My wife and I both back up to the same Time Capsule. My hard drive crashed and now I want to migrate my information to my wife's computer as a second user. However, whenever I try, all I see is my wife's information on our Time Capsule. My backed-up data is now showing up on our Time Capsule as data to be migrated over. But I know it's there.
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5)
My backed-up data is now showing up on our Time Capsule as data to be migrated over. But I know it's there.
If the data is there to migrate then just migrate it..
Read the Pondini files.. a bit out of date but very helpful on how to get migrate setup to work.
Hi LaPastenague. Thank you for the article. I am reading through this now. I am not the most highly technical of people, but it's making some sense.
I think I may not have properly stated my problem though. My wife and I two separate computers and share one time capsule. I know my computer is backed up on that time capsule. However, when I try to use migration assistant to migrating over my user account, it's not working because it's only showing my wife's account on the time capsule. That's the problem. I've been to the genius bar twice and been told two different solutions - neither of which worked.
Anyway, I will keep reading through this article. However, if that revised explanation makes any sense - and you happen to know a quick fix, I would be much obliged. And again - thanks for sharing the article! I appreciate it!
I must admit I have avoided Yosemite.. until yesterday.. as El Capitan is due for release tomorrow I installed Yosemite on a laptop.. I will attempt to do migration to it from TM backup of another computer.
Is the wife's computer running Yosemite?? If not what OS is it running??
Yosemite the migration assistant runs quite differently to earlier version.. it seems to take over full operation of the computer.
First thing I would do is setup a new user on your wife's laptop.. with full admin rights.. this will be the user that gets the migration.. but you MUST NOT USE the same name as was used in your old computer. Logout of the wife user name.. login with your new user name.. The computer will do a bit of asking you for icloud account etc.. ignore all of that.. it will set you up as a new user.. and you will get a fresh screen where none of the wife's old setup is.
Now open migration assistant.
Pick the source and then pick the particular backup you wish to use. I have two different backups in the network resource I use.. Here are the screenshots I had to do with my iphone... the normal screenshot would not work so the quality is poor but gives you enough info to see what I did.. Note this is a completely new user importing all the old files from one of my previous backups on the Mac.. If you have issues.. tell me which screenshot you have issues with. And do what I did.. take a picture.. I can work from pictures.. I cannot work without info.
1.
2.
3.
Just a comment on this one.. you want to migrate the files and but you must be careful about moving applications.. I deselected applications because I do not want to mess up this computer since it is another user.. I will manually install needed applications.
Normally you would move your own files.. of course but I didn't want to mess that up either..
4.
5.
6.
7.
Thanks again for the help here! I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!
The wife and I both run Yosemite. In fact, we have the same model computer: 2009 Macbook Pros.
I actually tried a couple of things before your last response based upon the article you sent me.
First, I connected the Time Capsule to my wife's computer using an extra Ethernet cord. As far as I know I can't bypass migration assistant and manually move my stuff over this way. But I was able to confirm that my backed-up data and user info is in fact on the Time Capsule. Not sure if this is at all helpful, but screen shots are below.
The other thing I tried is exactly what you just recommended. I created a new user account with admin rights, which I named, "Temporary". I logged my wife out. And then I tried using Migration Assistant, but still only saw my wife's back-up data. Below are screen shots. I'm not sure why they came in sideways. Sorry.
Finally, there is one thing that I was told during my second trip to the genius bar that I haven't tried yet. The second person I spoke with told me that I might have to wipe my wife's computer and then migrate over both user accounts from the time capsule. That kind of goes in line with your comment that Yosemite migration assistant seems to take over full operation of the computer. Along those lines, what the genius bar associate makes sense. However, just to play devil's advocate: If I do wipe the machine and then re-import both user accounts, I have to migrate them one at a time, right? And if that's the case, then won't I just end up with the same problem once I've migrated over one of two accounts.
Thanks again!
However, just to play devil's advocate: If I do wipe the machine and then re-import both user accounts, I have to migrate them one at a time, right? And if that's the case, then won't I just end up with the same problem once I've migrated over one of two accounts.
I always try not to agree with the Devil.. but in this case.. I agree with you 100%.. more in fact. 1000%..
Do not ever wipe a computer.. and expect to get it back to working condition without issues.. it won't happen today or any other day.
The screenshots give me a clue to what the problem is. You have an inprogress file.. delete that.
http://pondini.org/TM/A10.html
What are you after.. just your user files?? Or do you want applications?? Settings? Passwords etc.. ??
Tell me what you want.. because you can manually access them.
Pondini has a lot more info spread around..
Eg Read Q14-17 here.
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
Based on that I did a recovery of the iphoto library as follows.
Can't access old files on time capsule
It is borrowing shamelessly from Pondini but helps with the screenshots.
There is another solution..
Spend some money and buy a USB drive and plug that into your computer and do a full restore to it..
In other words you can run your whole OS on the wife's laptop.
I will get some screenshots of doing that.
Boot from recovery.
OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support
Plug in a Mac formatted USB drive..
I used a 2.5" drive with a USB to SATA cable so this can be cheaply done.. but go and buy yourself a drive if you don't have one. Not like mine a proper external unit.
Boot to the recovery and select the TM restore.
Pick the one you want.
Pick the date. Skip to ones before the failure.. maybe a few days.
Now here is the key to this.. you get to select where you will recover to.. you are going to recover to the USB drive. Don't mess up your internal drive.
Then away you go.
It is going to take a few hours to restore so make sure you turn off wireless and have ethernet plugged in.. I started on wireless and it was saying 4hours.. with ethernet it is 1hour.
Once this finishes reboot the computer and hold down the option key to boot from USB.. but you can also boot to normal user on the internal disk and copy the files over. They should now be fully and easily accessible.. I will report in a couple of hours how this has gone.
Just to report this was 100% successful..
I am back into Mavericks.. having selected it as the boot disk.. exactly where I left off when I wiped the drive and installed Yosemite.
After running SSD it is dog slow.. but that doesn't matter in a way.. it will get all your files recovered from the backup.
Thanks again for all the help on this! I was just reading through the http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html link you sent me. I had some success with Q16, but I didn't move forward with it because I was not 100% sure I was doing the right thing. So, below are some screenshots.
Before I get to that, let me answer another question you asked me in terms of what I am hoping to get. Ideally, I was hoping to migrate over my entire User ID, along with the files with the hope that my wife and I could both have our unique Apple IDs on one computer and could just switch back and forth between users. We don't really need two computers. Having two computers dates back to before we were married. So, while I absolutely need to get to the files - the ideal situation is that I have my entire Apple ID and files. There may be a few apps as well, but we have a lot of overlap in apps. And I could always re-download apps as well.
So, using Q16 from http://pondini.org/TM/16.html as a guide, here is what I did:
1. I used Control to open the Time Machine from the dock and browse other Time Machine Discs.
2. I selected my disc.
3. I went to my back-ups folder (Sorry, that's probably not the right name for it)
4. I chose a back-up from a few days before the hard drive crash
5. I selected restore
6. And then I got this far and quit because I had no idea what I was really about to do and if it was even the right thing to do. Also, I was logged in as my wife and moment. I guess technically, I would want to do this logged in as the temporary Admin user, right?
So, was I on the right track here? Would this have migrated over my Apple ID and my files or just my files?
Finally, should this not be the right path that I am on, I do have an old external hard drive from years ago. It sounds like I could use this as well. Thanks for the details instructions you posted with screenshots.
Again, I can't tell you how much I appreciate the help! You didn't have to help me, and so I really, really appreciate it! If there is anything I can do to return the favor or pay it forward, please do let me know. Again, thank you!
The answer is simple.. you are not migrating .. you are about to restore the entire old computer to the new one.. with who knows what effects to the current user. So don't do it that way.
Especially if you are after things like your old icloud login etc.. you need the whole backup recovered to alternative drive.
I do have an old external hard drive from years ago.
Buy a new one.. they are not expensive..
A 2.5" drive that will plug in by USB 3 hopefully would be fast and make the computer useful.. you can then slowly reconstruct your account on the internal drive of the computer.
You MUST either migrate from TM backup to your new login..
Or you do a full restore to the external drive..
Do not Restore the entire computer to existing setup.. I am glad you stopped before causing who knows what damage.
How old is this laptop?
I thought you both had the same model.. but tell me if your old one was very different??
Have you priced having a new hard disk put in your old laptop??
Glad to know I did the right thing not proceeding. I had a funny feeling that it would be a bad idea.
Both of our laptops are 2009 Macbook Pros. I am pretty sure mine has a bit more space and RAM. My wife's computer has been running slow because it only has 2G of RAM. We were going to do an upgrade to 4G of RAM, which is the maximum it can accommodate according to an Apple Bar Genius. Apple can service our computers as they consider them "vintage". However, the estimated we could get it done elsewhere for $40ish. As I say, I believe mine has more RAM, but I honestly can't remember for sure. The other issue with my wife's computer is that I may actually even find that she doesn't have enough memory to support both of us on her machine. I'm pretty sure mine would.
The first Apple Bar Genius I talked to when I got the initial hard drive failure diagnosis said he thought I could probably get a new hard drive for about $200. It wouldn't be the end of the world if we have to go that route, but we were hoping to save the $200ish if possible and move forward with just one laptop. But with all of the trouble were having with the migration and if I need to buy a new external drive, and I might even find that my wife's computer doesn't have enough space to accommodate both of us - then we might just end up just paying to replace the hard drive on mine and continue on with two computers until we get to a point that we are ready to buy a new one that can accommodate both of us.
I'll price out the 2.5" external drive vs. the new hard drive - and then add in the factor of the increased time investment of having to slowly reconstruct my account. My guess is that we'll probably end up going the route of the new hard drive for my computer, assuming that we find that $200 estimate is accurate.
Thanks again for all the help!
Ok.. the extra info helps to make a good decision.
A 2009 laptop is old and is subject to failure at any time.
You could load all your stuff into the wife's computer and have it fail the day after. It is also simply not adequate.
2GB ram is very min .. and even 4GB is on the short side.
If you do buy an external you can recover your files to it on the broken laptop.. but it is much faster to open it and replace the drive.. which is an extremely simple job.
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2009+Hard+Drive+Rep lacement/1337
A new 500GB hybrid drive is like $60.. and will be a lot better than the current drive.
See if there is a Mac repairer in your area rather than have apple do it.. if you don't feel up to the task.. DIY for this is well worth it though.
Even if you just recover the RAM and load that into the wife's computer would be a good idea.
I know money can be tight.. but it could be well worth the $$$ to simply buy a new or newer Mac..
I bought a second hand 2011 MBP a few years ago for $1100 with i7 processor 15" with SSD and HiRes screen. (when our AUS$=US$) It has been a brilliant machine.. too good almost for me. I generally run a 2011 mini (also i7 and last of the separate graphics) which has also been excellent machine. running a 500GB SSD I installed. Look around apple refurbished store or even ebay.. if you can buy a pro from 2-3years ago.. it will be a hugely better machine than 2009.
Migration Assistant Help
