trouble with migration assistant

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trouble with migration assistant

Hello All

I am having trouble with migration assistant and with transfering data between my laptop and my tower.

My system drive died a couple of days ago and I am now rebuilding the drive and upgrading my os to 10.6. I was a bit behind on my time machine backups so most of my data that is not available there is on my laptop but when after doing the install and using migration assistant I cannot change my user name on my home folder. I had accidentally created two user accounts when i first did the install but one is empty and the second is the one that was migrated from the laptop but the name beside the home folder do not corespond to the user name that I changed in the system preferences accounts utility. How do I change this?

Second some of the data from the laptop did not transfer completely. A particular file folder is giving me trouble. User -> Library-> Audio-> presets keeps coming up with a message saying - some files are in use and can't be copied. These files are VST Pluggin files specific to Audio production software such as cubase , live and peak but I don't have any of these programs running so I am baffled as to why? I have tried a number of methods of retreiving the data - migration assistant, via file sharing (as my machines are on a LAN) and dropping them onto an external with always the same results. I have restarted my laptop to make sure nothing is hanging and still no luck.

Any help appreciated thanks

phi

Posted on Jan 18, 2012 10:24 PM

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Answer 1

phidelity1 Author

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Jan 18, 2012 10:34 PM in response to phidelity1

The other thing that is causing trouble is I cannot access my time machine back up of this computer for other files because my user names don't match in so the red circle icon is keeping everthing locked. Is there a way to overide this?

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Answer 2

phidelity1 Author

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Jan 19, 2012 12:17 PM in response to phidelity1

So I think the second issue has to do with the fact that many of the unobtainable preset files were copied from the machine that is getting the new hard drive. About a moth ago I amalgamated both libraries on both machines but didn't notice this file issue.

Can anyone tell me how to prevent this - im guessing it's some sore of permission issue - and if its possible to correct the current state.

thanks

phi

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Answer 3

phidelity1 Author

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Jan 19, 2012 2:52 PM in response to phidelity1

so from poking around I think all these issues are deep rooted permisssions issues but I have not found a way to correct the permissions on the laptop and the tower so that I am able to allow access to all the files.

One suggestion is there is a 3rd party program that can alter the permissions on files does anyone know what that may be?

To be clear I have been exchanging files from 2 computers with two different user names IE MyName MacPRo nad MyName MacBookPro but hadn't realized that this created a problem. I have exchanged music production projects from each machine and never had any issues but now I am experiencing them. The only complete back up of one folder of files resides on my Laptop to which the Admin account does not have permissions to access the files. Secondly the User account on my tower that i set up with migration assistant doesn't have access to my additional backup files on my external.

I need to find a way to access all of these files and copy and back up and in the process figure out how to avoid this issue again. Anyone with knowledge in this area please help

TIA

Phi

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Answer 4

Stela

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Jan 20, 2012 4:02 AM in response to phidelity1

Did you try do fix the permissions with Disk Utility?

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Answer 5

Jan 20, 2012 4:23 AM in response to Stela

Stela wrote:

Did you try do fix the permissions with Disk Utility?

That won't help with file permissions. The problems are due to different user names for the accounts.

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Answer 6

Jan 20, 2012 4:29 AM in response to phidelity1

Phidelity1;

It may be that you're going to need one of our geek squad to walk you through changing permissions in Terminal.

For avoiding the problem in future, read Pondini's Time Machine and migration articles.

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Answer 7

Pondini

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Jan 20, 2012 9:34 AM in response to phidelity1

phidelity1 wrote:

. . .

To be clear I have been exchanging files from 2 computers with two different user names IE MyName MacPRo nad MyName MacBookPro but hadn't realized that this created a problem.

It's not the names that are the problem -- it's the automatically-assigned User ID (UID) numbers. See the pink box in Problems after using Migration Assistant for details.

One workaround is to create and try different user accounts to access the backups, and restore the files to the special Shared user account. Then log on to the desired user account and copy the files from the Shared account. See Transferring files to another account for details and suggested procedures.

Once you get the files in the right places, if there are still permissions problems, reset the permissions on the home folder, per Resetting Password and/or User Permissions.

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Answer 8

phidelity1 Author

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Jan 20, 2012 12:03 PM in response to Pondini

Hello All

As it turns out I had 2 issues. One exactly as you described - in lay terms,the permissions were set to a user name ( and the subsequent permissions associated with that account) that no longer existed on this machine. I found some articles requiring using terminal to override the permissions from another site but that is beyond my comfort level and without enough knowledge in this area I wasn't willng to get into something such as this without knowing the ramifications. I got help from the apple care support to correct them as I have a work to do and I was getting quite behind from this issue.

I will read your links because there were a number of back up files that I was unable to access on the external and I will likely need to do this again when I upgrade my laptop OS to correspond to my tower. Sadly my secondary back up is the reaching its capacity so I cannot backup the laptop to it nor wipe it out just yet as there is still material that is the only backup I have. Also I want to make sure my backup methodology is sound.

2) I had a number of backup files which were corrupted on the laptop and sadly my primarry external backup drive also died so that data is lost. I am hoping that the its the enclosure that is faulty and not the drives. - if so I will only loose a handfull of recent files.

Apparently when you simply swap files via a LAN this can create issues with permissions and the technician recommended dragging files to an external device whenever possible to swap files as it illiminates the problem.

thanks for your help

phi

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Answer 9

Pondini

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Jan 20, 2012 12:14 PM in response to phidelity1

phidelity1 wrote:

Hello All

As it turns out I had 2 issues. One exactly as you described - in lay terms,the permissions were set to a user name ( and the subsequent permissions associated with that account) that no longer existed on this machine.

It's not user name, but the UID (number).

Do you mean the permissions on the backups? If so, you need to use a different account on your Mac. You may have to create one or more to get the same UID. Unfortunately, there's no way I know of to see the UID of the account on the backups, but keep in mind they're assigned sequentially.

First, try all the accounts you already have on the destination Mac. If none have permission, create some more temporarily (but don't delete the old ones yet).

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Answer 10

phidelity1 Author

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Jan 20, 2012 2:03 PM in response to Pondini

Ok I am a little uncertain about the distinction but what I am guessing you mean is each user had a corresponding numeric ID AFA the OS is concerned and this is the seed of the conflict.

What the Apple support tech did with me is create a new user called root and we managed to circumvent the permissions issues from the backup ( this was one of the permission issues as the time machine files on the external drive were not allowing me to see data in the folders),similarly the files from the laptop had permission issues and all of my files on the internal drives needed permissions corrections as my new user account only had read permission. From the new account we reset a number of permissions and all was fine ... until just now.

I was left to go and alter the files/ folders in get info window on the additional internal drives and some folders that did not have my new account listed so I added those and applied the changes (I had to do it to some picture folders I copied to the system drive) and the system drive itself showed I didn't have correct permissions ( again) so I did the same to that drive then as soon as i did that I recieved the error message:

" the system extention "system/library/exentions/Acard68xxM.kext" was installed improperly and cannot be used - try to reinstall" came up and at least 30 additional .kext files produced the same message - some with 3rd party ID's and some apple ones.

I shut down, re booted from the install disks (as i couldn't from the system drive),repaired permissions and rebooted which seems fine as all of the .kext error messages have gone away. But I have a 3 new error messages:

Insecure Item Disabled (x3)

"library / startup items/ pace support/

.. .. /Qmaster/

.. .. / TC Near/"

does not have the proper security items

pace support is a security program for protecting audio production software - ie Ilok licencing software

tc near is an audio interface driver software

Qmaster - not sure what it does but from wikipedia it is related to visual effects and Logic audio uses it

When I look at my System drive it has the correct permissions according to "get Info" window AFAIK

but i am not sure how to proceed with these other 3 items - reinstalling the Pace software and the TC near software is pretty easy and fast if that would correct the problem. but Qmaster?

Lastly, Pondini, Have I created a hornets nest here that is going to haunt me in the future and would be best served by a clean reinstall and then digging deeply into the above reading and starting from scratch?

Is there anything (test/proceedures) I can do to verify that all is solid and I have overcome my transfer issues?

Thank you so much for your time and expertice

Phi

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Answer 11

Jan 20, 2012 2:06 PM in response to phidelity1

Pondini may be be able to help, but neither of us suggested using root because it's so easy to make a pig's ear.

Root is the highest privilege account on the Mac - it can change anything, and there won't be any warnings until the damage is done.

Hope you can get out of this…

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Answer 12

phidelity1 Author

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Jan 20, 2012 2:17 PM in response to noondaywitch

just to be clear i only used root with the apple support tech guidance and then once we overcame the inablity to access to backup files and tranfer them we deleted that acoount.

BTW what does pigs ear mean - never heard that expression before

I am reading all of the links pondini has provided before i continue because i still have lots of software to update and if I can help it I would like to make sure this install is solid before proceeding.

Does migration assistant "blindly" copy files from a system - ie files that a laptop uses that a tower would have no use for - or does it know not to do that?

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Answer 13

Pondini

Level 8

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Jan 20, 2012 2:26 PM in response to phidelity1

phidelity1 wrote:

Ok I am a little uncertain about the distinction but what I am guessing you mean is each user had a corresponding numeric ID AFA the OS is concerned and this is the seed of the conflict.

Yes, as explained in the pink box in Problems after using Migration Assistant.

the system extention "system/library/exentions/Acard68xxM.kext" was installed improperly and cannot be used - try to reinstall" came up and at least 30 additional .kext files produced the same message - some with 3rd party ID's and some apple ones.

That's a bit scary. 😟

but i am not sure how to proceed with these other 3 items - reinstalling the Pace software and the TC near software is pretty easy and fast if that would correct the problem. but Qmaster?

Sorry, but I'm not familiar with any of them.

Have I created a hornets nest here that is going to haunt me in the future and would be best served by a clean reinstall and then digging deeply into the above reading and starting from scratch?

It's hard to tell. 😟

Usually, starting over is the best and safest bet. In your case, it would involve doing a full system restore from the Time Machine backups, which would put you back where you were at that time, including all apps, user accounts & files, and of course permissions.

Then selectively copy the later data from the old Mac. Since there are permissions/UID problems, one way to do that would be to log on to the laptop and copy the files to a place that doesn't enforce permissions. If you have access to an external HD, you could erase (or create) a partition on it. By default, that drive/partition would "ignore ownership."

Then connect the drive to the new Mac, log on to the user account that wants the files and copy them where you want them. That will create the proper ownership and permissions for that user.

If you don't have an external HD, you could copy to the old Mac's special Shared user folder, then log on to the new one and copy from there either via FireWire Target Disk mode or your network.

Post back if you want to tackle that, and/or need more details. Also just to be sure, you say the old Mac is a laptop and the new one is a "tower" which I assume means a MacPro? What version of OSX are they running, and what version is on the backups?

EDIT: Sorry, I hit Post too quickly:

Is there anything (test/proceedures) I can do to verify that all is solid and I have overcome my transfer issues?

There's no way I know of to be sure you got everything, but you can reset the permissions on a user home folder to the defaults. See Resetting Password and/or User Permissions.

Message was edited by: Pondini

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Answer 14

phidelity1 Author

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Jan 20, 2012 2:54 PM in response to Pondini

The fundamental trouble with my current back up scenario is my external with the latest time machine backups has died and my laptop has all of my most critical software and files on it and my extra external is low on space and I cant erase it as that is the only backups of i have of certain data.

FYI I have had 3 drives die in our home over the last 3 weeks - the system drive on my Misses old G4 which we had just ordered her a new machine, my firewire dual raid external (hoping its the enclosure and not the drives- It was striped not mirrored - I used it for portable recording on my laptop to increase track count) and then my system on my tower ) - the raid ext contained my most recent time machine backups - the additional external contains very old time machine backups - the laptop contains the duplicates of my most used system files. terribly unlucky and when i started my new Install for the first time I the setup assistant grabbed the files from the external ( i had it and the laptop in target mode hooked up) rather than the laptop and I had to interupt the process but ... it had already started ... long story short here I am.

Here is my new plan - go buy another internal drive and swap it for the current new one - place this one im having issues with in my last open internal bay of the Mac Pro. Clean install of SL on the new drive.

Now I have all the permissions issues fixed "i think" and most of the data i need on the drive that will be in Bay 4

I've just read all of the material from your links Poncini - I'll reread -but would i be best to use Setup assistant or Migration Assitant and copy data from the drive in Bay 4? how do I make sure the .kext files don't get copied over? But all the software does ?

perhaps its best to do it manually...

ill reread and go get the drive in the meantime - I'll use it for other stuff too so it won't be a waste

i have learned a lot from this experience but not enough to know I can solve these problems. dam

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Answer 15

Pondini

Level 8

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Jan 20, 2012 3:15 PM in response to phidelity1

phidelity1 wrote:

The fundamental trouble with my current back up scenario is my external with the latest time machine backups has died

Oh, sorry, I didn't realize that. 😟

FYI I have had 3 drives die in our home over the last 3 weeks -

Ouch! Do you have your Macs on U.P.S. System(s)? If not, that might be a cause, or at least contributor, if you get power dips and/or spikes.

the raid ext contained my most recent time machine backups

It's usually much better to not put backups on a RAID, but to do separate backups to separate drives, with separate apps, such as one via Time Machine, the other via CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper. That way, you're protected from either drive or app failing.

I've just read all of the material from your links Poncini - I'll reread -but would i be best to use Setup assistant or Migration Assitant and copy data from the drive in Bay 4? how do I make sure the .kext files don't get copied over? But all the software does ?

Usually Setup Assistant is best, because it can transfer user accounts "as is." If you set up a new account, then use Migration Assistant, it usually has to change the UIDs. That means the copied account no longer has the same UID as the original, or permission to the original files, or to files that user owned on external HDs such as TM backups.

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