MIgration Assistant Stalls out on 'Searching for Disk...'

The main problem here is, I reinstalled Snow Leopard after some acting up by the OS. Backed up ON my main HD and tried to use Migration Assistant to restore the backup. AS of now, every time I load up Migration Assistant, it just stalls on 'Searching for Disk...' and never finds a backup.
I'll try and make a long story short, my optical drive was acting up so I took it in to the Genius Bar. Luckily, they had a new one in stock and replaced it on the spot. Upon getting my MacBook Pro (2009) back, everything was acting crazy. Lagging, freezing, etc. The genius told me it was normal that things start acting up after installing new hardware and that all I had to do was reinstall Snow Leopard and that before installation, it would ask me if I wanted to backup all my data and that once it was re-installed it would automatically come restore to its previous form. Here's where I think things got a little screwy...
I was running Snow Leopard but unfortunately when I installed it, it was from a friend's 'family installation' pack, so I didn't have the installation CD at hand. Anxious to get things fixed, I put in my original installation disc that came with my MBP. Looking back, it should've been obvious that downgrading might cause some problems. Booted to disk and I went on to reinstall. Right before the reinstall it asked me if I wanted to backup all my data to restore once the installation was done. Sure enough, it seemed to have worked so I figured all was going well.
The installation finished and asked me if I wanted to restore from a backup. Of course, hitting yes only gave me an error saying that the backup was created on a newer OS and that I wouldn't be able to restore it on an older OS. I was bummed out but it made sense. Fast forward another day: I call my friend and ask to borrow his Snow Leopard installation disc again. I install it, hoping to see the same, "Restore from Backup" screen at some point, but nothing.
I noticed right away that I only had 16 GB of HD space left (what it was before any of this madness) but everything looked as if it was brand new. After some clicking around through some folders I found the old backup within some folders so I figured that everything worked fine and Migration Assistant would be a quick and easy fix. From here on, Migration Assistant can never seem to get past the loading screen. All I see is, "Searching for Disk" and an eternally spinning circle.
Am I missing something? I've repaired disk partitions and done plenty of searching online. Am I just going to have to setup everything manually again? Thanks.
-Raul

Wow. Sorry, but you've made a major mess.
I was running Snow Leopard but unfortunately when I installed it, it was from a friend's 'family installation' pack,
That's a violation of the license. The +*family pack+* may be installed on up to 5 Macs in the same household. You need to buy your own copy of Snow Leopard.
It sounds like the prompt you got form the Leopard disc was to +Preserve Users and settings.+ That's an +Archive and Install+ of Leopard. If so, there should be a +Previous System ...+ folder at the top level of your HD. If so, that's where you found your backed-up stuff.
The +Restore System From Backup+ option on the DVD is to restore from Time Machine backups, and it doesn't sound like you've ever made any.
And you cannot use +Migration Assistant+ on that folder. It works to transfer from one Mac (or Time Machine or "clone" backups of one), to a different one.
If that's what you did, you'll have to install Snow Leopard over Leopard (that won't disturb anything else). When you start up, you'll have Snow Leopard and little else. You'll have to copy what you need from the +Previous System+ folder.
|
Once this is sorted out, in addition to buying Snow Leopard, you really should start making regular backups of your system. See the [Time Machine Tutorial|http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/#timemachinebasics] and perhaps browse [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum), and/or Kappy's post on [Basic Backup|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=12366915#12366915].

Similar Messages

Migration assistant stalls on "applications folder"

hi all
i'm having an odd problem upgrading a g4 dual gig desktop system to tiger using the erase and install option, after cloning my drive to an external fw hd. when i finish the install and get to step 3 (transfer your information) the migration assistant stalls on my old "applications" folder - it just sits there with the word "calculating" next to it. i tried leaving it alone for a while to no avail. with the "applications folder" checked (and calculating) the "transfer" button is greyed out. there is also an option for taking files and folders from the drive with the cloned system, and when i uncheck the "applications folder" and check the drive where this folder resides, "transfer" becomes active. i tried doing it this way, but it just copied the files to a folder on the upgraded system, without copying all my library support files, prefs and such. anyone have any idea what's going on? this has always worked flawlessly for me in many other installs. i'm stumped!
thanks
bruce
g4 dual gig "mirror face" Mac OS X (10.4.5)

well, none of that resolved anything. here are a few more details: after installing 10.4 and getting to the "import from another partition/computer" section of the migration assistant the file list shows the applications folder i need to access, but instead of a size it reads "calculating." even if i let it sit for several minutes this doesn't change. i ran the usual disk utility repair permissions and verify disk procedures, and everything comes back fine. if i try to boot from the clone everything seems very slow: boot up takes quite a while, it hangs on "waiting for apple file service" for several minutes and "login window starting" also takes forever. once it gets done i get a blue screen hang. if i boot into the new install of 10.4 and run the migration assistant, it doesn't see the partition with my cloned system at all. the first time i tried migrating the files, when it wouldn't see the applications folder, it did allow me to copy the files into a folder on the new system drive. this didn't help much of course, since it didn't bring the support files over. i'm resigning myself to having to reinstall all my apps manually, a big PITA.
<sigh>
g4 dual gig "mirror face" Mac OS X (10.4.7)
g4 dual gig "mirror face" Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Migration Assistant stalls every time, even with different backups

I recently had the hard drive replaced on my 2009 intel iMac. I have tried using Migration Assistant to transfer user settings and applications from both the USB backup drive of the iMac as well as my Macbook Pro but in both cases, Migration Assistant stalls at either 1hr 47min ot 1hr 53min and doesn't progress past that point. I've let it continue for hours but it just doens't go any further than that.
I assumed it was coming to a corrupt file but now I'm not so sure as it does the same thing when I try migrating from my Macbook Pro, which is a completely differn't system.
Any suggestions? Next, I'm going to try just transferring applications to see if I have any luck with that.
Any way to transfer applications manually? I have so many, it would take days to re-download and install everything.

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

Time machine will not restore full machine. Sticks at "Searching for disks"

So, this is what I did. I started with a machine with the main HDD partitioned in two, but I wanted to use Bootcamp wich doesn't like multiple partitions (annoyance #1) so I decided to repartition the disk and reload from my Time Machine backup. So...
Rebooted the machine to the install disk.
Used the disk utility to repartition to a single drive
Selected restore from Time Machine.
Time Machine backups are visible but it stops at the page "Searching for Disks".
It can't see my newly parititioned hard drive for some reason. I'm currently restoring a new copy of Leopard and I'll see what happens next. If, as I suspect may be the case, that Time Machine is looking for "exactly" the same drives to restore to then this is a "feature" that should be made very clear.
Any thoughts or information appreciated.

Try reformatting the drive. The partition type should be GUID and the formatting should be Mac OS Extended (Journaled). If that doesn't do the trick try zeroing out the drive using the security button. That will take quite some time but will map out any bad sectors on the disk.
Time Machine will restore to a new hard drive and even to a different Mac.

PC migration assistant stalls At "inspecting your computer".

PC migration assistant stalls At "inspecting your computer". PC is Vista64 Mac is latest lion up to date.

My computers happened the same too. I left the computers for more than 12 hour and did not progress to anything. It only said. "inspecting your computer".

Migration Assistant Does Not See Attached External Disk

I just purchased a MacBook Air to replace an aging MacBook Pro. Both are running the latest Mountain Lion (10.8.3). I want to move my files from the MBP to the MBA using Migration Assistant. I first tried doing this over wi-fi, but when I learned it would take more than 99 hours, I chose to cancel the operation.
So I connected a new Seagate HD to the MBP and configured Time Machine to back up to it. I let Time Machine run all day, creating hourly updates after the initial backup. I then disconnected the drive, attached it to the MBA and rebooted. I ran Migration Assistant and chose to migrate from a Time Machine backup. However, Migration Assistant does not see the disk. Yet the disk is mounted on the desktop, I can read and write to it, and I can see the Time Machine backups. Only Migration Assistant seems unable to recognize the disk.
This isn't the first time I've had problems with MA (see my posting history). When it works, it's terrific - my new computer has all the settings and preferences as the old. My applications are all registered and operational. So I'm very frustrated that I can't get it to work with my new MBA. It really does diminish the experience of getting a new computer. That, plus I don't want to spend days and weeks moving things over manually, re-installing, etc.
C'mon, Apple. Why is Migration Assistant so difficult? I'd chalk it up to user error, but this many times?

So, finally after fourten hours of unattended "migration," I let it continue overnight and in the morning found that the time remaining had not moved a minute. I canceled MA and found that not one iota of data had transferred.
As far as I'm concerned, Migration Assistant ranks lower on the Apple success list than Open Doc, Newton, Pink and Taligent.
Now I have to manually install software I want to use on the MBA, apply licenses, and all the other stuff I would expect from Windows.
NOT happy.

HT4718 Installed new hard drive, click on restore from time machine, get to 'select a destination' but just keeps searching for disks.. any help please?

Installed new hard drive and want to restore from time machine.
Get as far as 'select a destination' then it goes no further - just keeps 'searching for disks'
Help anyone please?

1. Be sure your drive is attached and mounted.
2. If you have already written any data to the drive, back it up before proceeding to the next step.
3. In the Finder, choose Go > Utilities. The /Applications/Utilities folder will open.
4. Launch Disk Utility.
5. Click the icon for your external hard drive in the sidebar on the left.
6. Click the Erase tab along the top of the window.
7. From the Volume Format menu, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
8. Enter a name for the external hard drive in the Name field.
9. Click the Erase button.
Make Sure that you choose the correct drive

Migration Assistant stalls: Solutions and tips

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

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

Migration assistant stalls

I've done a clean install of 10.4.7 on a 15" G4 Powerbook 1.5 GHz, and am trying to use Migration Assistant to transfer my data from a 17" FP iMac (with 250 GB internal drive), also running 10.4.7.
The iMac volumes mount in Migration Assistant, but when I get to the Pick Users to Transfer to This Machine panel, the program stalls, with Space Remaining: Calculating and Selected Items: Calculating messages. This state doesn't change for hours. I can click Continue to see the Pick Applications and Files panel, but get the same messages. If I click Continue again, I get to the Pick Volumes panel, and there I see two of the three partitions on the iMac. But the previous panels never finish "calculating," and thus I can't transfer my data. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance for any help.

Did you run any utilities such as disk warrior on both hard drives? If not that could be the reason. Just because you install a fresh operating system does not mean everything is in order and it may have problems finding things like files on the hard drive. if you are using fire wire be ready for it to be some what slow. if do not have disk warrior you can use drive genus. i can't think of any oter ones that will do the job.
good luck

Migration Assistant stalled-now have a mess!

Ok. I will outline what I did. I am really stuck....
1. I wanted to do a clean install. Followed directions to make a bootable clone of Yosemite. Worked fine.
2. Erased hard drive.
3. Installed Yosemite.
4. Decided that I didn't want to piece-meal my stuff back so I plugged in my clone and started up Migration Assistant.
5. It took a long time but it got down to 2 hours and 44 minutes and stayed there for a long time. I decided to let it run overnight.
6. About 10 hours later I checked again. Still stuck at 2 hours and 44 minutes.
7. Decided it was stalled. Had to hold down power button to get it to restart.
8. Booted up in Yosemite.
9. I was able to get some apps up and running by dragging from the clone to my hard drive. App by app.
10. Then I ran into problem #1-iTunes doesn't have my apps in it from my iPad (4th gen) and iPhone 6. It has my music but not all of it. It appears that all the movies are there. But I can't update to 8.1 because what I have in my iDevices does not match what is in iTunes. So how do I get my iTunes like it was before so that I can update to 8.1? I don't want to restore my phone and iPad do I?
11. I tried retrieving my iTunes backup from Time Machine but I got a message that I can't do that-maybe because it's from a backup prior to my upgrading to Yosemite.....
12. I have a Crash Plan backup but it's trying to get caught up from all the changes I have so I can't use it right now.
13. Can I do Migration Assistant again and specify which Time Machine backup I want to use?
14. Is there an app that will let me get into the nitty gritty Time Machine files?
15. Ugh!
I really do appreciate any help you can give me to get me out of this quagmire! Judy

Re: Why not boot from the 750 GB drive and try the migration that way?
Good idea, but no joy. I've booted from both the original 250 GB HD and the new 750 GB HD and in both instances Migration Assistant reports one of my folders has 239.8 TB. Any idea why such an impossible amount is reported? Thanks, -wjm

Migration Assistant time out?

I have not been able to migrate from a Powerbook to my MBA. I have read the various threads here and used their suggestions to no avail. Here's what I've done to prepare: loaded the new Migration Assistant program that came on the CD onto the Powerbook, turned off the firewall on both machines, enabled file sharing, purchased the USB ethernet adapter, plugged both machines into a router.
Here's what happens:
I run Migration Assistant on both machines, using the proper "to" and "from" settings.
The Powerbook says it sees the MBA.
I enter the passcode on the Powerbook that the MBA produces.
The MBA Migration Assistant says it is "preparing information."
For some reason, the Powerbook Migration Assistant now says "searching for other computers." (There are no other machines on the network.)
This goes on for about 5 minutes, then the MBA says "network connection failed."
I know that the machines are connected and seeing each other (I can mount each other in the Finder), but for some reason Migration Assistant can't proceed, and I suspect a time out is really causing the "connection failed" notice.
I also tried this wirelessly, with the same results. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Well, it looks like I can answer my own question. There seems to be a particular problem in migrating from a MacBook G4 running Tiger to an MBA (on Leopard, of course). I went to the Genius Bar at the 5th Avenue store here in NYC. The Genius went though the regular migration procedure, and ended up with the same situation as reported above. He tried several different things, including trying to pass the migration through a portable hard drive. (MBA-ethernet cable-hard drive-ethernet cable-MacBook). He talked to other Geniuses. All to no avail. He put the problem into the official Genius database that goes to Apple engineers. He suggested that I upgrade the MacBook to Leopard and see if that made a difference. He acknowledged that Apple says it can migrate from Tiger, but he thought it might work. As it happened, I had an unopened copy of Leopard at home, because I hadn't had the time to upgrade. So I upgraded, then did the 10.5.2 combo update on both machines. I crossed my fingers, plugged in the ethernet cables, and presto, the migration started happening.
Some tips on migrating: before starting, use Energy Saver to set both machines to sleep never. Just for good measure, set the Display to sleep never, and I suggest even setting a Disable Screen Saver corner in Desktop & Screen Saver and move your cursor there after the migration starts. (Not doing this meant my first migration attempt was calculated to take 19 hours, and I would have to babysit the trackpad all that time to avoid either machine sleeping. After force quitting Migration Assistant and resetting those controls, it zipped through in less than 3 hours.)
I hope this can help the other people having the same problem. Bummer if you have to buy Leopard, though...

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.

TS1963 Migrating from Time Machine onExternal Disk, Why won't Migration Assistant see my USB Connected external disk drive?

I had to format my internal disk drive on my MacBook Pro, and reload Mountain Lion 10.8.3. The startup assistant could not see my external disk drive with the Time Machine backup files. After many tries I told it to skip restoring the files and let it boot up. I was able to see my 1 TByte external drive and could see the Time Machine files using Finder.
I started the Migration Assistant and told it to migrate from Time Machine Files on an external drive. It also did not see the backup drive. The only drive icon it showed was the Macintosh HD (my internal drive).
Isn't it supposed to show you the drive you are moving the files from? I tried starting it and it looked like it was going to try to migrate the files from the internal drive (to where I don't know, back to itselfl?) Or do I just not understand. Is it seeing the external drive, without identifying it (in the Migration Asst,)?
Really looks like it is going to back up the internal HD with files that are on the internal HD and not from Time Machine.
I need to restore my files and have been told I need to do so using Migration Assistant and not Time Machine.
Help pleae and soon, need to get my taxes finished!
Thanks!

I'm surprised that no one replied to this. But I learned a few things that may be helpful to some of you with this same question.
When you restore data from an external disk drive with Time Machine files on it. As you move through the dialog (in either System Startup or in the Migration Assistant) it will ask if you want to restore from an external disk with Time Machine files. If you select this option, it will show you only one Icon. You will expect to see your external disk drive listed as the source of the restore. The icon that is shown will look like your ilnternal drive and will be labeled something like Macintosh HD. That is not your internal drive, but is your backup drive. It is labeled the same as your internal disk drive and it is telling you that you have found the backup for your internal disk drive.
Would be nice if Apple would put a note of explanation about this as part of that dialog. I wasted several hours trying to make it work Finally I took a chance and selected the drive shown and it did restore my system. I ended up with two users since I did it from Migration Assistant. Had I done it from the System Startup, there would only be the one user.

Does Time Machine/Migration Assistant successfully transfer software licenses for Microsoft Office and Adobe?

I have a MacBook that I purchased in late 2007. It's been very good to me over the years. However, I'm been having various minor issues, and tonight I noticed that the screen goes to black at about 45° as I'm closing my laptop. In other situations I'd try to fix this myself, but right now I'm a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural South America and have limited access to the right tools, much less replacement parts. So instead I'm taking it as a sign that my trustworthy companion is about to give up the ghost and I should get a new computer now, instead of completely running this one into the ground and potentially losing important documents, photos, &c.
My question is simple: Does Time Machine and/or Migration Assistant successfully transfer licenses for Microsoft Office 2011 and for Adobe software?
My software installation disks are in a box in a basement in the United States. And since I'm not quite sure which box it is (last summer I did not see the need to label my own boxes), I'm not going to ask some unsuspecting friend or family member to dig through all my posessions to find an alphanumeric code or two, especially if I can just transfer/migrate the license without it.
Many thanks.

Try the combo update on the old machine.
10.6.8 Combo Updater
If the 2 computers have the correct cable connections, try the Target Disk Mode.
Target Disc Mode

HT2518 After using Migrate Assistant, I made several accounts for every attempt to migrate files from PC to Mac. How can I put all accounts together into one? How can I transfer the files from the other accounts to my primary account?

Okay, so I did the entire Migrate Assistant process to transfer all my files and what not to my MacBook. Problem is that I did it on seperate occasions and now I have several accounts.
How can I transfer my files from the other accounts to my primary account and delete the other accounts?

Problem is that I did it on seperate occasions and now I have several accounts.
If you had read carefully, Migration Assistant asks what you want to do in this event. That would have precluded the redundancy.
Part of the fundamental design of OS X is to separate user accounts so that one user can't interfere with another. It's not possible to directly merge an account with another, but you can copy whatever you need to the Shared folder - it is in your Users folder.
Log in to one account, prefereably a smaller one, and drag the files and folders into Shared. Log out, log into the account you want to be "primary" and drag the files from Shared into their appropriate locations. When you have copied everything you need delete the redundant account.
Do this for each of them.
Or, you can just run Migration Assistant again and follow the prompts that address the situation you described. It involves creating a secondary, temporary account from which you can administer the transfer. When it is complete you delete the temporary account(s).

MIgration Assistant Stalls out on 'Searching for Disk...'

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