring files to support application' status message to hang there forever. It would cause Migration Assistant to run and never completely shut down on its own. I opened up Activity Monitor and found that after Migration Tool and Migration Assistant are done their thing, a program called 'SHOVE' runs. And it runs FOREVER. It won't stop. It sucked up my CPU usage too. I also had my Console open and was watching 'All Messages', and I could see that SHOVE was doing something with temp files, but it was never stopping.
--- I believe restoring the option 'Other Files' is what causes the 'Transferring files to support application' hanging. So don't restore that. Or if you really want to restore it, open up activity monitor and watch for the SHOVE process. I co-related it with the Disk Activity tool, once I saw Disk Activity DROP, either flat line or become really low then that's when I Force Quit the SHOVE process.
If you use Activity Monitor to Force Quit the SHOVE process, then Migration Tool and Migration Assistant will finally say that everything has been restored - BUT BUT BUT. It doesn't do so if you tried to restore everything all at once. Even after I rebooted. You MUST restore each item separately.
After I used Activity Monitor to force quit the SHOVE process, I noticed in my Console/All Messages reported that Migration Assistant exited properly.

BA88 wrote:
Hi,
Hi and welcome to the forums.
What I am trying to do is migrate all of my old stuff, from a hard drive image on an external hard drive (firewire).
How was that made? Is it really an image, or a backup of some sort (Time Machine, CarbonCopyCloner, SuperDuper, the Restore tab of Disk Utility, etc.)?
I get a network error. I have tried migrating whilst still in the boot mode on the OXS DVD
That's via +Setup Assistant+ when it first starts up, per [Using Setup Assistant|http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/SetupAsst.html]?
I don't understand why you're getting a network error if you're migrating from a FireWire drive. Are you sure the connections are snug and secure? Have you tried a different FireWire cable?

Similar Messages

Recent Migration Assistant issue and question

Just purchased a MacBook Pro and DID NOT utilize the MIGRATION ASSISTANT at startup and initial set-up. Wish I would have. I did not have FIREWIRE with me to accomplish.
Anyhow - went ahead and initialized start-up and registration ect.
Just did a complete MIGRATION from my older eMac that is updated with OSX Leopard via FIREWIRE tonight - two days later. Had to rename my USER FOLDER to be different as the name I have established on the new MBP.
It MIGRATED the entire HD off the eMAC as expected quickly and easily I might add.
I assumed it merged the new APPLICATIONS such as SAFARI - iTUNES ect... and simply updated them on the MBP Hard drive.
Not the case - it seems that I have two different versions of each application file - new and old - and for example iTunes using old LOG IN file transferred my iTunes Library - but when I LOG OFF and log back on using the new USER NAME - my iTunes does not show my old Music Library ect...
Same thing with SAFARI - the old application has all the previous bookmarks ect...but not the newer version.
I even have two different DESKTOP BACKGROUNDS with my two different USER Files folder ID's. The DOCKS are different with both USER files also - different shortcut icons showing up in each.
WEIRD?!?
I have my PALM PILOT application that transferred as well and I had previously installed the software this morning so now I have two different PALM applications.
QUESTION: - What or How do I merge these two into one single DESKTOP or am I forced to toggle back and forth by logging on and off under two different user names ect.?
What about iTunes and Safari - is there anyway to merge them into one functioning application instead of two. Any way to DISCARD or TRASH one and still leave the other intact?
Do I actually have two program applications now installed on the HD? I looked in the Application on HD and only one Safari, iTunes, Palm Pilot ect...show up there.
Need help!
Chris Kaiser

Not weird at all. You migrated a PPC system to an Intel system. A perfect situation for disaster. You have but one viable option.
Boot from the OS X Installer Disc One that came with your MBP. Do an Erase and Install which will wipe the disk clean and reinstall the proper version of OS X for the computer.
When this is completed reinstall all your third-party software from scratch. If you have PPC only versions then upgrade them to Intel versions if you can. All third-party contextual menu items, preference panes, startup items, internet plug-ins, and the like must be replaced with universal binaries as the PPC versions will not work and may crash OS X.
You can reinstall pre-bundled software from the Install Pre-bundled Software installer located on the OS X Installer Disc One.
A Basic Guide for Migrating to Intel-Macs
If you are migrating a PowerPC system (G3, G4, or G5) to an Intel-Mac be careful what you migrate. Keep in mind that some items that may get transferred will not work on Intel machines and may end up causing your computer's operating system to malfunction.
Rosetta supports "software that runs on the PowerPC G3 or G4 processor that are built for Mac OS X". This excludes the items that are not universal binaries or simply will not work in Rosetta:
Classic Environment, and subsequently any Mac OS 9 or earlier applications
Screensavers written for the PowerPC
System Preference add-ons
All Unsanity Haxies
Browser and other plug-ins
Contextual Menu Items
Applications which specifically require the PowerPC G5
Kernel extensions
Java applications with JNI (PowerPC) libraries
See also What Can Be Translated by Rosetta.
In addition to the above you could also have problems with migrated cache files and/or cache files containing code that is incompatible.
If you migrate a user folder that contains any of these items, you may find that your Intel-Mac is malfunctioning. It would be wise to take care when migrating your systems from a PowerPC platform to an Intel-Mac platform to assure that you do not migrate these incompatible items.
If you have problems with applications not working, then completely uninstall said application and reinstall it from scratch. Take great care with Java applications and Java-based Peer-to-Peer applications. Many Java apps will not work on Intel-Macs as they are currently compiled. As of this time Limewire, Cabos, and Acquisition are available as universal binaries. Do not install browser plug-ins such as Flash or Shockwave from downloaded installers unless they are universal binaries. The version of OS X installed on your Intel-Mac comes with special compatible versions of Flash and Shockwave plug-ins for use with your browser.
The same problem will exist for any hardware drivers such as mouse software unless the drivers have been compiled as universal binaries. For third-party mice the current choices are USB Overdrive or SteerMouse. Contact the developer or manufacturer of your third-party mouse software to find out when a universal binary version will be available.
Also be careful with some backup utilities and third-party disk repair utilities. Disk Warrior 4.1, TechTool Pro 4.6.1, SuperDuper 2.5, and Drive Genius 2.0.2 work properly on Intel-Macs with Leopard. The same caution may apply to the many "maintenance" utilities that have not yet been converted to universal binaries. Leopard Cache Cleaner, Onyx, TinkerTool System, and Cocktail are now compatible with Leopard.
Before migrating or installing software on your Intel-Mac check MacFixit's Rosetta Compatibility Index.
Additional links that will be helpful to new Intel-Mac users:
Intel In Macs
Apple Guide to Universal Applications
MacInTouch List of Compatible Universal Binaries
MacInTouch List of Rosetta Compatible Applications
MacUpdate List of Intel-Compatible Software
Transferring data with Setup Assistant - Migration Assistant FAQ
Because Migration Assistant isn't the ideal way to migrate from PowerPC to Intel Macs, using Target Disk Mode or copying the critical contents to CD and DVD or an external hard drive will work better when moving from PowerPC to Intel Macs.
Basically the instructions you should follow are:
1. Backup your data first. This is vitally important in case you make a mistake or there's some other problem.
2. Connect a Firewire cable between your old Mac and your new Intel Mac.
3. Startup your old Mac in Target Disk Mode.
4. Startup your new Mac for the first time, go through the setup and registration screens, but do NOT migrate data over. Get to your desktop on the new Mac without migrating any new data over.
4. Copy the following items from your old Mac to the new Mac:
In your /Home/ folder: Documents, Movies, Music, Pictures, and Sites folders.
In your /Home/Library/ folder:
/Home/Library/Application Support/AddressBook (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Application Support/iCal (copy the whole folder)
Also in /Home/Library/Application Support (copy whatever else you need including folders for any third-party applications)
/Home/Library/Keychains (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Mail (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Preferences/ (copy the whole folder)
/Home /Library/iTunes (copy the whole folder)
/Home /Library/Safari (copy the whole folder)
If you want cookies:
/Home/Library/Cookies/Cookies.plist
/Home/Library/Application Support/WebFoundation/HTTPCookies.plist
For Entourage users:
Entourage is in /Home/Documents/Microsoft User Data
Also in /Home/Library/Preferences/Microsoft
Credit goes to another forum user for this information.
If you need to transfer data for other applications please ask the vendor or ask in the Discussions where specific applications store their data.
5. Once you have transferred what you need restart the new Mac and test to make sure the contents are there for each of the applications.
Written by Kappy with additional contributions from a brody.
Revised 3/12/2008
In the future you should post questions about the MBP in the MacBook Pro forum. This is the Mac Pro forum.
Message was edited by: Kappy

Migration Assistant issues and losing files (Mt. Lion on new hard drive)

I just, by either dumb error or providence, migrated the contents of my backed up hard drive, which has my Mt Lion and all applications folders, to a new hard drive. The old and original drive on my 2008 Quad Mac Pro was starting to worry me. All of the applications and systems files appeared to have migrated flawlessly, and my calendar updated and my 20,000+ emails were restored. All of the programs/applications work. Everything appears normal, except data and obvious missing files. (Note I had installed Mt. Lion over Leopard and Snow Leopard previously, and did not rewrite the drive before I did that.)
The size of this new drive is substantially less than the last one. On the latter, I counted more than 50 gigs of data, on the volume with all of the primary OSX documents. That is what I see in the Time Machine backup right before I did the Migration Assistant. The size of the same volume on the restored new hard drive that has my OSX is about 31 gigs.
I did NOT run (by accident and perhaps curiosity) the Time Machine restore backup using disk utilities. Again I did, by accident or curiosity) Migration Assistant.
What does appear lost are all of the Windows documents that were accessible on my portioned drive on my old hard drive, accessible only via VMWare. (I had all of those previously backed up, brute force, before doing this, and I'm not worried if I don't access them now since I have them if I need them). This was about 18 gigs of data I guess.
Does anyone else have experience with using Migration Assistant and losing files that may have been on a partitioned drive (running Windows) and accessible by VMWare? I can still rewrite over the new drive I just formatted and do it all over again using disk utilities and running this from a boot jump drive I created before, but this time using Restore/Time Machine. I just had heard from one source it was best to download Mountain Lion first, and then do a Time Machine restore, which I ended up actually not doing.
Thoughts appreciated.

I just, by either dumb error or providence, migrated the contents of my backed up hard drive, which has my Mt Lion and all applications folders, to a new hard drive. The old and original drive on my 2008 Quad Mac Pro was starting to worry me. All of the applications and systems files appeared to have migrated flawlessly, and my calendar updated and my 20,000+ emails were restored. All of the programs/applications work. Everything appears normal, except data and obvious missing files. (Note I had installed Mt. Lion over Leopard and Snow Leopard previously, and did not rewrite the drive before I did that.)
The size of this new drive is substantially less than the last one. On the latter, I counted more than 50 gigs of data, on the volume with all of the primary OSX documents. That is what I see in the Time Machine backup right before I did the Migration Assistant. The size of the same volume on the restored new hard drive that has my OSX is about 31 gigs.
I did NOT run (by accident and perhaps curiosity) the Time Machine restore backup using disk utilities. Again I did, by accident or curiosity) Migration Assistant.
What does appear lost are all of the Windows documents that were accessible on my portioned drive on my old hard drive, accessible only via VMWare. (I had all of those previously backed up, brute force, before doing this, and I'm not worried if I don't access them now since I have them if I need them). This was about 18 gigs of data I guess.
Does anyone else have experience with using Migration Assistant and losing files that may have been on a partitioned drive (running Windows) and accessible by VMWare? I can still rewrite over the new drive I just formatted and do it all over again using disk utilities and running this from a boot jump drive I created before, but this time using Restore/Time Machine. I just had heard from one source it was best to download Mountain Lion first, and then do a Time Machine restore, which I ended up actually not doing.
Thoughts appreciated.

Backing up my MacBook Pro using Migration Assistant Issues

So a very long story short, I have to get repairs done to my MacBook Pro which was/is operating on 10.5.8. When I left my computer at the store to be sent out, I backed up my computer with Time Machine, under the impression I could just reload everything during start up. Well this didn't work, There was some kind of issue where I would select my drive and it would return to the welcome video every time. So I just set up an Admin because I was given the option of using Migration Assistant. I did so, but it seems that our of 175 GB of applications, information, setting, and files, only 95 GB would get transfered under my old username/Admin user. I went ahead and did it anyway, and it took about an hour before it said a few minuets remaining. Then about a half hour later, it said my information was transfered successfully. What's peculiar now is that a little window appeared in the Finder titled 'Time Machine Backup', and its been loading 107 GB for the past hour. I'm using USB (which I know isn't the fastest method), and it's going abnormally slow, its been roughly an hour and only 2GB have loaded.
My question is this; When all 107GBs of data are transfered, will my repaired laptop have the (for lack of a better term) memory of my laptop before the hard drive wipe?

No idea what is going on & just 2 reasons I never use Time Machine, but are you certain it's not backing up your new Drive & is actually copying from the TM backup to your drive?

Migration assistant fails and eats storage

Mac Book Pro 10.10
While utilizing Migration Assistant between two OS 10.10 machines (old and new) via thunderbolt connection the migration stalled with 1 min to go. I turned off both computers an rebooted them seprately. The new computer displayed the account I had created while in migration assistant and logged in with the appropriate credentials however no files were displaying. I logged out and signed into another admin account I had created before the migration and deleted the account specifically check the box to erase the home folder of that user. At this point I had already noticed that it had eaten 300+ GB of my storage and hoped that deleting the account would give me back the storage. However after restarting several times, running disk utility and emptying the trash, there still seems to be a phantom 300 GB of storage somewhere on the machine un accessible by me. Any insights would be helpful. I would like to get my storage capacity back without having to wipe the entire HD.
Thanks!

So I Found the issue.... It was stored in Private/var/zz/cleanup at startup
I found the profile name (home file) in the cleanup at startup folder and deleted it. System is working and now I have my disk space back.
I followed the directions that Linc Davis suggested in this post: How do I resolve 43+ GB of missing storage on the Macintosh HD?

Migration Assistant Issues?

My G5 iMac was on its way out, so I picked up a new 24" Intel iMac. I was desperate to get it up and running, so I used the migration assistant. I figured there were few PowerPC only apps on my G5, so wasn't too worried.
Overall - no real problems. I was able to replace a couple of the PPC apps with Universal binaries. However, I'm having issues with two things: My system prefs and a Nikon picture sorting app called ViewNX.
The system prefs hang when I use the desktop/screen saver panel. I checked all of the screen savers for the Universal tag and removed those that were PPC, logged out, then logged in. The panel still hangs or updates slowly and eventually hangs. I removed all the screensavers (even the system ones) and no change. The panel also hangs when I navigate through the desktop image choices.
For ViewNX, the app quit upon startup the first or second time I used it, and continued to. I uninstalled and reinstalled many times, deleted all the Nikon app prefs, reinstalled, manually uninstalled - nothing seemed to work. Then I read about another ViewNX user having similar issues - he found the app would work from another account on his mac, but not his own. I found the same thing. And yet another user found that checking the "Use Rosetta" option would allow the app to run. That works for me too, but it's strange because the app is clearly a universal app.
I also repaired my permissions, but no change.
Any suggestions? I'd rather not back up the entire drive and reinstall everything, app by app - as otherwise I don't seem to have any issues.
And yes, I read the migrating to Intel notes on the forum...

I though I removed the entire ViewNX folder from the user application support folder. The uninstaller should have done the same thing - but maybe it didn't. I'll double check that.
Yes, there is an error log in the console, but I couldn't decipher it:
7/30/09 5:16:38 PM [0x0-0x8b08b].jp.co.nikon.ViewNX[1115] ViewNX(1115,0xa033b720) malloc: * mmap(size=2303983616) failed (error code=12)
7/30/09 5:16:38 PM [0x0-0x8b08b].jp.co.nikon.ViewNX[1115] * error: can't allocate region
7/30/09 5:16:38 PM [0x0-0x8b08b].jp.co.nikon.ViewNX[1115] * set a breakpoint in mallocerrorbreak to debug
7/30/09 5:16:38 PM [0x0-0x8b08b].jp.co.nikon.ViewNX[1115] terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::bad_alloc'
7/30/09 5:16:38 PM [0x0-0x8b08b].jp.co.nikon.ViewNX[1115] what(): St9bad_alloc
7/30/09 5:16:40 PM com.apple.launchd[137] ([0x0-0x8b08b].jp.co.nikon.ViewNX[1115]) Exited abnormally: Abort trap
Thanks for your suggestions!

Migration Assistant issues, Mavericks

So this has been frustrating. Two MBPs connected by ethernet, both running updated Mavericks. Both have wifi turned off, both have firewalls turned off, both manually assigned IPs on same network (finally got to all of those things being done after only the source machine was not being seen in Migration Assistant). Trying to migrate one user from old machine to new.
Now that I'm here, and both machines are seeing each other, getting a matching code, etc... when I get to the page on the new machine where I select what I want to pull over from the old machine, it only gives me a few options. One being an Applications folder with a listed size of 0 kb, one being computer with 141 kb, and one being other files with 0kb listed. (I'm going off memory as I'm typing this on one of the machines I was trying to do this on.
No ability to select a user, etc. WHAT THE ****?

This worked for me one time, but I had to wipe and re-do my whole system (different issue) and this solution did not work for me the second time. Instead, I had to disable my firewall on the original old mac completely to have my user accounts and other data show up as transferrable into the new mac. After messing around with it and reading a lot of other people's problems with this, I thought I should post my solution for others in case this works for them.

Post Migration Assistant Issues - Library Files That Need To Be Changed/Deleted

Used migration assistant to move from late 2008 unibody to early 2011 unibody (lion to lion). In iTunes my options under View>>Video Playback my options are all greyed out and I think I need to delete a file from the library to reset (similar to bluetooth issue where I had to delete two files so I could rename devices). Any ideas on how to resolve this and since this is the second thing that has come up are you aware of any others that I might want to keep an eye out for?

Assuming you have an optical drive in or connected to your MBP, the easiest way to go is to do a backup of your existing iTunes library to DVDs (you may need several) . In iTunes 9, this is done with selecting File->Library->Back Up to Disc... and following the directions. I do not see that capability in the current iTunes, though, but if one is using Tiger, one is limited to iTunes 9.
When the discs are burned, mounting any of the discs on the MBP should cause iTunes (you may need to have it up) to ask if you want to import the files. It goes pretty smoothly, or at least it has for me in Mt. Lion and Win-7. It's a little involved but it does work.

Migration Assistant Issues - Don't waste hours like I did

Here's the issue in a nutshell: if you fail to include files in a Migration Assistant transer the first time around, you will have a **** of a time copying files later from your old Mac to your new.
Here's how this went down, and the workaround I was able to come up with:
I successfully and easily migrated my applications and files from my old MBP to my new Retina MBP. However, when I ran Migration Assistant initially, I had decided not to transfer videos until I had an opportunity to delete some of them using my old computer. After doing this, and going back to Migration Assistant to bring the videos over, I realize that, alas, Migration Assistant is not set up to add to a previous migration. It only offers choices to overwrite an existing account, or to delete existing and save as deleted files -- neither of which I wanted to do.
(By the way, perhaps this is a result of my migrating the old account to the new computer, using the exact same account name. But that seemed like the right idea at the time.)
So, I decided I would simply copy the files over my wireless network instead, using Finder copy functionality or AirDrop. I struggled with both of these for two hours, during which time the copy function would just hang on "estimating transfer time," and then suddenly quit after 30 minutes.
It seems that, due to the migration, the account on each separate computer has the same "UUID" (universally unique identifier - not so unique, apparently). I guess this makes sense if the account is a clone. But for reasons that are not clear to me as a non-programmer, this somehow screws up the ability to copy files from one computer to another. Taking the lead from a tangentially related Apple Community posting regarding permissions problems, I generated a new UUID for the account on the old MBP (go to System Preferences --> Users, click to unlock, right click on the user and click on "advanced settings" - you'll find UUID in there), and now the copy seems to be progressing fine using a normal Finder copy.
Ugh. Only about 2 hours to figure this out. Really, why Apple could not inform people that you only get one shot at the migration, I don't know. But there certainly has to be an easier way this could work if you don't use Migration Assistant the first time.
I hope this helps someone.

Good point sorry about that.
All of our machines are PGPed and are running v10.5.8 which we want to upgrade to v10.6.3.
We can't use the normal way of upgrading the OS since PGP prevents it. Our work around is to image (customized image of OS/software) a new drive and migrate the data.

Migration Assistant Failures - And Solutions

I used Migration Assistant to transfer my account from an Air to a new MacBook Pro. I share the problems I ran into and the solutions I used in the hopes it helps someone else.
First failure: the six digit confirmation number from the target (Mac Book Pro) would not display on the source (Air). For some reason when I turned IPv6 on in Network preferences | WiFi | Advanced | TCP/IP | Configure IPv6 - to "Automatically" - the source displayed the confirmation number from the target. The target already had IPv6 on Automatic - in fact all our OS X devices has it on Automatic - except for the Air for some odd reason.
The Migration Assistant took some time to finish the transfer - but, it did finish - or so I thought.
Second failure: When I started the new user that was transferred - I got a number of errors. In looking at the user home folder - I found that the library and other permissions were badly mangled. Even OS X asked for permission to repair the library - I typed in my password as requested - clicked OK - but, it never worked.
The scenario 1 posted by Linc Davis fixed all the permissions immediately (see link and the part of the solution I successfully used below).
Linc DavisDec 25, 2014 9:40 PM Re: "The operation could not be completed" Creating an iMovie
Re: "The operation could not be completed" Creating an iMoviein response to patrickredsox
Back up all data before proceeding.
This procedure will unlock all your user files (not system files) and reset their ownership, permissions, and access controls to the default. If you've intentionally set special values for those attributes on any of your files, they will be reverted. In that case, either stop here, or be prepared to recreate the settings if necessary. Do so only after verifying that those settings didn't cause the problem. If none of this is meaningful to you, you don't need to worry about it, but you do need to follow the instructions below.
Step 1
If you have more than one user, and the one in question is not an administrator, then go to Step 2.
Triple-click anywhere in the following line on this page to select it:
sudo find ~ $TMPDIR.. -exec chflags -h nouchg,nouappnd,noschg,nosappnd {} + -exec chown -h $UID {} + -exec chmod +rw {} + -exec chmod -h -N {} + -type d -exec chmod -h +x {} + 2>&-
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.
Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.
You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. Type carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
The command may take several minutes to run, depending on how many files you have. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear, then quit Terminal.

So I Found the issue.... It was stored in Private/var/zz/cleanup at startup
I found the profile name (home file) in the cleanup at startup folder and deleted it. System is working and now I have my disk space back.
I followed the directions that Linc Davis suggested in this post: How do I resolve 43+ GB of missing storage on the Macintosh HD?

Migration Assistant Issue - Hard Drive Memory Related

I've been trying several days to migrate my system from a 2009 iMac to a new MacMini with no success. I've tried Migration Assistant over WiFi, Ethernet to my AirPort images and directly in Target Disk mode (Firewire 800). Both machines are current and running 10.10.1.
When I first launched Migration Assistant on both machines the old iMac never sees the MacMini although the MacMini sees the iMac and generates the six-digit code.
I next tried connecting to the Time Machine backup of the iMac and encountered the persistent fault that I can't seem to solve. I can find the server and files but once I get to the screen where it asks what files to Migrate it always calculates not enough space to move the files. The MacMini has 846 GB available and I'd like to move 338 GB over from the iMac. I have no clue what is causing this.
When I deselect items such as Photos and Music nothing changes, in fact I can deselect all but 100 MB and it still says there's not enough Hard Drive space on the MacMini. I've made sure that there isn't a same user name and run Disk Utility Disk Permissions many times to ensure the hardware is good.
I manually moved the Music and Pictures and reduced the Time Machine image size to under 250 GB but I still get the same message each and every time. After spending $30 today on a Firewire 800 cable I'm at my wits end. Can anyone suggest where to go next? I've looked at the console log and don't see anything that can point me in the next direction...
Should I get on the console and call the Setup Assistant and erase my machine after I've taken hours to transfer the Pics and Music or is there a better way?

What data do you actually want to migrate? Is it just 'user data' or applications & other files?
For a user data only migration
If the iMac is still setup with the user account I would forget about the Time Machine disk or using Migration Assistant and try a manual migration. It is an involved process, but if the files copy OK you can create the user account & it should be fine.
Start the old iMac in a normal boot, login as an admin user, ideally in an account you do not want to transfer to the Mini (create a new one if you need).
Boot the Mini in Target Disk Mode and attach to the iMac.
You need to copy the desired user home folder(s) from the iMac into the /Users folder on the Mini.
Assuming this file copy works (it's unclear if the issues in MA are due to problems in your file systems) you can disconnect the Mini & reboot it.
If the copy fails use recovery mode to repair both Macs - repair the filesystem & permissions in Disk Utility & retry.
On the Mini open 'System Preferences > Users & groups' and authenticate. Double check the name of the user folder you copied over, this is the users 'short name' a.k.a 'Account name' it must not contain any spaces, the 'Full name' can have spaces.
Create a new user with the 'foldername' as the 'Account name'. If it is correct you will be prompted to 'use existing folder'.
Agree to use that folder & the OS will make the new user & assign the correct permissions to that home folder. If you get no prompt double check the name matches the folder in /Users.
Repeat for any other user accounts.
Reboot the Mini & try to log in as the new user.
I would not attempt to migrate applications via this method - too many files can be scattered all over the disk by Application installers, it's simpler to reinstall using the installers, grab new copies from the developer or from the App Store etc.
Network & System settings will also be left behind & iTunes will require you to authorise the Mac, but most other things should be fine inside the migrated user account.
If you are uncertain ask & I'll try to clarify, as ever backup important data before you begin, disconnect the backups to reduce the risk of accidentally deleting the wrong thing & good luck

HT4796 Migration Assistant Issue - PC won't connect to Mac!!!

I have followed all instructions on conducting a migration and have been trying to do this for well over 3 hours. I have the migration assistant open on both computers and the Mac migration assistant displays the code that needs to correspond with what is displayed on my PC. Unfortunately, on the PC, it just continues to display the "waiting for Mac to connect" message forever and nothing happens. I am trying to move files from my old PC to my new Macbook Pro.
On my PC, the minute I plug in my ethernet cable it tries to connect and then it displays "limited or no connectivity". Its as though it is trying to connect to the internet, even though the wifi is up and functioning. I've clicked the "Repair" icon in the local area connection status and that tries to renew my IP address and ultimately fails to do that. I've tried creating other networks, rebooting, making my security ridiculously low allowing sharing of all files, etc.
HELP!!!!

Connect via Ethernet. That's much faster and more reliable than WIFI.
If you still can't find the backups, try repairing them, per #A5 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum).

Time Machine backup/restoring through migration assistant/issues

Hi.
I would like to restore a backup from an external hard drive to my macbook pro.
Not beeing aware of the procedure, I skipped the "set-up assistant" phase where you're proposed the option of transferring informations from an another Mac or from a Time Machine, etc...
My backup files from my previous TimeMachine are on an external hard drive, plugged via USB to my MacBookPro. After looking for the right procedure, I tried to restore my backup through the Migration Assistant.
But the Migration Assistant won't find my external hard drive. Even though, weirdly, I can see and naviguate it via the Finder.
Is there something I should've done? Am I missing something?
I would really like some help on this one.
Thanks.

Quit Notes and temporarily disable iCloud synchronization, if applicable.
Triple-click the line below to select it:
~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes
Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select
Services ▹ Reveal
from the contextual menu. A Finder window should open with an item selected. Enter Time Machine and restore the selected item.

Time Machine/Migration Assistant issues

I just bought a MacBook Pro, and my old computer is a PowerBook G4. I did a Time Machine backup of my old computer onto an external hard drive, then used Migration Assistant to transfer the Time Machine backup from the external drive to my new computer. I had a few files saved on the new computer before I transfered from my old computer, and those seem to be gone now. My question is: when a Time Machine backup is 'migrated,' does it delete everything first?

horseymichelle wrote:
I just bought a MacBook Pro, and my old computer is a PowerBook G4. I did a Time Machine backup of my old computer onto an external hard drive, then used Migration Assistant to transfer the Time Machine backup from the external drive to my new computer. I had a few files saved on the new computer before I transfered from my old computer, and those seem to be gone now. My question is: when a Time Machine backup is 'migrated,' does it delete everything first?
no, migration does not delete anything. you are just logged in as a different user now which is why you don't see those files. log out of the migrated user and log into the user you originally created on the MBP. those files are there. I suggest you move them over to the migrated account as most of your stuff is in there.

Migration assistant issue

ok, so I've just tried to do a migration from my ibookG4 and the migration got hung up at 38 minutes remaining. So I did a hard reboot by holding down the power button as the finder locked up after I quit Migration Assistant. Now after reboot my hardrive is at 66 GB left?? Anyone have an idea how I can get that space back? I looked in the user accounts and there IS a new file there called "apple.noindex" which has some locked files (I assume from my iBook), however, this is only 8.72 GB...anyone have some advice here? I think I'll skip the migration and just copy over certain files I need...
Thanks!

well I ended up just booting up using firewire and copying over my songs and iphoto. I couldn't find an answer to the migration assistant but copying my stuff over manually worked well..I just had to make my playlists over again.

Migration Assistant Issues and Tips

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