Time machine backup not recognised?

I have two macbook pros for work, ones a 15" ones a 13". I did a TM backup on my 15" in the idea of cloning the 15" for my next training session in August. I have never had any issues with TM not being able to restore my account, but both on 10.8.4, with all updates, but Migration Assistant cant find my TM backup drive but its mounted. I tried the recovery method, finds the drive but no valid backups. Anyhelp would awesome as I have the weekend to get this figured out.

Most likely, some files were inadvertently excluded from your backups, and as a result you can't restore your data in Recovery, Setup Assistant, or Migration Assistant.
You should be able to enter Time Machine and restore your user data from a snapshot.* I suggest you do this in two stages. Quit all applications except the Finder before you begin.
Restore all the visible items at the top level of your home folder.
Hold down the option key and select Go ▹ Library from the Finder menu bar. Enter Time Machine and restore all items in the Library folder. Log out and log back in as soon as the restore is complete.
Any other invisible folders or files at the top level of your home folder that you want to preserve will have to be restored separately. For most users, that isn't necessary.
You'll have to reinstall all third-party applications from scratch, or restore them from another kind of backup, if you have one.
*If you don't see any snapshots in Time Machine, exit the time-travel view and then hold down the option key while selecting
Browse Other Backup Disks...
from the Time Machine menu, which has an icon that looks like a clock running backwards. Select the backups of your computer by its previous name. If you don't have the Time Machine menu, open the Time Machine preference pane in System Preferences and check the box marked
Show Time Machine in menu bar

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