Unable to migrate data from Time Machine

I had the same "no volumes found" problem when trying to set up a new MB from a TC backup. Like many on this list, I assume that the last back-up was incomplete. And the power down and restart should be the first thing people try. It's the simplest and it will probably work. In my case, I used the airport utility to restart. All worked after that.

Yes, it is really a drag that the software says that a back-up is useless just because a back-up was incomplete and sends people into panic mode

I am in the same boat, el1x. I think it might be a permissions clash. Did the install perhaps create a new user, which does not have permission to access the Time Machine backups?

Hi both,

I had the same problem. Might be that mrcottonsox1 is right. I do copy now file by file. You can mount the sparesbundles and then you get each file you need. If you try this you have also to see the hidden file by the following command in the terminal window:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -boolean true;killall Finder

After coying everything do not forget to type the following command to hide the hidden files again:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -boolean false;killall Finder

Good luck

Add me to the list. No volumes found in backup How do you mount a sparsebundle? When I attempt it in finder I get an error an the Resource temporarily unavailable.

I'm also having the same problem. I thought it was from having multiple older backups (~2 years of time machine backups), so I renamed that sparse file and saved it in a different folder (still inside Time Capsule). I then did a fresh Time Machine backup of ~250gb by ethernet cable. Now, when I try the setup assistant it still says "no volumes found in backup" (though a June backup from my girlfriend's computer shows up no problem).

Maybe the setup assistant got stuck and can't see changes in the time capsule file?

Since upgading to mavericks migration assistant no longer sees my backup on my external drive that I use for my time machine backups. The drive mounts fine and I can access my backups through my finder using "enter time machine", but I can not restore because migration assistant can't see the drive. I don't knoe if it's a time machine issue or a mighration assistant issue. I have tried on several macs and with several different hard drives but migration assistant cannot restore from my time machine backups. I suggest everyone make sure they can restore from their time machine backups because this may be a major problem and result in complete loss of data. I have found no solution yet.

I managed to solve this problem!! The solution is a bit embarrassing, but I hope it works for you too.

As I said above, I was at the point of the set up assistant that says "no volumes found in backup". After making sure I had a fresh backup, I turned off my new mac and then turned it back on. This forced the installation to start from the beginning (select language, etc), but when I got to the Time Machine options the new mac now recognized my backup!

Completely unexpected, but apparently turning on and off an electronic device may solve your issue 🙂

Good luck!

Manuel

I am having exactly the same problem. Tried restart of laptop, time capsule, and making another time machine backup, all of which failed. Help!

I have exactly the Same Problem. Has anybody found a Solution?

Is it possible to "save" the sparsebundle from NAS to a external Disk and backup from there?

It happens to me too 😟

Waiting for a solution...

I get this error too. Has anyone "inherited" their backups and tried?

This is really a huge deal. I tried many techniques over three days. I have a 2010 Macbook Pro with latest Mavericks (A) and brand new top-of-the-line Retina Macbook Pro (B). Migrating from A to B via the Setup Assistant and Migration Assistant failed in all possible combinations:

1. Could not restore B from the latest Time Machine on a time capsule with "Unable to mount volume" error no matter how you mount the Time Capsule (Ethernet or Wifi), and regardless of rebooting all devices and Time Machine.

2. Could not transfer from old mac to new via Thunderbolt cable - does not recognize connection.

3. Wifi transfer clocked in at estimated 40 hours.

4. Finally, I bought a Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter for (B) and attached a gigabit ethernet cord between A and B. I was able to migrate via Setup Assistant with 5 hours' transfer time.

Apple - this is definitely one to fix - it's a huge deal, showstopper. I've been restoring Macbook's from Time Machine archives like this for years successfully.

Hi, i found why my setup assistant failed and "solved" this problem in different way.

The problem was, that my Time Machine backup was not fully complete.

How did i find it? I go to the directory /var/log. There is a file called setup.log. Inside install.log i found following messages from setup assistant:

Nov 7 13:33:12 localhost Setup Assistant[160]: Processing `file:///Volumes/Time%20Machine/Macintosh.sparsebundle/'...

Nov 7 13:33:13 localhost Setup Assistant[160]: Re-Mounted disk disk2s2 @ /Volumes/Time Machine Backups

Nov 7 13:33:13 localhost Setup Assistant[160]: . Found disk (diskIdentifier=disk2s2, mountpoint=/Volumes/Time Machine Backups, isInternal=0, filesystem=Case-sensitive Journaled HFS+ hfs Mac OS Extended (Groß-/Kleinschreibung und Journaled) Apple_HFSX)

Nov 7 13:33:13 localhost Setup Assistant[160]: X /Volumes/Time Machine Backups: Missing CoreServices.

Nov 7 13:33:13 localhost Setup Assistant[160]: X /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/.RecoverySets/0/com.apple.recovery.boot: Missing CoreServices.

Nov 7 13:33:13 localhost Setup Assistant[160]: X /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Macintosh/2013-11-05-112634/Macintosh HD: Missing CoreServices.

Nov 7 13:33:14 localhost Setup Assistant[160]: -> Mounted backup image 'file:///Volumes/Time%20Machine/Macintosh.sparsebundle/' at {(

)}

Nov 7 13:33:14 localhost Setup Assistant[160]: X /Volumes/Time Machine Backups: Missing CoreServices.

Nov 7 13:33:14 localhost Setup Assistant[160]: X /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/.RecoverySets/0/com.apple.recovery.boot: Missing CoreServices.

Nov 7 13:33:14 localhost Setup Assistant[160]: X /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Macintosh/2013-11-05-112634/Macintosh HD: Missing CoreServices.

It seems that something wrong with my backup. I love backups which won't work.

After searching the internet i found following website:

http://pondini.org/TM/D10.html

It seems that these error happend at my system. I mounted the sparsebundle from NAS-Server with the finder and searched the filestructure. Yep, exactly the described problem. My backup imcludes only the user account, nothing else from OS. So the setup assistant do not accept this backup as source medium. This is very bad, because Maverick runs 10 days on may MAC before my SSD crashed....

What have i done:

Clean installation of maverick

create of a new user with system admin rights - a different than in backups

installed software manually

copy all user-home-directories from the mounted sparsebundle-backup to my clean mac

recreated the user-accounts

a Lot of work, but i do not lost any data

At the moment i create a very new full backup

Thanks to Apple for the high quality Time Machine software 😟

I'm having the same issue with my WD Mybook Live NAS drive. I can see and mount the backup share but it isn't recognized with migration assistant. Does anyone know if apple is working on a fix?

Very disappointing. Have same problem on Nov 13 with new iMac, top of the line Core i7 , except only 16GB of ram ( which refuse pay $400 for a $200 product ..) Anyway, iMac cannot find the external with Time Machine ( though it is on desktop) and it complains when I pull chord ..so it knows it is there but doesn't know! Ludicrous situation!