Migration assistant won't work via thunderbolt in Mavericks

Just want to add my two cents here because I just struggled many times over doing all of these "tricks" and knowing there was seemingly no reason for the target disk to NOT show up. I know this is an old thread, but these issues often persist, which is why I found myself here... trying to migrate Mac minis both running Sierra.

My my issue was ultimately resolved by a seemingly stupid fix I tried on a whim.

I reversed the cable ends (which thunderbolt end was in which thunderbolt device). Utterly stupid, but I was at my wits end and it worked. Mounted immediately as a hard drive. Showed up in migration assistant. Makes me want to bring my $39 cable back to Apple and ask why it only works one way.

Moral of the story... when all else fails, reverse the direction of the cable. May it thwart your weeping openly as it did mine.

Turning WiFi off seemed to work for me. I tried the transferring via Thunderbolt with the old computer in TDM and was getting 12 hour estimates on 150GB of data to transfer. After performing the steps below I was able to transfer the files in under 30 minutes.

1. Do not connect the Thunderbolt cable yet.
2. Turn off WiFi on both Macs.
3. Start Migration Assistant on both Macs. Have both Macs plugged in or it will slow the transfer.
4. On the new Mac select 'Transfer from a Mac', on the old Mac select 'To another Mac'.
5. You will end up with different dialog boxes, you should be prompted to connect the Thunderbolt cable.
6. You may be prompted for a security code on both computers, confirm it is the same and click 'Continue'.
7. If you have multiple accounts select the desired accounts you wish to transfer.
8. Click 'Continue' to start the transfer, the data transfer should start.
9. After the data has been transferred wait for a screen to say 'Migration Complete'.
10. Disconnect the Thunderbolt cable.
11. Select 'Quit' on the old computer, it will return to the Login screen. The new computer will continue to process the transfer files.
12. If there are incompatible files transferred to the new computer it will tell you so, otherwise select 'Continue'.
13. The migration should now be complete on the new computer, select 'Quit'.

I had the same issue and this worked for me. Connect the two Macs via Thunderbolt and put the older Mac (the one you are trying to grab files/applications from) in Target Disk Mode by holding down T when restarting. Then just run Migration Assistant on the new Mac as you normally would and select the drive shown. Cut my migration time from 17 hrs to 27 min.

I did it the DOOP way but the disk only shows 157k of data? I did it anyway and it completed in 10 seconds but no real data transfer. This is absolutely MADDENING as I have been trying to migrate for 24 straight hours with no luck. ***?

Awww that *****. Hmmmm...make sure both devices are on Mavericks and fully updated. Running repair the disk permissions in Disk Utility might help.

I tried to use Thunderbolt to migrate between my old and new MacBook Pros. It appears the Thunderbolt connection is not being detected and the Migration Assistant keeps suggesting connecting a Thunderbolt cable!

So, having hone to my Apple Store especially to get a Thunderbolt cable still the cost of £35, it looks like I am stuck with a slow Ethernet connection taking 20 hours.

Frustrating indeed.

Go to System Preferences on the Old Mac, locate Start Up Disk in 4th Row of Icons, Select Start Computer in Target Disk Mode.

On New Mac /Applications/Utilities/Migration Assistant

Once in Migration Assistant Select From Another Mac, Startup Disk, Time Machine Backup, or Disk

Then on next Screen Choose from a Disk

To Migrate Old Photos, Music, and Documents select and check Users and choose Specific User

Choose Applications to Migrate Applications, other data and settings as well

If you encounter the Problem, where the username of the old folder is the same as the username of the home folder on the New Mac, Look at PH14081 and complete steps 6-15 to merge old folder with new folder.

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14081

6. Change Name of old folder to accountname1

7. Migrate

8. After Migration Go to New Admin User, Create a Test User, Log out of new Admin and into Test User

9. When in Test User Delete New Admin User and Home Folder, Do not do this Securely as it will take some time to complete

10. Once New admin and folder are deleted go into Finder select Username1 Folder, Control Click or Two Finger Click for Trackpads > Select Get Info, Change accountname1 to accountname

11. Go back into System Preferences> Create New User with "accountname" as new accountname, set Admin Password>Select Create New User

12. Dialogue Box will Appear A folder already exists with this Username>select use Existing Folder

13. Log out of Test User into Username>System Prefrences>Delete Test User

Hi D Rayburn Willis,

Would you mind going into a bit more detail on some of your steps?

I've migrated adding a '1' after the username.

When you say 'Go to New Admin User' exactly what do you mean? Where is this 'New Admin User'?

Then when you say 'Delete New Admin User and Home Folder', where should this be done from - and also where is this 'Home Folder'? I've done a Spotlight search for 'Home' and it doesn't bring anything up.

If the 'New Admin User' is the new user I created in the migration, won't deleting it just delete the user AND all the info I just migrated?

The step to be done in Finder (step 10) - how would you create two folders with identical names? I thought that was impossible.

Then also how could I create a new user with exactly the same account name as my main account name as in step 11?

I'm throughly confused - could you help out?

How long did it take for the new computer to pick up the source computer? Mine just isn't picking up with the thunderbolt cables even when doing the target drive start up.

Are you going Thunderbolt to Thunderbolt? I don't have experience with that.

I went from Thunderbolt on my new one to Firewire 800 on my old one (using an adapter). I had to make sure I didn't start Migration Assistant until the source compute was already in target drive mode.

I also experimented using the network connection - again using an adapter. This method requires a different approach where the source computer is running normally, i.e. not in target drive mode. Migration Assistant must be started on both machines, then on the source computer you choose the 'to' option and the destination computer you choose the 'from' option.

Hi, I'm doing exactly what you have done but I didn't get a time remaining, all I have is a screen that says 'Transferring your Information" and below that ' information from "myoldmac" is being transferred to this Mac. I used migration assistant on both the macs. I have no idea of the progress.

When I put the old one in target mode the new one didn't recognize it at all!

I'm experiencing the same thing at this moment. Were you able to complete the migration? How long did it take? Did you use thunderbolt to thunderbolt as I am using now?

Just to jump in - I ended up going to a different apple store and had it fixed. Apparently the thunderbolt to thunderbolt will not work (the first store sold me the cable and said it would be easy). The new apple store actually ended up doing the transfer for me via firewire I believe. The girl was super helpful and basically transferred all my files over in batches vs migration assistant. Becuase my Macbook was old and had some errors with the filing (corrupt files etc), migration assistant wasn't able to work. The only issue I had after was reinstalling some purchase applications (lightroom etc), as I needed verification codes, but this wasn't too painful. Good luck.

Rob Grren,

I am having the exact same issue. How did you solve yours?

Thanks in advance

Rob