migration assistant, time capsule and console

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Level 1

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migration assistant, time capsule and console

I'v read so many questions and posts about Migration Assistant that I'm truly sorry to post yet another I've used Migration Assistant many times with never an issue, but yesterday, I tried to Migrate from a 2 year old fully updated MacBook Air 13 inch laptop to a newer model of the same computer. After trying everything possible I contacted Apple Care and was down to the option of manually moving things one by one to the newer computer.

I also tried to make a Time Machine Backup of the older computer and the three times I tried to do so it did the same thing as MIgration Assitant; it basically just froze at some point and stopped making any progress.

While I'd appreciate any tips, comments, ideas or suggestions the main purpose of my post is about Console. I'm not very technical and am proud to be able to do the limited things that I do on a computer. Several times I've looked at Console and while I certainly couldn't ever understand the things that I saw there, the content certainly seemed to be relevant to what was going on in the computer.

Since I plan to let one of my kids use the 2 year old MacBook Air, if I ever get to finish migrating, moving or whatever, I'd like to know what's wrong with the computer that stops it from migrating or making backups. Does Console provide relevant diagnostic information and if so, who can interpret the information or show you how to make anything meaningful out of it?

MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5), Migration Assistant and Console

Posted on Sep 22, 2013 12:10 PM

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Answer 1

Joe Bailey

Level 6

12,227 points

Sep 22, 2013 12:46 PM in response to Consigliori

The console logs may help identify a problem, but those logs are not easily interpreted by the average, or even "power" user. They are intended for use by system and/or application developers and only they can fully comprehend the log contents. From your description of what happened with Migration Assistant and Time Machine I suspect there is either a damaged volume structure or file that is stopping the data transfer. The problem may be on either the old or the new machine but there is a good possibility the log files may reveal exactly where in the copy process the stoppage is occuring.

Before spending too much time digging through the logs however, I would first run Disk Utility > Repair Disk on both machines. Repair Disk should not take too long on the two hard drives, and if it discovers problems and is capable of making repairs it may offer a quick fix to your problem. If that does not work then try once again with Migration Assistant and when the transfer stops, look in Console at All messages at the last page of the log and see what it says. If you are completely stumped, copy say the last page to page and a half of the log and paste it here. Maybe I or someone else can interpret the log.

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Answer 2

Eric Root

Level 10

684,057 points

Sep 22, 2013 1:56 PM in response to Consigliori

You will need to boot into the Recovery Volume (command - R on a restart or hold down the option/alt key during restart and select it) to run Disk Utility/Disk Repair.

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Answer 3

Consigliori Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 22, 2013 7:49 PM in response to Eric Root

Thanks to both of you, unfortunately disc repair found no problems and the next effort at Migration led to the same result. I read through all of the console entries and couldn't find any similarities in any of the entries leading up to any of the freezes. Oddly though after giving up I came home to find that Time Machine somehow made a successful backup after half a dozen earlier tries. The migration from the backup worked flawlessly and the new computer works fine.

I guess I'll take the older computer in to rule out a disk problem or to see if some corrupted file is the source of the problem.

Thanks again

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