Populating MacBook with Migration Assistant?

I've just received a new (to me) MacBook as I upgrade from an older iBook. The MacBook arrived with Lion and MS Office 2011 installed. I used Migration Assistant to move my user files over to the MacBook. All I wanted to do was move these from one machine to the other. Instead, I've ended up with essentially two computers on one. When I boot up I'm greeted with two icons, the MacBook and the iBook. I have to select which to open and use the appropriate password. My documents file on the MacBook is empty, but if I open the iBook icon, everything is there. That's no what I wanted - I don't want to have to be constantly moving between machines, while on the same machine! How do I undo this mess I've made???
And while I'm at it. I wanted to move some of my apps over - like my Adobe CS apps so I could keep the settings rather than do a clean install. But I don't want to move my oder MS Office 2008 apps - woried these would delete the newer 2011 apps??? Worse I'll end up with MSOffice 08 on the iBook partition and Office '11 on the MacBook. MA apparently won't let me select specific apps to move, and I don't want to delete them from the older iBook, so any suggestions?
How do I undo this ibook/macbook mess I've created on the MacBook? Then can I move selected apps over (or can I at least move all apps and then delete the older ones I don't want on the MacBook?)

Make every effort NOT to use a network connection in order to perform a migration. It is very much preferable to use a Time Machine backup. It will be much faster, and less prone to difficulties. More info here.
There is a silver lining to your difficulty. It has permitted you this chance.
BTW, is this a new Macbook Air? If so, Setup Assistant would be the way to go. I would even consider a re-install of OS X if the unit has nothing on it. Migration Assistant will in the end take longer, and be more of a headache for this one situation. This only applies to a brand new unit.

Similar Messages

Which FireWire Cable for Macbook Pro to Macbook Pro Migration Assistant?

Hi,
I've just purchased a new Macbook Pro 15" (standard - not retina display) and am planning to transfer my files via the Migration Assistant. My question is, I currently have a mid 2009 macbook pro (2.8GHz, 4GB) and was wondering which firewire cable I need to purchase - there are so many different types!
Thanks!

ds store wrote:
Hold T and boot the old Mac's drive to the desktop of the new one or do so during Setup Assistant or later with Migration Assistant.
Setup Assistant runs only once, at first startup when fresh out of the box or when freshly reinstalled from scratch. Migration Assistant is a regular application found in the Utilites folder.
If you're going to move all your stuff over, the easiest and least problematic way is via Setup Assistant. Since the computer is in a completely blank state when SA runs, it can create identical user accounts, permissions, etc., as the original source. MA is an app that runs on an already configured and running system and, hence, can't duplicate user accounts, modify permissions that are already in use, etc.: this can cause vexing issues for new users that may not be to well versed in multiuser operating system administration.

HT4796 Help needed with Migration Assistant, can't find files?

I've just purchased my first Mac (macbook Pro 15in) so please be kind, I'm so clueless it's ridiculous! Using migration assistant I've transfered aprox 100GB of files from my PC which seemed to take about 2seconds, but have no idea where they are or how to access them. The files were mostly music but when I opened itunes there is nothing in my library. The rest of the stuff was pics, docs, email accounts but none of that seems to be there either.. From the few articles I've read I seem to have somehow created another user account which is labeled Guest User/Sharing only, but I can't seem to log in as that user to find the files.. What have I done?! HELP!!

Congratulations!
... Using migration assistant I've transfered aprox 100GB of files from my PC which seemed to take about 2seconds, but have no idea where they are or how to access them.
It sounds as though Migration Assistant did not do a thing. With Migration Assistant, 100 GB will take time, no matter how the two computers communicate it will be at least an hour. Probably more. I recommend you connect them both to a wired network and make sure the PC is really using it. Wireless will take a lot longer.
I suggest you read the following step by step. On your Windows PC, you will need to download Migration Assistant. That link and everything else you need to know is in this document: OS X Lion: About Windows Migration Assistant. Follow its instructions to the letter.
The "guest" user is a feature of OS X and will not contain your files. Don't concern yourself with it.

Pb with migration assistant

Hello,
I try to install a new Macbook Pro with Migration Assistant.
I connect the Ethernet cable between macbook pro Lion (Source) and macbook pro Lion (Target) and i start.
When i arrived on the screen Transfer Information to this Mac, i select "From another Mac" and i launch Migration assistant in the source.
The target view the source but source can't view target.
I have always "looking for another computer" and nothing.
Thanks for your help.

Hi,
Sorry for my mistake with Pb, I'm frenchman and it's the first time I write a post..And sorry if my english is not correct... If you understand me...it's perfect
So, in the Pondini's Setup New Mac,(thank you very munch for that) he wrote :
Usually, the best way is to use Setup Assistant, when you first start up your new Mac. It will set the new Mac up just like the old one: all configuration, settings, users and data, and all applications (except newer versions already installed).
I make that, but nothing.
So I select "Do not transfer the know", and when I created the user, I do not choose the same as the source, otherwise there are a problem with migration assistant. and after, I used Migration Assistant to install all applications, configurations...But I think it isn't normal.
Today, i will try to install a new Mac with Time Machine.
Thanks for your help

I am having problems with migration assistant (windows pc to Mac 2011) When I get to the 'Quit other applications' box and click continue, nothing happens. There are no other apps running - any ideas, please?

I am having probems with migration assistant. Trying to transfer data from a windows laptop to iMac 2011. It was working fine when I did the set-up yesterday, but it was going to take hours to transfer some videos so I quit the process with the intention of doing it again at a later stage. However today I find that everytime I get to the 'Quit other applications' box on the Mac and click 'continue', nothing happens. Have checked mission control and confirmed no other apps running. Tried several times with the same result every time. Migration Assistant running on my laptop with the 'Waiting for mac to connect' box displayed. Mac is connected to wi-fi OK as able to use Safari and access internet. Any ideas, please?

Thanks for your suggestions. Have managed to get Migration Assistant working but now have a new problem, i.e. where does it save the transferred files?!! Searched a few forums and it seems it saves it under your old username, or suchlike. Anyway I tried logging on as a new user using my old user name but there were only a handful of files there, couldn't locate the majority of stuff from my old laptop. Anyway I don't intend to go through any more hoops with MA - will just save the important stuff to an external drive and transfer it that way. Not impressed with MA at all. I thought it was supposed to be a user-friendly tool to simplify the transfer from pc to Mac - not my experience, I'm afraid!

Backup will not restore with migration assistant.

This is long and complicated but here goes. Had a 10.5 machine PPC that was backing up to a time capsule. IMac blew out PS so was toast. Took it home and took another iMac 10.5 machine that had a bad HD. Put new HD into that machine and installed 10.6 and then ran migration assistandt from the old iMac HD drive from the unit with the bad PS. The restored iMac with the new HD was a perfect close of the older iMac and everything was perfect. Took to customer site and they were happy. Time machine started backing up again to the same time capsule as before. It created a new backup image on the time capsule with the EXACT SAME NAME as the older iMac had. I did not know that until a year later when the new hard drive in the rebuilt iMac failed. I took a newer iMac of the Intel variety with 10.7 on it to the customer site. I told migration assistant to restore from the time capsule users and data file. I di not want it to restgore programs since I knew the ones on the newer iMac where newer versions and probably not compatible. Restore seemed to go just fine. Users were all there and desktop looked the same as the older iMac with the dead hard drive. I had to install a printer driver but all appeared okay. Customer called the day later and said all files for pages and numbers and address book appeared a year old at the newest. See where this is going.
I went to the site and started looking at the backup files on the time capsule drive. Taht is when I noticed that two exact backup named files existed. So I started drilling down through them ( Not using time machine casues it only had 1 day history on it ) and looked at the dates of the files. Sure enough, one of the backup images had files that had all ended a year ago when the original iMac blew out the PS and the other backup file with an identical name had files much more current in the current month and year. Simple I said to myself. I just happended to pick the older file to restore from. So I renamed the older file so I could not get them confused. Double checked that the one with the current files was named correctly. Went to migration assistant again and ran it again. Completed just fine but sill no file less than a year old. NOw I am really puzzled so I tried a test of one simple file to see if I was wrong in my assumptions. The address book file was one of the files that was a year old. I went to the time caplsule and drilled down to the exact file that address book makes. I had already thrown the corresponding file away on the new machine so I copied the file from the exact same location on the time capslue back up to the same location on the new machine. I then fired up address book on the new machine and the address book worked perfectly with the new and updated and current records.
So now I am sure that the drive image that I have been playing with on the time capsule has the up to date backups. But migtration assistant will not move them to the new machine. It will take a very long time to move every pages and numbers files scattered around in various folders to do this manually. What is wrong with migration assistant that it will not work correctly.

I am not asking if there is anything on the card. I'm not worried about the backup or recovering all of my information. I'm asking if setting up the replacement phone as NEW will change anything at all when I use the OLD sim card.

What's the fastest way to transfer files with Migration Assistant?

I am trying to transfer everything from an iMac 21.5 over Ethernet with Migration Assistant and it is 20+ Hours estimated transfer time. Once I strt can I switch to Thunderbolt? Everything I've read states this is the fastest means.
Thanks!

Thanks. Through further investigation my old iMac does not have a Thunderbolt port so that's out of the question. I think it was going over wifi instead of Ethernet so I disabled my router and am now migrating from Time Machine via USB 2.0. Estimated around 3+ hours now.
Any idea how to get my old iMac out of migration mode?

Transfer emails with migration assistant.

My boss asked me to transfer all his old email from old macpro to his new one. Do i have to set up his email account on iMal first before i transfer them with migration assistant? Or will that set up autmatically while transfering?

On the old Mac. User/Library/Mail. Copy the folder to the new Mac to the desktop. Then on the new Mac from the Finder menu hold down the option key and click on Go. Select Library. Drag the Mail folder from the Library to the trash (don't empty). drag the Mail folder from the old Mac into the Library. Now launch Mail and check to see that all the email is there. If all is well empty the trash.

Insufficient space for importing TM backup with migration assistant

First of all this is not for my main Mountain Lion installation on my Mac Pro, it is on a VM Ware Fusion virtual Mountain Lion installation that is running on my Mac Pro also running Mountain Lion. So this is really more a question dealing with VM Ware Fusion (or Parallels since I have the same issue with that as well) vs. a problem with Mountain Lion. Confused yet? I sure am....
I am trying to import a time machine backup of my previous Snow Leopard drive into my virtual machine. I did not want to import this into my new drive because I am starting fresh and trying to clean up and Snow Leopard had 10 years worth of crus I am trying to get rid of, but I would still like to have my old SL drive running within VM Ware to help with the transition. I have a Mac Pro with a dual monitor set up so I want it to run in my second monitor and very slowly over the next few weeks get all the files I want and need instead of just importing a bunch of useless crap.
Anyway, here is the problem I am having and cannot seem to get past this hurdle. When I open migration assistant inside VM Ware ML and choose my time machine backup of snow leopard everything works fine until it finishes calculating the size. I deselected all the files and folder I possibly can which leaves 209GB. Even with every single folder deselcted it still give an insufficient storage error I have already resized the VMware drive to 400GB which is more than enough. In my real machine under Finder>Get Info it shows it as 400GB, but within the virtual machine it is only showing the Mac HD to be 40GB which won't allow migration assistant to import the backup due to insuffient storage.
I have a Mac Pro with tons of disk space so I have plenty of free space to allocate but I have tried everything I can think of but came up blank. Sorry if my explanation was overly verbose or confusing but I wanted to give as much detail as possible. Haven't really fiddled with the settings in VM Ware in a while so I must be missing something.
So, how do you import files showing as larger than 40GB from a time machine backup with migration assistant without getting an error that there is not enough remaining space? And again, I have already resized the disk to 400GB that shows as 400GB on my real machine but only as 40GB inside the VM Ware Mac HD. I also have Parallels if that is easier to do what I am trying to accomplish.

I just solved the problem! And this is actually a pretty big deal because experts at the VM Ware Fusion website and many other forums told me it was impossible.
So here is the guide to running Mountain Lion in VM Ware Fusion or Parallels with a partition larger than 40GB and allows you to import an old user account from Tiger, Snow Leopard, Lion, etc..
1) Make sure to shut down Mountain Lion in VM
2) Under VM settings expand hard drive to whatever size you like
3) You will need either a disk image or an actual DVD of mountain lion, mount that in your VM and choose it as start up. After rebooting open disk utility and partition Mac HD. Instead of only showing the 40GB limit it shold now show the size you created from step 2. Close disk utility and install Mountain Lion as normal. Reboot and unmount disk image.
4) You now have a virtual Mountain Lion with whatever hard disk size you chose.
5) Open migration assistant and do your time machine back up as normal from previous systems.
The reason you might want to do this are many. In my case I wanted to have my old Snow Leopard user account open and running on my second monitor since I just did a fresh install on my Mac Pro. It is easy to import audio, photos, videos but there was a lot of other things I want to take my time bringinging over. There are also many cases where I needed to open up an app and view settings. Now I have my old machine essentially running at the same time as my new install side by side which is fantastic.

Problems with migration assistant between macbook running leopard and macbook pro on lion

Hi,
I've just got a macbook pro running lion and am having difficulties transferring through a network from a macbook (running latest version of leopard) onto it.
It just keeps telling me to update migration assistant on my macbook, which I've tried doing but it already says it's completely up to date.
I've tried checking that filesharing/firewall etc. is enabled on both.
Does this mean I have to get a firewire cable? What do I need to do?
Thank you for any suggestions.

Turn off your Leopard machine, leave your Lion machine on. Connect your firewire cable between both computers. Start up the Leopard computer and immediately press and hold down the T key until the FireWire icon appears. The hard disk of the Leopard computer should become available to the Lion computer and will likely appear on desktop.

Using an external drive with migration assistant

I have used disk utility to clone the hard drive on my defective MacBook to a Maxtor external drive.
Will I be able to use migration assistant with the external drive when I get a new MB?

Thanks, would I choose "From another Mac" or "From another Volume in this Mac" under Migration Method?

After Restoring with Migration Assistant internet accounts are not working properly

Hello!
My Macbook Pro's HDD fried a week ago, so I swapped it for a new one. I had a backup from about 30mins before the issue happened, so I thought everything would go fine with Time Machine. Well, not quite. After installing Mac OS X Mavericks from the Disk Utility and telling the system to apply the latest backup on Migration Assistant during the installation, everything started up the way I left it, but several problems showed up and I have been trying to troubleshoot them.
Issues:
1. I used to have Facebook, Twitter and two Gmail accounts logged via the Internet Accounts preferences. Used the gmail accounts for notes, contacts and calendars. Now, they all show up on the menu, but when I click on any of them it tells me they aren't connected and asks me for their password. When I put it down, it gives me an "Unable to verify account" message. If I delete the accounts and try to reinsert them, I get the same message. What's even more weird: When I restart, they are all there again.
2. Notes doesn't update properly. It shows me all the notes up until like 4 weeks ago, and whenever I even click on the app's window, it tells me it can't connect to Gmail and asks me for its password again. Several other apps that require syncing, like Calendar, have the same issue.
Troubleshooting attempts:
1. It's not a problem with these accounts, as I've been able to sync them no problem if I create a new user. But I had some serious work being done and I don't really want to get a fresh start.
2. I tried doing a clean install and when the Migration Assistant showed up I asked to transfer everything except personal documents and data. It worked, but I lost all my personal files that are not on dropbox (not many, but there were a few important things). Also the wifi didn't connect at all, kept saying it was self assigning an IP or whatever. This did not happen before.
3. Not using migration assistant at all, but restarting the system and restoring a time machine backup, even an earlier one from that same day. Mac gets stuck on spinning wheel during boot :/
This killed my weekend's productivity already, as each clean install and time machine restoring takes 3hrs+. I don't know what to do at this point.
Macbook Pro, Early 2011, 13". Old HDD 320gb, new one 500gb. OS X Mavericks 10.9.4 (the backup is from 10.9.3)

ragob66,
Welcome to the Apple discussions!
Try this:
*Accessing Time Machine Backups From Another User Account or Computer*
Yes, you can do this using the Time Machine interface.
Attach the drive containing the TM backups to your computer.
Control-click the TM icon in the dock and select "Browse Other Time Machine Disks...".
Highlight the desired disk and click “Use Selected Disk”. This will now allow you to browse those TM backups via the ‘time travel’ window. From here you can restore what files you need access to. Bear in mind that any files moved will have the permissions of that previous user account. Thus you may be prompted for the user name and password of that previous account. However, once verified you should be able to adjust “Sharing & Permissions” in the files “Get Info” window.
Let us know if this resolved your issue.
Glenn

Login invalid on new MacBook after Migration Assistant

Migration Assistant problem
New computer: 15" MacBook Pro with Retina display (probably OS X Lion
Old computer: 15"Macbook Pro running Mountain lion.
My regular login password is invalid on the new computer after migration assistant - Not sure what to do.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

I managed to find a solution
Here is the link:
http://osxdaily.com/2010/08/10/forgot-mac-password-how-to-reset-mac-password/
There are instructions to reset the mac password without a CD. You set up a new admin account then you can reset the password to your original account.
It solved the problem.

Transfering Settings with Migration Assistant

Can anyone tell me what "settings" are transferred when using migration assistant to set up a MacBook Pro (by either migrating from another MacBook Pro or from a time machine backup)? It always asks if you want to transfer 1) applications, 2) documents, 3) settings
Here is the background:
1) Applications: I am setting up a new machine (OS 10.6.6) from an almost identical machine that I barely finished setting up (also OS 10.6.6). I had only a few programs installed but because of known transfer problems due to licensing issues (Office 2011, Adobe CS5) was advised by colleagues just to install my applications fresh on the new machine, which I did.
2) Documents: I would like to use migration assistant to copy all my documents, I don't see a problem with that and I was planning to do that next.
3) Settings: What I don't know is whether I should restore/migrate "settings". Are these things like my folder display preferences or power settings (which may have taken some time to get just the way I like and would like to replicate)? Are these settings that pertain to my applications, which may not link up with the newly installed (un-migrated) applications and then cause problems? Or are these things like internet settings, which I've already gotten in place and working for the new machine?
So the big question is: what "settings" are these and will they overwrite or interfere with anything that I already have set up on the new machine?

what "settings" are these and will they overwrite or interfere with anything that I already have set up on the new machine?
Using Migration Assistant, all of your settings will be transferred: system settings, application settings, even .ds_store files: your windows will all be in the same place as they are on your other machine; your custom icons will still be there, your file structures, your desktop picture, your passwords, pretty much everything.
If you use Migration Assistant on the initial setup, the account you transfer from your old machine will be the main admin account on the new machine. If you wait and use Migration Assistant after the initial setup, a new account will be created to contain the migrated data.

Big snafu with Migration Assistant

I have a MacBook and a new MacBook Pro. I want to use Migration Assistant to transfer the files. I don't have (and don't want to purchase) a 6 to 9pin Firewire adapter. So, I'll be using an Ethernet connection.
Problem is, when I try to do this, I get to the point where I set up the computers and click okay - and then there's no transfer. In Migration Status, the screen says "Preparing Information," and a long bar appears as this goes on - but no transfer. Finally, the screen will say there's no connection. But the Ethernet cables are connected
This can't be that hard. I just want to transfer files via Ethernet. What's stopping me?

+Have you made sure the software & firmware on the older Mac are up to date?+
Definitely. Checked both laptops with Software Update beforehand.
+In particular, have you installed the Migration and DVD and CD Sharing Update if the older Mac is still running 10.4.10 or less or 10.5.5 or less?+
Good point. But I have the very latest updates installed and running.
+Also, are you using a direct Ethernet to Ethernet cable connection between the two Macs or going through a managed Ethernet router or access point, especially an older one?+
I'm using a direct Ethernet to Ethernet connection between both laptops, although I'm using a CAT5 cable (if that means anything), not a CAT6 (which I don't own). I've heard that CAT6 cables can be faster, but also sometimes more finicky. It's going through Airport, which has worked fine so far, and I don't have any firewalls enabled.
This gave me additional motivation to make sure my settings and cables were correct. Indeed, when I used Drop Copy to share files, everything worked swimmingly, so to speak; I swapped files between laptops effortlessly. But somehow, when Migration Assistant was managing things, the link between the two machines was not detected or initialized.
Quite a detective story. I'm beginning to realize that Apple's use of Migration Manager with Ethernet may have a software conflict or flaw; that's the only conclusion I can draw...so far.

Populating MacBook with Migration Assistant?

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