Tips for Restoring Without Migration Assistant?

I'm upgrading my HD this week and looking for a humane way to restore my data without using Migration Assistant, used for the past five restorations...corrupt files and all. I long for a fresh start but dread the old, tedious method of restoring data by hand. Is there an easier way? If not is there a guide for what settings files I can safely bring over and what to avoid? I'll have a bootable SuperDuper or CarbonCopy Cloner backup.

I'm actually with you 100% on this baltwo. There really is very little that can't be resolved with a fresh reinstall of Snow Leopard's default installation. So the options are as follows starting with the easiest and progressing to the more difficult:
A. Clone the legacy OS & User Accounts back over to the new drive, followed by a default SL Install + Software Update to freshen the OS if so desired.
B. Install the OS and use Migration Assistant to restore all User Accounts and Applications.
C. Install the OS and use Migration Assistant to restore ONLY user data (Photos, Music, Videos, Documents, etc...). Followed by reinstalling all 3rd-party apps and manually configuring all previous settings (i.e preferences & networking).
D. Install the OS and manually moving only desired user data and reinstalling all 3rd-party apps and manually configuring all previous settings (NOTE: This option is reserved for only the most extreme circumstances as it involves a serious commitment of time and introduces the potential for permissions issue when trying to integrate legacy user data with a virgin user account).
Like baltwo, I have never had to perform options D, and option C perhaps only once. My user accounts, and all of their data, have successfully been migrated across some 5 Macs since the option to do so was introduced. I believe I still have some data within my primary user account that was generated back in the OS 8 & 9 days.
Rest assured, when problems arise they are rarely the result of data found within your user account and are more likely the result of corrupt OS or App files. As a result I have never hesitated to migrate my complete user account over when I upgraded my Mac. OS Software and Apps may come and go, but my user account is rock solid and completely portable with the help of Migration Assistant. I think baltwo would agree.

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How do I transfer my home folder to my server without migration assistant?

I am having a hard time migrating my user folder to my mini. My wife is the first user account, but I want to put my account on there as well. Without migration assistant, I am not sure how to do it?
The Apple Genius guy told me to just copy my home folder to the "users" folder on the mini,
then go to "system pref's" and "create a new user that "exactly matches the name on my copied data, especially the short name.
At this point it is supposed to ask me if I want to "link" the accounts and I say yes, however, I can't get to this point.
Everytime I try to copy the home folder over, I can't drop it in the user folder. If I try to copy to the desktop or other folder only some data will transfer. It is obviously a permissions issues. I have selected my user folder, "get info" and I "applied to enclosed items" but I am not familiar with permissions like this. I remember the "ignore permissions" option.
So there ya go? How would you guys do this?

The permissions associated with the Users folder are those of the admin user. I suggest you try using the Terminal in your Utilities folder. You should first boot the computer into the main admin account. The command line would look something like this:
sudo cp -a /Users/useraccount /Volumes/volname/Users/useraccount
Press RETURN. Enter admin password when prompted. It will not be echoed to the screen. Substitute your account name for useraccount, and the name of the mounted drive on the Mini to which you want to copy your user account for volname.
The above command will copy your Home folder into the /Users/ folder on the other computer. Now, there may be a better solution for you, but you haven't told us about the other computer from which you are trying to migrate. If both computers have Firewire ports then there is an easier and faster solution.

Is there a way to update an external dictionary for services without migrating the services

Is there a way to update an external dictionary for services without migrating the services
Is there a way to update a common external dictionary used by many services without migrating each and every service that uses the dictionary. I have updated the table in the database and the external dictionary in our Development Environment. The external dictionary is used by many services. When I migrate the changed service to TEST/STAGE/PROD environments (NOTE: the table has been updated in the TEST/STAGE/PROD Databases), only the changed service is having the external dictionary updated. All other services that use the same external dictionary are NOT updated. I have the following questions
Is it possible to migrate dictionaries so that all the services which are using that dictionary are updated?
If the first one is not possible, Is there any other way to update the external dictionary without migrating all the services that use dictionary?

dont think so but I could be wrong
as it were I didn't like the build in audio so I connected some external logictech 2.1 speakers but there
are times when I use headset so I bought this one
or any minijack splitter will work too so I have 2 things connected to the headset port works just fine
http://www.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=404634

How migrate all mail (boxes and accounts) from 10.6.8 on Mavericks (without Migration Assistant)?

How migrate all mail (boxes and accounts) from 10.6.8 on Mavericks (without Migration Assistant)? Install the system (10.9.1) on a blank disk, copied the program and set up manually. Mail accounts and folders does not work to install and configure. Migration Assistant does not want to use, as it copies everything, and you only need to e-mail. Read a lot, but nothing works.

Try reindexing the mailbox. This can take awhile if you have a lot of mail.
Reindex messages.
If that doesn't work try deleting MessageUidsAlreadyDownloaded3.
Quit the application.
You need to look in your user Library. Either hold down the option key while using the Finder “Go To Folder” command and select your user Library in your home folder or use the Finder “Go To Folder” command and enter ~/Library/Mail/V2/Mail Data/MessageUidsAlreadyDownloaded3. Move the file to your desktop.
Open the application and test. If it works okay, delete the file from the desktop.
If the application is the same, return thefile to where you got it from, overwriting the newer ones.
If you prefer to make your User library permanently visible, use the Terminal command found below.
Show User Library
You might want to bookmark the command. I had to use it again after I installed 10.8.5. I have also been informed that if you drag the user library to Finder it will remain visible.

HT5097 How do I find my files after a TC restore using Migration Assistant?

How do I find my TC backup?
My difficulties started with my MacBook Pro going totally dead. Took it to the Apple Store, where they identified a problem with the RAM. They fixed it, and also reinstalled Lion, but without my applications - Pages, iPhoto, my documents etc.
When I got back home, I used Migration Assistant, which I found in Utilities, connected to the Time Capsule with an Ethernet cable, and it said at the end that it had transferred all my info. During the process I had to create another ID. I added a "1" to my old id, of course...easiest thing to do....and then I changed the Login procedure so I could switch to that user ID. I'm not sure that worked, because when my MacBook Pro went to sleep, I found the original icon, rather than the one for the name1 name. So that may be part of the problem, but I don't know.
Anyway, then I entered Time Machine, but all that is there is the last few days/hours of activity.
I don't know much about computers, but I think that the new name1 user ID and the restored data may be linked somewhere and if I could just find it perhaps this would get resolved.
I can see the applications now, but when I look for, for example, Pages documents, there is nothing there. Ditto for iPhoto. For iPhoto I also tried file>import, which brought in some old files from MobileMe, but not the photos I had on my MacBook.
I would prefer not to have the name/name1 and just have everything back as it was, but I don't know how to do that either.
Hope someone can help me! Many thanks!!!

Never mind! I finally figured out - duh - that if I logged out and then logged in under the new name1 ID, I could find everything! HOOORAY!

Time machine backup on external firewire drive is not seen by restore or migration assistant

Hi,
today the harddrive on my Aluminium iMac gave up the ghost. I have been backing up my system using time machine, so I wished to restore it. To my great annoyance I found that neither the restore option in Lion's installer nor the migration assistant after install allows me to select that drive!!!
I have checked the drive, it's ok. I connected it to another Mac, it can read it just fine. Why the **** is it not appearing in the list of available backups?!

Hi Bob,
I would like it to appear along with the time capsule it self under shared, so when I click on the time capsule I would see two drives the time capsule and right below or above the hard drive. and I would like to be able to see it in the airport utility under disks under the time capsule in the drive screen, but the drive is not visible in either locations.
yes I have read many places that the drive need external power supply, as this drive is quite large 1,5 tb I did take one with external power supply. I do however have two other drives one 500 gb and one 750 gb without external power supply and they both work perfectly on my time capsule "plug and play" like it is supposed to, funny enough one of these drives do have the partition master scheme as master boot record even as I have seen several discussions where it is stated this would not work. on these new drives I have tried with the three different partition master schemes I have tried with mac OS extended formatting as well as FAT 32 formatting, I even formatted the drives on a windows machine to see. but it still do not appear when it is connected to my time capsule. Before my time capsule get the blame for this I have to add that I have tried on two other time capsules - though in other environments - with the same result.
so please any new idea is very appreciated.

TM Backup Volume after restoring with Migration Assistant

Hi there,
I recently restored my system from a time machine volume via migration assistant (NOT while first boot, because it hangs on caluculating amount of space there) to be able to use Boot Camp (my partition seemed to be too much fragmented). There are a whole bunch of files in older backups I still need. Therefor I need to know for sure if I can choose the external HDD with the old Backups as the new TM Backup Volume WITHOUT loosing my old backups.
I haven't found satisfying information about it in this forum but of course it is possible that I've overlooked it.
What do you think about it?
Thanks a lot!

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

What's best: restore using migration assistant or time machine back up?

Hi,
here's the scoops, wondering what to do:
1-tech support at apple store did a clean install of os lion on my macbook.
2-I have a back up from time machine
3-I want to restore everything but applications
4-Problem is: "I think" it's better to use the back up rather than install one certain program (quickbooks) again
5-Should I just use migration assistant to restore everything after setting the computer as a new one; or restore using time machine, without the applications, and restore quickbooks from the back up by itself later on?
Sorry for the sillyness of this question..
Thanks

Where is Pondini...

Problems with Restoring using Migration Assistant

Hi
I'm trying to restore my files from time machine using Migration Assistant. I keep getting this message which I don't understand. Can anyone advice ? Thanks.
+NTFS-3G could not mount /dev/disk1 at Volumes/Untitled because the following problem occured: Error reading bootsector: Input/Output error. Failed to mount 'dev/rdisk1':Input/output error NTFS is either inconsitent or there is a hardware fault or its a SoftRAID/ FakeRAID hardware. In the first case run chdksk/f on Windows then reboot into Windows. The usage of the /f parameter is very important! f the device is a SoftRAID/ FakeRAID thenfirst activate it and mount a different device under the /dev/mapper/ directory, Ie.g. /dev/mapper/nvidia+eahaabcc1). Please see the 'dmraid' documentation for more details.+
Jojos

I don't do Windoze, but that looks like you've backed-up a virtual machine via Time Machine, and there's a problem with it.
First question: why are you restoring, and why are you using +MIgration Assistant?+
If you want to restore everything from your backups, do a full system restore, per #14 in [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).
Most folks exclude those from Time Machine, and back them up separately.
Your best bet is to skip the contents of the folder they're in while running +MIgration Assistant+, then restore everything else in that folder selectively, via the "Star Wars" display. You may or may not be able to restore the vm file(s), but at least you should be able to get everything else that way.

Restoring using Migration Assistant

My wife's old G5 iMac died a few days ago. It was running Leopard & iLife 08. We have just bought a new iMac for her. Can someone advise on (1) any do's and don'ts restoring data from time machine, (b) specifically - are there any issues restoring data, such as photo's, onto a machine that is running iLife '09 from a data source from an iLife '08 set-up? Many Thanks edward

there should not be any issues using migration to migrate ilife 08 data to a machine with ilife 09. but migrating from PPC to intel using MA might cause issues with other things. see this link for details
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=435350&tstart=0
however, most users migrate without any issues. still, I would recommend migrating user data only and not migrating any applications. Migration Assistant will give you that option.

Restore vs migration assistant

My hard drive on my iMac failed and is being replaced. Fortunately, I have a Time Machine backup. When the new disc is installed, should I use the restore function or migration assistant to set up the new hard drive? What are the advantages/disadvantages of each?
Thanks.

See Mac 101: Time Machine. Scroll down a bit more than half way to the section entitled, "Restoring your entire system from a backup."
Also, see User Tips for Time Machine for help with TM problems. Also you can select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to locate articles on how to use TM. See also Mac 101- Time Machine.
Message was edited by: Kappy

After a Lion clean install, how do I retrieve my data from external back-up? Following Apple advice for use of Migration Assistant did not work creating similar issues leading to clean install.

After a Lion clean install, how do I retrieve my data from external hard drive?
Following Apple advice I used Migration Assistant which crashed new system twice which is why I had to clean install Lion in the first place.
Is there a sure way of doing it?
I have only a few programs that I will have to install myself and that should not be a problem.
I just want my data, music and photos back where I can use them.

Time machine backups. I went to migration assistant a few hours ago and limited my selection to "users", no need for applications, settings and other files. Stuff started moving over at a fast pace but has now seemed to stall.
I will let it run overnight as there are lots of songs and photos as well as a few movies.
If that does not work, then I will go into TM and try restore. I have restored some things in the past such a mail files and it has worked well.
The Apple fellow at the store told me to go right into TM, he may have had a point. I'll get it eventually.

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.

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

Can't access old backups after reinstalling Lion and restoring with Migration Assistant

Scenario: App Store developed a random, repetitive, failure to update certain apps. After trying two different solutions which only worked for a couple of weeks (including archive uninstall) Apple Support and I decided to go the full hog and do a full Lion reinstall. Did a full final backup with TM and proceded to reinstall from the recovery partition. All went well. I gave my new account the same name as my old original one (and this might be the root of the glitch I will describe). When Lion was working again I used Migration Assistant to recover all the users, applications, and information.
As my new main account and my old one (coming from Mig Assist) had the same name, MigAssist asked if I wanted to merge them. I said "yes". All fine. Everything was apparently there.
Later that day I tried to access my bank and discovered that my 1Password db was an old version. I went to TM to retrieve the one from my pre-reinstall backup. As I had mapped my mac back to the sparsebunddle file in TC it seemed I had access to all my files going back 1.5 years. It showed my oldest backup as Sep 2010 and 700 gb used. All seemed normal.
Unfortunately, the purple bars before the moment of reinstall are all faded and I can't retrieve any information from them. Nothing before that moment is available, not from the Finder or from withing any other application.
My new merged main user appears as "carlos 1" when it should have been just "carlos".
Do you guys have any advice that could help me? Thank you in advance.
My TC is a 1TB 2009 one.

Carlos. wrote:
As my new main account and my old one (coming from Mig Assist) had the same name, MigAssist asked if I wanted to merge them.
No, there is no "merge" option:
You can rename or replace, not merge.
Unfortunately, the purple bars before the moment of reinstall are all faded and I can't retrieve any information from them. Nothing before that moment is available, not from the Finder or from withing any other application.
My new merged main user appears as "carlos 1" when it should have been just "carlos".
You have two separate accounts now.
See Problems after using Migration Assistant for an explanation of what's happened (the blue and pink boxes) and a possible fix in the tan box -- but that won't work if you've done any backups since using Migration Assistant.
If you have done backups, your best bet is to do a full system restore, selecting the last backup from before you did the Migration. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #14.

Tips for Restoring Without Migration Assistant?

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