Time Machine (Snow Leopard) not appearing in Migration Assistant (Lion)

Question

Time Machine (Snow Leopard) not appearing in Migration Assistant (Lion)

Hi there,

I have an iMac that was running Snow Leopard with a Time Machine backup on a 1TB Iomega USB2 Ext HDD.

I just Erased and Installed Lion onto the iMac, expecting to use Migration Assistant to restore my files. However, Migration Assistant does not recognise my Time Machine Ext HDD, only the iMac's HDD, and it keeps searching for other computers.

The Ext HDD is there in Finder, and I can copy files to and from it... it just won't appear in Migration Assistant. I've patched Lion to 10.7.1, but that doesn't help.

I've read elsewhere about a Snow Leopard patch, but that doesn't seem to apply for Ext HDDs, only for backups from other computers.

I can copy things over manually, but was hoping to avoid it. Besdies taking a while, I'm not entirely sure how to restore all my iPhone data to iTunes and the like.

Any one got any advice?

Thanks.

21.5" 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.5), 4 GB 1067MHz DDR3

Posted on Aug 28, 2011 3:03 AM

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Answer 1

Pagaille

Level 1

5 points

Aug 28, 2011 4:45 AM in response to Apostropher Royal

Any error message in the Console ? Was your TM disk directly connected to your iMac while running SL or was it hooked as a NAS ?

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Answer 2

Aug 28, 2011 5:11 AM in response to Pagaille

Hi Pagaille,

No error messages. At least, not in Finder. I wasn't running Console. Time Machine Ext HDD connected directly to my iMac via one of the rear USB ports.

Below is a screenshot of Migration Assistant. It just keeps looking for other computers. If I click Continue it only finds the iMac's HDD. The Time Machine Ext HDD is DEFINITELY connected and turned on. I've checked. Many times. 😉

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Answer 3

Aug 28, 2011 5:21 AM in response to Pagaille

Not sure if this is significant, but the Time Machine Ext HDD icon is yellow with the USB symbol on it, not green with the Time Machine symbol. It *was* green when I was using it in Snow Leopard, so I'm not sure why it no longer is. Possibly this explains why the system doesn't recognise the drive as a Time Machine—it sees it only as a generic USB Ext HDD.

So then the question becomes, why does Lion not recognise a previously functioning Time Machine Backup as a Time Machine Backup?

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Answer 4

Pagaille

Level 1

5 points

Aug 29, 2011 1:56 AM in response to Apostropher Royal

It seems that

in order for Mac OS X to realize that it's a Time Machine drive, there should be an invisible "flag file" (0 bytes in size) at the root of the drive, called com.apple.timemachine.supported - if this file is missing for some reason, Migration Assistant won't pick it up.

not sure that it's true but worth trying.

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Answer 5

Aug 29, 2011 3:17 AM in response to Pagaille

Hmm, ok. Any idea on where to get that file or how to create it?

Thanks.

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Answer 6

Pagaille

Level 1

5 points

Aug 30, 2011 3:40 AM in response to Apostropher Royal

You could simpy create an empty text file (textedit > format convert to text file) and save it as .com.apple.timemachine.supported (don't forget the leading dot, it makes the file being hidden). or use Terminal and enter the following command : sudo touch /Volumes/Name_of_your_drive/.com.apple.timemachine.supported

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Answer 7

Sep 2, 2011 3:58 AM in response to Pagaille

No joy, unfortunately. Time Machine disk still not showing up. Is there no one else having this issue?

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Answer 8

ben2k11

Level 1

0 points

Sep 5, 2011 5:50 PM in response to Apostropher Royal

I am having exactly the same problem as you, neither at start up of my new macbook pro or in migration assistant is my external HDD, which is my Time Machine drive, visible.

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Answer 9

DButdorf

Level 1

0 points

Oct 17, 2011 10:39 AM in response to ben2k11

I'm having the same problem. I was using the older version of firewire to connect my Time Machine drive to my 10.6 mac. I don't have a new version of the cord or converter plug, so I'm trying to connect the Time Machine drive via USB to the new machine. Plain old not showing up. Really, nothing is showing up in the window, even though I have lots of drives all over the place on the network. Oof...

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Answer 10

Oct 19, 2011 2:38 AM in response to DButdorf

Hmm, unfortunately I'm not in a position to help any more. I gave up on trying to find an answer and just copied over everything manually. Mystifying.

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Answer 11

asiliram

Level 1

0 points

Oct 22, 2011 5:18 PM in response to DButdorf

I am also having the same issue. External HDD via USB port with a Time Machine backup on it. It is not recognized in Migration Assistant. Really anoying!

Hope somebody finds the answer to this. I have tried anything I could think of.

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