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Problem with migration assistant

I had to do a clean install on my Macbook Air because my disk was badly fragmented - I had interrupted partitioning attempts by Boot Camp - it was taking too long so I shut down the computer while it was partitioning, with the result that my disk was badly fragmented and needed major repairs according to Disk Utility when I ran Verify Disk on it.

So I decided to do a clean install. I had Snow Leopard on my MBA. I think I had the latest update as I ran Software Update frequently.

The other reason why I wanted to do a clean install was my computer was taking forever to shut down and boot up and I was sick of it.

So I backed up my computer using Superduper, onto an external drive.

Before I did a clean install, I tried booting the MBA from this external drive and it worked so I knew this drive was bootable.

I put the Snow Leopard Operating disk in the attached external drive that I bought with the MBA and I installed the os again, making sure to erase the disk clean first.

The Snow Leopard installed successfully. I checked Disk Utility and it said there were no problems with the hard disk.

I then reattached the external hard drive with the Superduper back up on it and I opened Migration Assistant. I chose "Use Time Machine or another external drive". Then it asked me what I wanted to migrate. I chose all of the ones that showed up "Users", "Applications", "Settings" and "Other files and folders".

I thought it went successfully.

Oh, before I used the Migration Assistant, I updated the software on my computer because it automatically prompted me to after I installed the operating system again in a clean install. I downloaded OS 10.63 and some other applications like iTunes etc.

However, after migrating everything and restarting, I found my desktop had not changed to the old one even though I had migrated settings.

I went into the architecture of the computer and found the folders I had migrated but found they had little crosses on them and it said I didn't have permission to open them.

So it looked like the migration wasn't successful.

I tried Migration Assistant again this time using the other option, migrate from another mac and it gave me a series of numbers to put in as a password during the process.

Even though the external drive was connected to the USB port, it wouldn't recognize it existed and I had to wait forever but the screen didn't change.

So I came here.

Note I am migrating Snow Leopard files to a Snow Leopard system. I had Snow Leopard on the back up and I have Snow Leopard on the computer now, so there isn't anything like an incompatibility problem like PPC files or older system files not working with newer ones.

What can I do? I am sick and tired of doing clean install over and over again. It's taken over night and most of today as well.

Powerbook G4 Panther 1Ghz 120GB, MacBook Air 1.86GHz 120GB, Mac OS X (10.3.x), Nil

Posted on May 12, 2010 10:48 PM

16 replies

R C-R

Level 6

17,782 points

May 14, 2010 10:53 AM in response to xtech

To take this a bit further, consider that there are four possible types of access privileges:

1. *Read & write*. If you have this privilege you can see items (read access) & make changes to them (write access). By default, only the account owner of most folders in that account's home folder has these privileges.

2. *Read only*. If you have this privilege you can see & use items in a folder but not change or delete them. This is the default for the "Sites" folder, the folder created for each user account to hold a personal web site. It also can be used for any other folders one account wants to share with others but not allow them to make changes.

3. *Write only*, also known as the "Drop Box" privilege. If you have this privilege you can 'drop' items into a folder but you can't see the results. It is like dropping a letter into a postal box. Even though it is your letter, you can't look in the postal box

4. *No access*. This is basically no privileges at all. If all you have is this privilege, you can't open the folder, count the items in it, or even measure its size. If you have only this privilege for a folder, it will show "Zero KB" in Finder list view, even if it actually has several GB of files & folders in it.

All these privileges apply separately & symmetrically to each user account. IOW, if you log in as user A you have user A's privileges; if you log in as user B you have user B's privileges.

You can tell which user account you are logged into by looking at the Finder view of the Users folder -- whichever home folder has the house icon next to it is the account you are logged into. If you have *Fast User Switching* enabled (System Preferences > Accounts > Login Options) you can also see the account's name or icon just to the left of the Spotlight icon in the menu bar at the top of the screen.

If you have had just one user account in the past none of this would have been readily apparent. Once you have more than one it becomes important to understand the consequences of varying access privileges to avoid becoming confused.

Problem with migration assistant