I am trying to restore from an old Snow Leopard backup to El Capitan but my new MB Air only has a 120GB SSD. I only need to copy my iTunes library and iPhotos but it won't let me select my external storage from Migration Assistant.

Question

I am trying to restore from an old Snow Leopard backup to El Capitan but my new MB Air only has a 120GB SSD. I only need to copy my iTunes library and iPhotos but it won't let me select my external storage from Migration Assistant.

MacBook Air 10.11.3 (11-inch, Early 2014) with 120 GB SSD

1.4 GHz Intel Core i5

4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

I recently purchased a 2014 MacBook Air via Apple's recondition site. I also have an old 2007 MacBook (750GB) which is fully up to date with the last Snow Leopard (10.6.8) update. I still use the old laptop and regularly back up using Time Machine with a 1TB external storage drive. Since iOS 9 I have not been able to use iTunes to sync/backup my iPhone 6 because the version is out of date but cannot be updated.

The problem I have is trying to migrate from my old to new MacBook due to the Air only having 120GB of SSD and when using Migration Assistant is won't let you select an external drive. I have already tried to restore from the old time machine backup but it says not enough storage and i've been trying to deselect various options to reduce it but no luck.

I'm not bothered about all the personal settings I just want my iTunes Library (300gb) and iPhotos (7.1.5 378) to be copied across but there is no simple way of doing this. This also means I need my iPhone library to point to the external drive too which I'm having trouble with.

Please help????

Thanks in advance.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Feb 14, 2016 1:59 AM

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Answer 1

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Feb 14, 2016 5:58 AM in response to Phillyboi1977

Please hold down the option key and select

Browse Other Backup Disks...

from the Time Machine menu in the menu bar. The menu icon looks like a clock running backwards. If you don't have that menu, open the Time Machine preference pane and check the box marked

Show Time Machine in menu bar

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Answer 2

Feb 14, 2016 12:02 PM in response to Linc Davis

Thanks, that's a great little tip I didn't realise that but it still doesn't help me to use migration assistant. I need to be able to select an external drive when using migration assistant as the internal SSD is not large enough.

My last sentence was meant to say iPhoto not iPhone. I also need to know how to point my iPhoto library to an external source Which is also proving difficult.

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Answer 3

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Feb 14, 2016 12:29 PM in response to Phillyboi1977

You're not going to use Migration Assistant. All you're going to do is restore the two libraries you mentioned. For more information, see below.

Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 4

Feb 14, 2016 1:53 PM in response to Linc Davis

II'll give that a try and let you know.

Thanks for your help

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Answer 5

Feb 28, 2016 1:40 AM in response to Phillyboi1977

Hi Linc Davis,

Sorry for the delay i've just moved house.

Ok, trying to restore from a backup as suggested below but this doesn't work either. All files are greyed out so I cannot Restore anything not just my iTunes Library from by old Time Machine Backup. I have tried to use the Apple Support site but this is no use as it assumes this just works so I get so far then i'm stuck again as everything is greyed out. I have spent days trying to do this but it just doesn't work. I've worked in IT Support for 15 years now and have never found something so difficult. I'm guessing the problem here is because Snow Leopard is not compatible with the latest OSX OS which is ludicrous and wouldn't have expected this from Apple.

Please help as this is getting so frustrating? I have no idea why this is so complicated surly it should be a simple task.

Thanks again in advance

Phil

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Answer 6

Feb 29, 2016 6:00 AM in response to Phillyboi1977

Hi Linc,

I'm trying another approach so I now have both external hard drives plugged into the Air and i'm trying to copy the iTunes Library (300GB) from my Time Machine Backup to the new 1TB hard drive but it then says 'File size to large to copy'. I manager to copy my iPhone Library to Photos on the new Air but iTunes won't allow it.

Looking into this I think OSX doesn't allow you to copy files over 50GB or something like that.

Are you able to advise on this?

Please help and I just want this simple task to be resolved.

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Answer 7

my ginger

Level 5

4,904 points

Feb 29, 2016 12:38 PM in response to Phillyboi1977

In looking over apple help and other sources. I can find nothing on this. But I may have an idea. What you want to do is transfer from time machine is the music and picture library that are in the home folder. Not Itunes and Iphoto. You may be able to do a drag and drop. You will need the external drive open on the desktop and the time machine open. If you can locate the music and picture folders. Try dragging then from time machine to the other drive. Depending on the size, it could take a little time to copy them.

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