Migration assistant wont transfer applications

Just updated to Leopard with a clean install. After connecting up my external clone of my previous 10.4.11 system, I set about transferring my 2 users and additional applications over. Towards the end of the process, with MA saying 'less than one minute remaining' and 'transferring files to support applications', I watched as this went on for 23 minutes, my external HD had long since showed it was no longer being read from, and eventually I had to force quit it. My users had been transferred over just fine, but none of the applications (Adobe CS3, Final Cut Pro, etc). I couldn't understand this, so I tried again, this time unchecking the users, and just making sure the applications (which showed as 15.9GB) were selected. Set it running and watched as it showed 'transferring files to support applications' the whole time (about 30 minutes), at no time did it show the applications being transferred at all. As the blue bar neared completion, with 2 mm of white still showing, that's where it sat. I could see after sometime that the external wasn't being read from again, and indeed no applications were transferred. What on earth do I have to do to make this work???