Migration Assistant: Source Mac not detected

Hi everyone :) I just bought a MacBook Pro 15" Retina Display (OS X) and I've been wanting to transfer all my applications/files via Migration Assistant to this Mac from the source Mac, my MacBook Pro 15" (2009 - I think it runs on Snow Leopard) I bought a thunderbolt cable to facilitate fast transfer but to my horror, the Migration Assistant on the target Mac is stuck on the "Looking for Computers" page and has yet to detect my source Mac (I'm running it in target disk mode). I've tried everything said on the forums: repair disk permissions/turn off firewall... But to no avail. Please help as I need to set it up before school starts!
More details: My source Mac has bootcamp (windows partition).. Does it in anyway affect this? Also, I have not touched Time Machine since I didn't know how it works. Is there any advice on transferring via thunderbolt?
Please help! Thank you so much!

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
LeEn94 wrote:
More details: My source Mac has bootcamp (windows partition).. Does it in anyway affect this? Also, I have not touched Time Machine since I didn't know how it works. Is there any advice on transferring via thunderbolt?
It doesn't affect, so your problem is another one.
The first MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt was released in 2011, so your 2009 MacBook Pro has got Mini DisplayPort instead of Thunderbolt. This means that you can't transfer the files through Thunderbolt.
You have to look for another connector like Ethernet or FireWire (you will need adapters), or transfer your files through Wi-Fi (slow but you won't have to purchase anything)

Similar Messages

Ran migration assistant I do not like having to sign in to pc or Mac at startup how can I comletely remove pc

Ran migration assistant. Do not like having to sign in to either pc or Mac at start up What can I do?

You can setup your account to automatically log in after startup process: OS X Yosemite: Login Options pane of Users & Groups preferences

HT4796 im having trouble getting my laptop to connect to my mac using windows migration assistant. my mac comes up with a code but my laptop is waiting for my mac to respond but nothing happens

hi all
im having trouble getting my laptop to connect to my mac using migration assistant. my mac has a code on the screen but my laptop doesnt respond and just says it waitng for my mac to respond.
any idea? please

Hi Christina, belated welcome to Apple Discussions if nobody said it already.
I've had some experiences with these new flash memory recording camcorders, and I'll give you a quick rundown of what I've learned. Many of them (JVC, Panasonic, etc.) tend to record in a .MOD file format, which is non-standard, proprietary, and unrecognizable by most software. I thought Canon was usually a little more standards-compliant, but it appears they also use this .MOD format in your specific camera model. There are likely a couple ways we can get around this though!
In order to play the files, you will likely need to change their file format (.MOD) to .AVI manually. You'll have to locate the files on your Mac, and then manually change the file names so that the file extension (after the period) is .AVI
At that point, a video player application such as http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html>VLC should play the files fine!
You should be able to transfer new video files from the camera to the Macbook Pro with no problems as well. Just plug in the camera to the computer via USB, and also make sure the camera is plugged in to charge. Once it's plugged in, open iMovie (came with the MBP, in the Applications folder) and the MBP should take care of the rest.
Let me know if you have any success with any of this!
FYI, the thread that I got some of the above information from is here:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=478326
--Travis

My mac not detected flashdisk and iphone5

my mac not detected flashdisk and iphone5

You aren't likely to find it here unless you have a specific iBook G4 issue.
Perhaps you need to repartition and reformat your HDD or reformat the Linux partition and reinstall it.

HT4796 On my Migration Assistant, I do not have the option of choosing to transfer information from a PC. It gives me 3 options, transfer to a Mac, transfer from a Mac, or transfer from a Time Machine/another disc. The last two options dont communicate wi

What do I do now if I want to transfer my iTunes from my PC to my Mac? If Migration Assistant isn't giving me the options the tutorial says I'm suppose to have, I'm lost!

Sory, I can't find the name of the MacUser who steered me onto the right path, but do think I remember thanking him via e-mail.
If I'm mistaken, thanks a bunch. I finally finished transferring all the photos onto a CD. Actually completed one project , which I was able to test on a PC.
Have run into a second, smaller one on the current project, which I I think I probably should post separately.

Migration Assistant on MBP not recognising my old (Leopard) Mac

I have a new MBP and I'd like to migrate some of my account from my old Mac running Leopard. When I run Migration Assistant on the MBP it can seem to find the old Mac. They are connected via ethernet and a modem/router and I am able to see and login to the old Mac via Network Folder on the MBP.
Is it possible to use Migration Assistant in this way. What alternatives do I have, obviously doing a TIme Machine isn't an option being Leopard on the old Mac. I could manual take Mail folde, iTunes folder r and Safari bookmarks and forget the rest but figured there's a way to get Migration Assistant to do this.

Did you do software update on your old mac right before you tried this? You need to make sure it's got the latest version of Migration Assistant that it's compatible with.

Migration Assistant-source and recipient won't play together

When I connect an Intel Mac late 2009 to my new Retina 5k, both running updated Yosemite, the receiving Mac can see the source Mac, but the source can't see the receiving unit. The wheels just keep spinning (overnight) without detection. I've tried using an ethernet cable and my reasonable fast wireless network--no dice on either. I didn't use MA when I set up the new Mac. Suggestions? Thanks,

Since you run Migration Assistant from the new computer, there is not need to worry about what the source can or cannot see. If you are using your local network be sure to enable File Sharing on the source computer.
How to use Migration Assistant to transfer files from another Mac

Migration Assistant Mav.: not showing ML Time Machine backup

Hi Mac community,
my own MBP mid 2010:
clean install of Mavericks
connected FireWire 800 external hard disk with recent Time Machine backup done in Mountain Lion
started Migration Assistant, selected the Time Machine disk, and transferred all user data
everything worked absolutely PERFECTLY and now Mavericks runs smoothly with all my old user data
So I wanted to do the same thing with a relative's late 2009 iMac:
still in Mountain Lion, doing Time Machine backups to TWO different USB 2.0 hard disks
browsing the Time Machine disks manually to check whether all the files are there -- they are, including the (hidden) ~/Library folder
clean install worked fine, Mavericks runs OK
starting Migration Assistant in Mavericks ⇒ and - OH HORROR - the connected external Time Machine hard disk does not show up as a source - in fact, NOTHING shows up
So I copied over the data manually, for which I had to enable the root account (how else would one delete/replace a whole ~/Library folder??)
Then I tried to fix permissions manually (because other users could now read the files in the home folder).
All the old data (mails, contacts, calendars) is still there, but the whole thing doesn't really run smoothly; each time one logs into the account, keychain asks weird questions and dock icons pointing to programs show questions marks again. Later today, I'll try to fix permissions for the home folder as a whole (Recovery Boot ⇒ Terminal ⇒ resetpassword ⇒ Reset Home Folder Permissions and ACLs), but I'd rather do another clean install and somehow get Migration Assistant to offer me the Time Machine backup as a source for user data transfer - AS IT SHOULD in an OS that 'just works' ...
Anything I could do to convince Mavericks to use my old Time Machine backup??
This is a real nightmare for me ⇒ I f*cked up a relative's system -- really hope I can fix it again.
Cheers, folks!

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 from mac to mac

I'm trying to use Migration Assistant to transfer my files from my old computer (PowerPC G5) to my new mac mini. I have them connected with FireWire. I looked at the online instructions, and it seems like i need to have both hooked up to a monitor and keyboard to do this??? if i used an ethernet cord instead would that work? (of course, i don't have an ethernet cord, so i'm hoping this isn't the case.)
I'm not sure if Migration Assistant isn't locating the other computer because of the above, or if my old computer is that far gone that it's not working correctly. Please help before I panic! thank you!!!

Angela Dejordy wrote:
I have them connected with FireWire.
now reboot the source Mac in target disk mode. it will show up as a external firewire HD on the other Mac which is booted in normal modus.

Migration Assistant in Mavericks not listing Users

I thought I would experiment with using Migration Assistant on my two MBPs since I will be helping someone tomorrow transfer their data from an old iMac to a new one.
I have a Mavericks MBP and a Mountain Lion MBP and connected them together via ethernet. I opened MA on the Mavericks MBP, followed instructions and opened MA on the ML MBP. Confirmed Passcode and clicked continue and waited for the files to list on the Mavericks MBP.
Applications, Settings, and Other files were listed but no User accounts were listed. Only those three items were shown.
I'm in the admin account on both Macs and the ML MBP has four user accounts.
What gives? Why aren't Users listed also?
Thanks for any help.

Here's some more information for you.
I have an iMac, Model 10,1 , with Mountain Lion installed. So, both iMac and one of the MBPs are running the same OS.
I thought I would try MA between those two. I set everything up to transfer from my ML MBP to the iMac, and all data was listed in MA on the iMac. MA worked great.
So why wasn't all the data listed on the Mavericks MBP when I ran MA between the MBPs?
The two MBPs are identical, Model 3,1 , except for the OS, one is the latest Mavericks version and the other is the latest Mountian Lion version.
I also noticed in MA on the Mavericks MBP that when the three items were listed only the Settings item had calculated the size correctly, the Applications and Other files were showing 0kb, which I know is incorrect.
On the iMac the sizes for Users, Applications, Settings, and Other files, were all shown and were correct.
Does anyone know why MA is not working between two identical MBPs, but is working between a newer iMac and older MBP?
Thanks...

Migration assistant new mac?

I bought a new MacBook Air - when I went to transfer files from my old MacBook - I used Migration Assistant - but both computers just sat looking for another omputer

Not saying you should do this, because it is up to you...
If it were me, I would reinstall OS X, then use SETUP ASSISTANT , not migration Assistant, and then use a Time Machine backup of the old one as source for the data/app/user import. The resultant setup will be a seamless transition from your old one, to your new one.

Migration assistant source doesn't see target

target: MAVERICKS 10.9
source: LION 10.7.5
i'm trying to use Migration Assistant to transfer from an older mac to a new one. On the new one, I can get to a page that offers a code: 'Transfer Information to this Mac'. But the older/source computer doesn't offer an opportunity to input that code as it runs the Migration Assistant -- the wheel continues to spin. File sharing is enabled on the source computer. Software is up to date.
I'm doing this transfer over WIFI since I don't have the appropriate firewire, etc.
I've tried numerous ways to get this going.
I should add:
-I am doing this AFTER completing the Setup Assistant
-source computer is a Chinese OS and the target is an English OS.
(i don't see how these points would matter but i thought best to mention them.)
any advice would be weclome.

They both need to be on the same network. Ideally on Ethernet, otherwise it might take days to copy GB's over wifi.
Here is the Apple info on the subject…
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5872
See if that helps clarify the process.

Migration Assistant using firewire not working between new iMac and G5. Ah!

I unpacked my new iMac 21.5' last nite and spent three painful hours trying to use Migration Assistant to tranfer files from my old iMac G5, which is using OS X 10.4.11.
I follow all of the instructions ver batim: connect the 400/800 firewire between the old and the new iMacs, start migration assistant on the new iMac, reboot the old iMac holding down the 'T' key until the firewire symbol pops up on the screen. At that point, the new iMac sits there with the message 'waiting for the other iMac to restart.' It never seems to recognize the old iMac. I tried rebooting, reconnecting the cable, etc. No luck.
I also tried using the ethernet option with no luck. The computers find each other but after entering the 'code' twice, the old mac gets stuck 'searching for other computers on the network.'
Any advice? I'd really like to use my new iMac!!!!

May not help but give this a try on the G5:
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger and Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
I would also first turn off both computers then connect the FW cable. If both computers have a FW800 port then you can use a standard FW800 cable. Boot the G5 into TDM. After the TDM screen appears boot the new computer normally.

Where can i download migration assistant for mac os 10.4.1.1 update

Where can i find the migration assistant upgrade download for a mac OS 10.4.1 I am trying to copy files from Mac 0sx 10.4.1.1 to a new mac

The update is available here, but you should manually move files via File Sharing or Target Disk mode instead of using it in that configuration.
(84201)

Migration from PC-Mac not working

Any suggestions on how to transfer files from a Windows 7 PC (HP pavilion dv5) to my new Macbook Pro?. I downloaded Migration assistant on my PC and it starts transferring data then after about 20-30 minutes it just crashes on the PC saying 'migraton assistant stopped working' its happened 4 times now. Are there any other, faster ways to transfer everything from my PC to my Mac?

How are you connecting the two computers? If you're using an ethernet connection, the fastest and simplest way would be just to connect to your PC via your Mac in the Finder and copy/paste the files over. Another option would be to use an external harddrive if you have one by copying your files from your PC to the harddrive, then from the harddrive to your Mac. I've always preferred the ethernet connection, however, as it is the simplest.

Migration Assistant: Source Mac not detected

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for