My old computer crashed during migration assistant transfer to brand new imac

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SaltyCod Author

Level 1

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My old computer crashed during migration assistant transfer to brand new imac

Got a new imac.

Started with the Migration Assistant to transfer everything from old MacBook.

36 hours of transfer over wifi network! Ugh.

With only 2 hours left - I've been waiting patiently for this...

Old MacBook crashed.

Restarted, but now the migration assistant says "searching for other computers on network" and can't get past that.

New imac hasn't recognized the interruption, so it just says "About 2 hours and 37 minutes remaining"

Stuck.

Should I turn off the new imac in the middle of this startup process? Is that safe?

iMac, iOS 5

Posted on Nov 2, 2011 11:51 PM

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Answer 1

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,494 points

Nov 3, 2011 12:16 AM in response to SaltyCod

My question would be is why in the world would you use Migration Assistant wirelessly when you can simply connect via Firewire and be done in less than 2 hours? It's faster and much more reliable than wireless. Please advise what type of connections your old Mac has, if you have been backing up the old machien and if so what have you been doing to backup. You can use MA or Setup Assistant restore from a Time Machine or Bootable Clone backup.

My recommendations to you woud be to start over and this time read Pondini's Lion Setup Assistant tips beginning where he talks about "Second Chance....."

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Answer 2

SaltyCod Author

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Nov 3, 2011 12:58 AM in response to rkaufmann87

new imac doesn't have firewire 400 port

old macbook doesn't have firewire 800 port

(Thanks, Apple!)

if you have another suggestion, I'd love it. I will look at the reading you suggest. in the meantime still need help.

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Answer 3

SaltyCod Author

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Nov 3, 2011 1:09 AM in response to rkaufmann87

I guess the real question now is: what happens if I restart the new imac while it was in the middle of the transfer? Is that safe? what else could i do? It still thinks it's transfering.

I will see about getting a firewire400-800 adaptor. If it's not too expensive I'll buy one. (God it is so frustrating to have things not work when a new computer is right out of the box. I want to shout.)

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Answer 4

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,494 points

Nov 3, 2011 7:02 AM in response to SaltyCod

All you need is a simple Firewire 400 to 800 cable, you can find one at any computer store, Radio Shack, Best Buy, etc. The cable will look like this one from Amazon. Regarding your frustration you should have done a little due dillegence before embarking on the project. If you bought directly from Apple you could have asked how to migrate your information, I'm sure they would have been happy to explain what you needed and how to do it.

If you disconnect now it will not hurt anything. What I'd suggest is re-reading my first post and use the Lion Setup Assistant tips article, that will get you going and you should be done pretty quickly. It's really not that big a deal.

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