Q: Migration Assistant in OS X 10.4.10 doesn't have a 'to another Mac' option

perhaps the clue is 'older Macs'

Well, one would presume that one is not Migrating from a brand new Mac to an older one, especially "old" as in OS version.

Earlier versions of the OS & MA could not be aware of where, what, how later OS versions may change files & structures used, every version has changed a bit to a lot.

Apple did release an updated version of MA for 10.5.8 to help deal with this.

Still, if the Mac you want to migrate info from can be put in Target Mode & the new one can read Firewire Disks, then the new one is the only one that needs to run MA.

I consider Apple's wording on it's use, far less than clear about using another drive, or other Mac in Target Mode.

It's not mounted as a shared volume.  If you simply connect to another Mac via network, you don't have access to the entire HD.

As an admin I can share a whole OS volume and give it read access to everyone. When mounted elsewhere I have access to everything except a few folders in other users' home folders. Would this be sufficient for MA?

Neville Hillyer wrote:

. .

As an admin I can share a whole OS volume and give it read access to everyone. When mounted elsewhere I have access to everything except a few folders in other users' home folders. Would this be sufficient for MA?

No.  (And how would those "except" folders get transferred?)

Why are you trying to avoid using it the way it was designed?  It works fine.  A workaround isn't needed. 

As an Engineer I am trying to explore the technical limitations of MA and why they exist. It appears to be a very poorly described piece of software. Apart from a few badly written menus for its use I have not found much further information especially a satisfactory technical explanation for various aspects. Where does it say that many of the limitations are driven by permissions rather than anything else? Apple could have got around these artificial barriers.

The Apple articles are very clear, step-by-step User Instructions, showing exactly how to migrate from a Mac, it's backups, or (to Lion or Mountain Lion) a PC, under various circumstances.

They're not tecnhical documents.

If you want to get under the covers of how things work, see the Developer documentation and/or forums.

Since you have two Macs, experiment!

Thanks for all your help with this.

I plan to experiment when I have more time.

I will try and test my theory that much depends upon permissions and moutability and that perhaps MA can be coaxed to work single ended between Macs over ethernet and perhaps the internet.

Does anybody know how to connect two Macs on the same domestic router so that the communication goes via some remote location to simulate internet use?

LogMeIn for one.

Thanks but that was not quite what I had in mind.

I would like a simple loopback without any software.

I wish my router would allow me to do this but when I use my fixed IP it connects me internally rather than via the internet. I have been able to do this before in other environments but I no longer have access to those facilities.

In other words I would like two way communication with eg IP A.B.C.D and have it reroute the communication to my fixed IP.