Migration assistant Stuck

Question

Migration assistant Stuck

I recently purchased a new Macbook pro.

Before I had a 27" Imac, I had cloned the HDD of the Imac using Carbon Copy Cloner, so it's a bootable image and it sits on an external HDD

When I received my Macbook, I decided to use the Migration Assistant to move Data and Programs from my Imac image to the new Macbook.

The process started and after about half an hour with only 12 Minutes to go, the process just stops, no errors nothing it just stops and the external HDD powers off. After leaving it all night thinking that perhaps it just needs time, it was still showing the "12 Minutes till completion screen".

I decided to reboot my machine, after reboot it goes automatically back into the Migration Assistant Application and tries to complete the process to no avail.

It seems my machine is now stuck in a perpetual cycle of Migration Assistant trying to finish the job.

Q. How do I stop this app from trying.

Q. Can I wipe my entire system and start from scratch ? (Because it seems that the MA has installed profiles and stuff on my system)

How do I work with Recovery Mode to remove the OS X installation and re-install a clean copy of Yosemite on my system?

M

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Apr 14, 2015 4:13 AM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

Level 10

685,257 points

Apr 14, 2015 4:44 PM in response to mightydutchmantwo

Do a backup, preferable 2 separate ones on 2 drives. Boot to the Recovery Volume (command - R on a restart or hold down the option/alt key during a restart and select Recovery Volume). Run Disk Utility Verify/Repair and Repair Permissions until you get no errors. Reformat the drive using Disk Utility/Erase Mac OS Extended (Journaled), then click the Option button and select GUID. Then re-install the OS.

OS X Recovery

OS X Recovery (2)

When you reboot, use Setup Assistant to restore your data.

Why not restore using the clone you made?

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Answer 2

rd47

Level 2

255 points

Apr 24, 2015 8:49 PM in response to mightydutchmantwo

I am in a similar situation. So let me answer your questions my telling you my experience...

I just got my new iMac yesterday and was faced with the task of migrating everything over from my MacBook Pro. In the past, I always just cloned the original machine's disk (using either SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner) onto a USB HDD. Then I would plug in the clone into the new Mac, boot from it, and then clone everything onto the new Mac.

This time, I decided to try Migration Assistant using a direct connect method. In my first attempt, Migration Assistant (MA) appears to work just fine for about three hours but then hangs at 'less than a minute left' for an hour. I quit MA on both the source and target Macs. On examining the new iMac, it appears that the accounts from the old Mac were transferred. But only the accounts. Nothing else. No files, applications or data. Grrr!

So I decided to try again. I deleted the accounts transferred over just so that the second attempt is a fresh start. I start MA again. But just like your case, it attempts to continue from where it left off ('less than one minute'). But it does not connect with the source Mac and I can tell that nothing is being transferred. So I stop MA. I Googled for a way to 'reset' MA so that it would forget its previous attempt and start again from fresh. But nothing came up.

So I decided to reinstall Yosemite which took about half an hour. Yay! MA starts from scratch now. I attempt direct transfer a third time. After three hours, it hung again at 'less than 'a minute left'. So I decide to leave it overnight just in case. In the morning, it's still stuck there with no sign of network or HDD activity.

Unbelievable. I've had a brand new iMac for a day and I haven't been able to set it up. So now, I am doing it the way I have always done in the past -- using CCC to make a clone and then booting the clone on the new iMac and cloning it onto the new iMac. Another couple of hours to go before the cloning is done.

My conclusion is that the direct-connect-and-transfer function of Migration Assistant is a big FAIL.

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