Upgrade & Migration Assistant.

I've ordered a Mac Mini which should arrive on Tuesday. It will come with Tiger, I'm assuming 10.4.10, and a Leopard dvd.
Current system is a MDD G4 with 10.4.11 and a clone on external FWHD.
Questions:
Would it be better to transfer everything to the Mini get that up and running the way I want and then install Leopard or upgrade the fresh Mini to Leopard and then transfer everything over to the Mini?
I was thinking of cleaning up the FWHD, deleting things I don't want and PPC applicatons, and using Migrations Assistant to move everything over from the FWHD, is it possible to use MA with the FWHD. Does Migration Assistant allow me to pic and choose what I want to move or does it just move everything? I'd rather not move my iPhoto pictures over to the new Mini. I have all my photos on several CD's and would rather set up iPhoto from scratch and then import all my photos.
Would really appreciate any insights on doing this major, for me at least, upgrade.
Thanks,
Doug

I have almost always used the purchase of a new computer to houseclean. I put my applications folder into list view and sort by date. Almost every application that hasn't been used within the last year is automatically dumped. Anything not used within the last 6 months gets a long hard look before keeping. I perform a fresh reinstall of the software I decide to keep. (This alone tends to free up a lot of drive space.)
I look at my documents in a similar fashion. Almost everything older than 1 year gets archived. Everything older than 6 months gets looked at and may go into the archives. I archive my mail as well. I then burn the archives and mail to DVD.
Rather than use the Migration Assistant (which seems to burn me every time I've tried using it) I put the computer into FireWire target disk mode and copy all my folders but the Library to my new Home. I selectively copy items from the Library (bookmarks, mail, etc).
From the description of what you are considering, my ritual doesn't sound like it will be too more time consuming than yours and has the advantage of meaning that Tiger will never be installed on the new computer. This should prevent any of the upgrade woes that others have experienced.

Similar Messages

Can I transfer files from a Mini running 10.4.11 to a new Mini running Lion? States I need to upgrade Migration Assistant, but I see no viable path I can take. OPtions to get photos over to new Mini?

Can I transfer files from a Mini running 10.4.11 to a new Mini running Lion? States I need to upgrade Migration Assistant, but I see no viable path I can take. OPtions to get photos over to new Mini?

Thanks Mende1; I know that PPC apps won't function on Intel machines but I can migrate the Universal apps, right? There is such a large gap between Tiger and Mountain Lion - can I still migrate files directly from one to the other taking the Universal apps as well? Sorry, I'm not very computer savvy!
Len57

Where can I upgrade Migration Assistant?

Hello, I have just bought a Macbook second hand, and realised it was 10.4.11 not leopard as the seller claimed. I do also have a macbook pro (old model, about four years old) with snow leopard installed and this mac is basiclly a back up as I think the mother board has had it on the mac book pro, but thats just another issue.
Unfortunatelly I cannot upgrade the macbook via cd as the cd drive is non responsive to any cd i have put in it, it will take a disk then spit it out about a minuit later.
The macbook pro's firewire also does not work which leaves me with the option of wirelessly migrating what I have on my macbook pro to my macbook to ensure I have a back up to continue working if my macbook pro dies.
The macbook has migration assistant v1 where my macbook pro has v.3 I read on a forum that you should ensure you have the latest version of migration but am not too sure where to find it and whether it is a downloadable upgrade as a CD will not work for me. Failing that can i use an USB to Migrate or does it have to be firewire?

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Migration Assistant is on the System Install DVD 1 that originally comes w/all Macs. There are no Migration Assistant updates per say. If there were, they would be included in Software Update.
If you did not get the System DVDs that originally came w/your comp from the seller, contact the seller for them.
If you want to install Leopard, you will need to purchase the retail DVD. Same can be purchased directly from Apple by phone 1-800-692-7753.
You can get replacement System Install & Restore CD/DVDs from Apple's Customer Support - in the US, (800) 767-2775 - for a nominal S&H fee. You'll need to have the model and/or serial number of your Mac available.
If you're not in the US, you may need to go through the regional Apple Store that serves your location to find the contact number. Here's a list of links to all of those -
http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/intlstoreroutingpage.html
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How do i upgrade migration assistant

bought new macbook air and couldn't migrate my macbook to new macbook air with TimeMachine plugged into the Air, it wouldn't recognize my TimeMachine. so i selected "transfer from another mac", the Air setup window recognized the macbook but then said "migration assistant from your other mac needs to be upgraded". why would TimeMachine not work in the first place? does migration assistant upgrade mean i need to upgrade to OSX Lion?

While we all have MacBooks in this forum most of us don’t have Lion. There's a Lion Support Community where everybody has Lion. You should also post this question there. https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/mac_os_x_v10.7_lion

Upgrading: Migration Assistant & External Firewire Drive w/ Image

Hello, and thanks in advance for your guidance with this inquiry! I am considering upgrading from my PowerBook 12" to a current MacBook Pro 13": If I back up the PowerBook to an image via Disk Utility or SuperDuper and onto an external firewire drive and restore it there, will I be able to then use Migration Assistant to transfer that data to the MacBook-or can Migration Assistant be used only to transfer data directly between the two laptops? Thanks again so much, and a quick reply is especially appreciated since I may be selling my PowerBook tonight! : )
Best Regards,
Robert

Migration Assistant offers the option of migrating data from "Another volume" or something like that, which includes external hard drives. I used that option to migrate data from an external USB drive to my daughter's new unibody MacBook last December, when it proved impossible to migrate directly via Ethernet or FireWire connection from her old Powerbook running Panther. We cloned her internal drive to the USB drive using SuperDuper, and then the migration from that drive worked flawlessly.

I am trying to transfer files from my PowerBook G4 (OSX 10.4.11) to my new iMac (Mountain Lion). Migration assistant tells me I need to upgrade migration assistant on the G4, but I can't find a download that will work for anything older than OSX 10.5.

Yes, my PowerBook G4 is still trucking along. It is running OSX 10.4.11, but I just bought a new iMac that is running Mountain Lion. I just tried to use Migration Assistant. It told me to update Migration Assistant on the G4, but I can't find an update for anything earlier than 10.5. Is there a way to get my files transfered, or am I going to need to update the OS on my computer I was getting ready to retire?
Thanks!

You never know, someone might remember. What happens in detail when you try to use it, and HOW are you trying to use it?

How to transfer files from an iMac without upgraded Migration Assistant to a new iMac that doesn't have a firewire port?

Hello.
I just purchased a new iMac. He's awesome. However, he didn't come with a Firewire port. (Bummer, because I have one from the last time (2007) I had to transfer stuff from my iBook...)
When I turned him on, he wanted to use Migration Assistant to transfer files from the older iMac; she doesn't have the most updated Migration Assistant, though. (She works just fine, but she only has Snow Leopard.)
Okay, so what I'm wondering is if I just have to use a huge external hardrive to move everything? If I do that, will my programs (Microsoft Office) move? I fear they won't move/transfer that way. Ugh.
PLEASE HELP.
Ideas? Advice?
Thank you in advance!

Firewire 800 (what the new iMac has) is 9 pin. FireWire 400 is 6 pin (what your old iMac has). Hopefully you didn't damage your new iMac by trying to insert a FW400 cable into its FW800 connector. The numbers are important in the case of the ports. They don't interchange!!! Get the proper cable or risk damaging your new iMac.

Upgrading: Migration Assistant with FireWire or Time Machine Restore?

Hello,
I recently ordered a new Black Penryn MacBook to replace my 17" iMac. Would you recommend using the Migration Assistant with FireWire or a Time Machine restore in order to copy all of my data to the MacBook? I have the option to do both, but am unsure of which would be the best. Is the time machine restore more suited to restore a failed drive as opposed to facilitating a data transfer between two machines? Finally, regarding either of the transfer options, will there be any issues with keychain or application data that I should be aware of? Thanks for your help!

Those are two of the option presented by Migration Assistant. I think the end result will be the same. If I was doing it, I'd use the FireWire method, just because it's coming directly from the source instead of through a backup archive structure.

Mail migration assistant did not upload old messages in inbox during upgrad

The mail migration assistant did not upload the contents of old messages stored in my inbox for mail in panther to tiger. It uploaded drafts and sent mail messages and even the husks of the messages themselves into the new inbox but not their contents, not the information contained in the messages themselves. I see that the old messages are accessible via spotlight but only their external identification remains in the new inbox, not what was in them. Is their anyway to rerun mail migration assistant or the mail setup assistant (whatever it may be called) so that it uploads all of messages from my old inbox under panther to the new inbox under tiger? I believe that while running initaially soon after I launched mail for the first time under tiger, the migration assistant for mail quit early, maybe because I had many messages stored in my inbox.
So my basic question is, is it possible to rerun the program that migrates mail from the old inbox under panther to the new inbox under tiger? If it's not, is it possible to first of all empty out the current inbox with its group of the external skeletal remains of messages but lacking their substance, the information contained in them, and then refill my current inbox with the entirety of the message, i.e., not just its identifying information, its external identification (from whom and about what), but also what the message at one time contained? In each of these messages it only has this bit of information: "The message from 'such and such a sender' with 'such and such a subject' has not downloaded from the server. You need to take this account online in order to download it." But of course I am online. The online bit I supose the message is about is the being online with the migration assistant, and that's the being online I would really like to go back to I suppose, before it seems to me this mail migration assistant quit on me prematurely, without uploading or downloading, whatever the term, the entire content of my inbox with its batch of received messages. In the process, it did, however, capture the entirety of my drafts and sent messages from their particular boxes.
Please help. How can I redo the migration step from panther mail inbox to tiger mail inbox so that my mail is in its inbox and reachable there as opposed to apparently being searchable by only spotlight?
Thank you.

I am having a similar problem. I just upgraded from 10.2.8 to 10.4.3. It didn't go well (a USB peripheral interfered)and I ended up upgrading while archiving users.
There was no 'restore users opportunity'. I have done a lot manually, which is painful...in fact reminiscent of why I don't like PC's. Anyway, I was able to locate and restore almost all the mailboxes, including a bunch of deleted files from the 'Previous Systems' folders. I still haven't found the secret location of all the email that was in the "Inbox".
I would greatly appreciate it if someone in the know could share where and how to restore my old inbox so I can get my important emails back. Hacking or magic software...what ever it takes.
Thanks

Problem with Lion upgrade after running Migration Assistant

I have a MacBook Pro that I purchased earlier this year. I bought a new MacBook Air yesterday.
I used Migration Assistant to migrate some of my data/settings from my old MacBook Pro to the new MacBook Air. After the migration, all of my original data was still available on the MacBook Pro (good as I wanted to keep a copy on the MacBook Pro and not all data was migrated). The new MacBook Air received all the right data and is working well.
I then purchased a Lion upgrade for my MacBook Pro and started the installation process. The installation process seemed to be going fine, but the MacBook Pro eventually hung. I let it "run" overnight hoping that it would finish the process, but the machine was still hanging a day later. I forced the MacBook Pro to shut down using the power button. Now, when I restart the MacBook Pro, I get the "Mac OS X Utilities" screen asking if I want to Restore from Time Machine Backup, Reinstall Mac OS X, Get Help Online, or Disk Utility. Does this mean my data is not longer available on the MacBook Pro? Also, I do/did have the MacBook Pro connected to a Time Machine and it had up-to-date backups at the time I ran Migration Assistant. However, I noticed that after running Migration Assistant, the MacBook Pro was complaining that it was no longer connect to the Time Machine.
My instinct tells me that I should attempt to restore the MacBook Pro using the Time Machine backup, but I'm wondering if it might be able to revive the MacBook Pro without having to take that step. Or, maybe I should select the "Reinstall Mac OS X" option first? Any ideas?
If I need to use the Time Machine backup, do I need to do anything special given the post Migration Assistant behavior I described above?
Thanks for any advice!

How can I fool Time Machine into using the original Backup Folder and just doing an incremental backup?
You can't. after using MA on it you have to start a new backup sequence. you can change computer name in Sharing preferences to anything you like but it won't affect TM backups.

Upgrading a PowerPC G5 OS X 10.4.11 to use Migration Assistant.

The new iMac 3.1GHz Intel Core i5 says I need to be at 10.5.3 or later on my G5 to use the migration assistant. Pretty new to this and not sure how to go about upgrading my G5 or if it would be worth it...

If you just need personal files, boot the G5 in Firewire Target Disc Mode and pull the files over to the new Mac.
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode

HT1338 my old mac cant connect to internet and my migration assistant needs an upgrade is there any way to download to my new mac and install the upgrade on my old one so i can complete the migration process?

I just purchase a new IMac, I am trying to use migration assistant. the problem I am having is my old mac cannot connect to the internet and it needs a software update, can I download the update on my new mac and install it somehow on my old mac?

If it's a free update, search Apple's support site for it and move the dmg as you would any file. If it's a paid upgrade, no; the Mac App Store upgrades, while downloadable, can't be downloaded from a Mac which can't use them.
(78632)

Upgrading to Lion, There Must be a Better Way Than Migration Assistant!

I finally got around to updating to Lion and it's turned out to be a little frustrating.
First Attempt: simply updating over the top of my existing Snow Leopard installation. I had a variety of annoyances mostly surrounding the amazing amount of cruft laying around from years of installing, then removing apps and just upgrading new versions of Mac OS on top of the existing ones.
Second Attempt: Partition the drive, did a clean installation, used Migration Assistant and moved my old account to the new installation. This resulted in most of the cruft coming over, many of the annoyances remaining, and some settings and daemons mysteriously disappearing.
Third Attempt: Deleted the second attempt, did another clean installation, created a new account with the same name as the old account, and then copied only the data I really wanted (Documents, iTunes Library, Mail Data, &tc...). This resulted in dozens of annoyances stemming from permission problems.
So... how do I jettison all the artifacts from the past while only keeping the data I really want? How do developers deal with having more than one working installation on a Mac? Do they never move stuff between them?

I pretty much agree with baltwo on this. The only way to weed out the 'cruft' is to reinstall each program manually, copy data from your Pictures, Documents, Music, and Movies folders. Then to be very careful about what you move from the old Library into the new one. Invariably this process leads to missing templates and other issues that take several days - and longer - to resolve. The end result? Your computer doesn't run noticeably faster and you gain perhaps a whopping couple GB or less of drive space.
I speak from experience. I have performed this painful task twice (and was very thankful to have complete backups that I didn't erase because I didn't realize I was missing some templates for several months). My two work desktops and notebook go all the way back to Jaguar and they are no faster than my home computers of the same vintage.

Migration Assistant Fails during X.4 to X.5 Upgrade

I'm trying to upgrade from X.4 to X.5.
I did an Archive and Install, and Migration Assistant fails.
It firstly fails with some Address Book backup files.
These are located in: david/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/Address Book Backup
With filenames such as: Address Book - 01/02/2008
The error is "File name too long (63)"
I removed the whole folder and tried again, and it failed with 'Invalid Argument'
I ended up restoring X.4 from a disk image.
I then tried installing X.5 on a bootable external FireWire drive with GUID partition map, migrating from the internal hard drive.
This also fails at the same point.
Any suggestions?
Many TIA
David

It would appear that the Address Book backup file was corrupt. The size indicated was around 180MB, rather than around 10MB! The visible file name looked OK.
Ironically, X.5 was able to copy the file to a new location. It complained about file name length, but copied it and reduced the file size to 9MB. Rather a shame that Migration Assistant doesn't use the same copy facilities.
What has this taught me?
1. BACKUP! Create a disc image of the full hard disc. OK, it's said elsewhere, but it really can't be said too often!
2. Set up an Administrator/admin account. One that's essentially not used, but can access all Applications, networks and settings. If I had done this, I could have migrated this account as part of the installation process, and worried about migrating the main User account separately, using Migration Assistant.
However, I now have a new problem!
For some reason, I can't access the wireless network I've been using. I can see the neighbour's network(!), but not my own. I'm using WEP security.
Any ideas?
Many thanks,
David

Migration assistant won't accept Aperture upgrade code

After using Migration Assistant to transfer my files and programs to my new iMac, Aperture asks for a licence code; I entered the code associated with my Aperture 3 Upgrade pack but Aperture will not accept this and wants the original code for the earlier Aperture which is long gone - how do I get Aperture to work with the more recent upgade code?

how do I get Aperture to work with the more recent upgade code?
You need to procure an Aperture 2 licence code. The upgrade licence is only valid in combination with the original licence.
Contact Apple for a relacement serial number with a proof of purchase:
See this link: Pro Application Replacement Serial Numbers
Regards
Léonie

Upgrade & Migration Assistant.

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