Migration Assistant not working with SATA SSD on old Mac Pro

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Migration Assistant not working with SATA SSD on old Mac Pro

I am trying to use Migration Assistant to move files and prefs from my old Mac Pro (2008 model) to a new Mac Pro (2013). But MA fails to find the old OS (Mavericks) which is on a SATA SSD when using a FireWire/Thunderbolt connection and starting up the old machine in Target mode. It does find other copies of the OS on other HDs in the old Mac Pro (another, older copy of Mavericks on one HD and a very old copy of Mountain Lion on another.)

I tried using MA over Ethernet. Both computers are connected by wire to the same router. So I can see all of the old Mac Pro on the new one, including the SSD drive, but MA fails to find anything.

What can I do?

Mac Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Jun 19, 2015 10:22 AM

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Answer 1

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Jun 19, 2015 10:30 AM in response to GrahamRG

What OSX version on the old Mac?

See:

Migration Assistant in OS X Mavericks and Yosemite can transfer information from other computers that have OS X Snow Leopard v10.6.8 or later installed. If you're migrating from a computer with an earlier version of OS X, update your older computer first, or manually copy your data from one computer to another.

Move your content to a new Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

GrahamRG Author

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Jun 20, 2015 2:30 AM in response to lllaass

The old OS is Mavericks 10.9.5. I have a current working copy on a SATA SSD and an earlier copy on a HD (which I used before buying the SATA HD and which I cloned onto the SSD). I also have a copy of Snow Leopard (not Mountain Lion - I misremembered) on another HD. Migration Assistant can see the OSs on the HDs but not the OS on the SATA SSD. I.e. when the dialog in MA appears asking which OS to migrate from, the two on HDs appear but the current working one, on the SATA SSD, does not) However, the new machine with Yosemite can see all these drives and others with no OS on using network connection (but not using MA).

In the end I gave up and migrated the apps and prefs from the last but one copy of Mavericks (the one on the HD), expecting to have to update more recently bought software by hand, and then copy all my non-video data across manually.

Again Migration Assistant failed. It copied much software badly (so I had to do a manual copy to replace) and it failed to copy across all the registration and preferences data. So I am now going through the process or reinstalling much of the software and re-registering it and copying all the profiles data (e.g Microsoft stuff.)

As you might imagine, I am pretty ****** of with Apple. Migration Assistant has been worse that useless. I wish now I'd started it all by hand from the start.

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Answer 3

Jun 20, 2015 4:05 PM in response to GrahamRG

Registration and Preference data is not part of the Application, and is not stored in System Directories at all.

It is stored in the User's 'Home Folder'.

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Answer 4

GrahamRG Author

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Jun 20, 2015 4:32 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

That is mostly true. But one of the programs I was trying to transfer was Final Cut Pro 7. This does work with Yosemite but only if you completely clear out the old copy that MA has copied over (and all the preference files) and then re-install from the original disks (just as well I bought a USB DVD drive!).

But you've missed the point. MA did manage to copy over a lot of stuff from the copy of Mavericks on the HD, but it completely failed to see the most recent copy of Mavericks, and the one I had been using for a year or so, which was on the SSD drive (Sorry when I said SATA I meant PCI - it's on a card not on on the SATA bus). It seems MA can only see hard drives and not solid state drives.

I still have an unresolved problem with the Adobe CS5 Web Edition (on the way I had to use the quit button in the Activity Monitor to quit a non-program process (connected with Safari) that stopped the Adobe installer from completing).

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