migration assistant - transfer 20 hours and counting: what do I do?

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Level 1

11 points

migration assistant - transfer 20 hours and counting: what do I do?

I am attempting to Migrate from a Macbook air with 10.7.x, to a Macbook 2015 10.11.x.

I checked the Mac site for instructions. The only option it seemed was to use wi-fi: ethernet not available on either, and no suggestion I could use Thunderbolt; Time Machine, it says, only works for 10.8.x upwards.

Everything started fine but I am now awaiting 20 hours on, and it seems stuck. There is no time indication (other posters say their transfer is indicated in 9 hours or 6 hours or 1 minute remaining - there is no indication on my Macbook...)

I have checked the internet for hours to see what to do.

Some say yes, cancel the transfer, others say wait. Some say restart the process using Thunderbolt, and Target Disk Mode. Others seem to suggest Time Machine will work - I have never used Time Machine so that would be one experiment.. There is nothing to tell me whether I need to 'clean' my new Macbook. All I can see i one person suggests I will have to set up a new user account. It seems some suing Ethernet or Thunderbolt also have long delays.

Am I going to have to do a manual transfer - I dread that because each time I have done it in the past my Mail has failed to work properly.

This is all so frustrating - par for the course I guess. I have had Macs for more than 20 years and always have problems with transfers (and many other things) often because the instructions are not correct - or don't tell you all you need to know.

Some advice would be helpful.

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.2), macbook air 10.8.5

Posted on Sep 27, 2016 2:31 AM

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Answer 1

John Galt

Level 10

154,790 points

Sep 27, 2016 3:27 AM in response to cbaz

A wireless migration can take several hours to several days, depending on one's particular wireless environment.

Please read Move your content to your new MacBook - Apple Support. It describes several options for connecting an Ethernet adapter to your MacBook as well as Target Disk Mode, so that you can avoid the vagaries of wireless communication.

The Time Machine option is also worth considering, not only for the same reasons regarding wireless migration, but you ought to have a backup strategy anyway.

Only the original MacBook Air is limited to OS X 10.7 "Lion". Is yours that model? If not, you can upgrade its operating system to any later version including Sierra.

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Answer 2

John Galt

Level 10

154,790 points

Sep 27, 2016 11:20 AM in response to cbaz

First, don't lend too much credibility to the data transfer rate. It is not uniform at all. You should be prepared to let it go overnight or longer. If a day passes with no apparent progress though, it might never finish. The solution in that case would be a process of elimination... de-select various items to transfer in your User Account.

Generally speaking I never elect to transfer "Computer and Network Settings" or "Other files and folders" because (1) they are easily reconfigured, and (2) incompatible / outdated drivers might cause Migration Assistant to hang. Perhaps that will help.

So I guess I have to upgrade the software on the MacbookAir to Sierra

Maybe, maybe not. Giving up now would be premature. You might find this User Tip helpful though: Upgrading to macOS "Sierra" without fear

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Answer 3

John Galt

Level 10

154,790 points

Sep 27, 2016 11:24 AM in response to cbaz

cbaz wrote:

I can't use Apple help as the 90 days ran out last year...

No need to despair. For their out of warranty price of $29 Apple will work with you as long as necessary to fix whatever might be wrong: https://www.apple.com/support/products/pay-per-incident.html

Of course this site is free, and it's worth every cent.

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Answer 4

John Galt

Level 10

154,790 points

Sep 28, 2016 10:00 AM in response to cbaz

Or transfer by hand?

That's an option, and transferring Mail won't be a problem at all if you use Mail's Import Mailboxes function: Mail for Mac: Import or export mailboxes. The reason you might not have been successful in the past is that El Capitan uses a completely new database format. Importing Mailboxes according to the above Apple Support document will perform the required conversion.

Oh and I have checked with a local shop.. they want £99 plus VAT = £119 = c. $155 to do the job.

Never let anyone other than Apple or an AASP touch your Mac. Anyone else will just make the problem worse and charge you for it.

Ok Apple will charge $29 but they are not going to hang on the the hours necessary for transfer...

No, but you can simply reference your case number and call them back at a convenient time. I highly recommend contacting them, because it may be a problem with Migration Assistant that they won't know about unless you tell them.

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Answer 5

John Galt

Level 10

154,790 points

Sep 28, 2016 11:00 AM in response to cbaz

For that problem, please read Mail settings you might need from your email provider - Apple Support.

Or, start a new Discussion, because that question is sufficiently unrelated to the original one regarding migration to justify continuing this Discussion.

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Answer 6

anonyme4321

Level 6

17,275 points

Sep 27, 2016 3:15 AM in response to cbaz

Hi cbaz,

As others have suggested I would wait but if after a few hours the remaining time doesn't change, just cancel and transfer manually with target disk mode and a USB device.

It's a pain but it is a safe way to transfer your data.

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Answer 7

cbaz Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 27, 2016 3:22 AM in response to anonyme4321

Thanks, but I am not sure that helps a lot! Sorry!

A few hours? How about 22 hours now?

According to the Apple site it requires USB-C - yes, my new Macbook has USB-C but the MacBook Air only has USB-B. And incidentally, I do not have a USB-C cable...

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Answer 8

cbaz Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 27, 2016 3:41 AM in response to John Galt

Hi and thanks.

Yes, I have read that link, printed it off and followed its guidance. But it doesn't say anything about whether I can do it by Thunderbolt - which is what others say I can!

I do have a back up strategy - a manual one as Time Machine was notoriously unstable when it first appeared and I have never gone back.

Yes, I think its is that MacbookAir - but I can't now check as I am waiting for the transfer to finish - Catch 22. (If I could upgrade that is yet another step to do which isn't mentioned in the guidance...)

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Answer 9

John Galt

Level 10

154,790 points

Sep 27, 2016 3:53 AM in response to cbaz

A Thunderbolt connection, with appropriate adapters, would require using Target Disk Mode. Migration Assistant will then recognize the MacBook Air as a mounted volume.

The original MBA had its ports in a "flip open" type access door, but no Thunderbolt option. If yours doesn't have that door it can be upgraded to Sierra, eliminating all doubts regarding transfer compatibility.

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Answer 10

cbaz Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 27, 2016 9:05 AM in response to John Galt

Mine does not have an access door - it is open to the elements.

I have now stopped the transfer by wi-fi and started using Target Disk mode using a Thunderbolt cable. It appears to have transferred some info but not all.

When I started it asked for Apple Id (for iTunes, iCloud and various other which I do not use) which I did not have handy so went ahead anyway.

Now it is still transferring, and we are three hours in for what is just 90GB. I am not optimistic this is going to work.

So I guess I have to upgrade the software on the MacbookAir to Sierra (with the problems I am sure that will bring: I have never had a smooth software upgrade in 20 years of Macs), then sort out Time Machine and it will all magically work. And I guess upgrading to Sierra will cost...

Sorry for my cynicism - based on experience.

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Answer 11

cbaz Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 27, 2016 10:23 AM in response to cbaz

UPDATE

After another 3 hours of little apparently happening, I decided to start again. When I did I found that no more data had transferred! It was still just a few GBs of the 98Gb that have to be transferred.

And further to my last post, I am not inclined to upgrade to Sierra seeing it is a brand new operating system which only became available according to the internet on 20 Sept! Seems to me that is asking for trouble...

I guess i will eventually transfer by hand and have to accept that Mail will not work properly - or my wife, whose computers these are will have to carry on using her old MacbookAir with 10.7, while the Macbook 2015 (my son had it before) will just remain junk. I can't use Apple help as the 90 days ran out last year...

This is a nightmare.

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Answer 12

cbaz Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 28, 2016 1:21 AM in response to John Galt

After yet another 12 hours with computers connected by Thunderbolt, and the message coming across "Transferring your system settings...", I decided to see what was happening. Answer: nothing. No further GBs of data have transferred in that 12 hours.

So I ran Disk Utility on both hard drives, then decided to follow your advice and uncheck "Computer and Network settings" and "Other files and folders", and set it underway again.

Two hours later it still seems to be hanging at "Transferring your system settings...".

What do I do next? Restore Factory settings? Or transfer by hand? (which my experience in the past suggests will mean previous Mail will not work) And it means I will have to load applications 'by hand' using a remote SuperDrive (Thanks Apple for getting rid of that).

Oh and I have checked with a local shop.. they want £99 plus VAT = £119 = c. $155 to do the job. Ok Apple will charge $29 but they are not going to hang on the the hours necessary for transfer...

This site may be free but I haven't yet got the answers - I appreciate your help but it is working. Sorry.

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Answer 13

cbaz Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 28, 2016 10:28 AM in response to John Galt

In the end I went to Apple, where i was led me through transferring by hand - he appeared not to have any confidence in Migration Assistant.

He got me up and running after 1hr 30. Now I have a problem with Mail - that has always caused me problems in the past - WHY?

The only way I can get it is through Insecure Authentication. Btinternet help is worse than useless. But when setting up/editing accounts, Apple asks for info, you put it in and then it rejects it without any explanation.

So my only solution is either a) to turn on 'insecure authentication' each time to get mail or b) back to Apple for another long session.

Remind me not to buy another machine and never to upgrade... it's wasting my life.

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Answer 14

cbaz Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 30, 2016 1:18 AM in response to John Galt

My problems have now been sorted - after 4 days.

I have finally sorted my problems with the help of Apple guys direct. Interestingly, neither of them suggested Migration Assistant - my feeling was they understood the problems its can cause. So the transfer was done 'manually' which I probably could have done myself and saved huge amounts of time. (And of course, I had to get out a hard drive and load other software - not sure I've loaded everything yet...)

Mail as usual caused all sorts of problems. The advice on the Mac support site did not always give full instructions - vital steps are missing - so it was back to the Apple guys to sort things out. BT (British Telecom) were of no help as usual - blamed everything on Apple. Yet BT's 'instructions' for changing passwords are wrong - they do not work. And they are trying to get everyone to do it as a result of the Yahoo security breach...

My other point is that Apple's own advice does not suggest using Thunderbolt in the part that dealt with 10.7 to 10.11, MBAir to MBPro - had it done so I'd have probably saved 1 day.

Lesson to be learned for next: don't rely on Migration Assistant and be ready for a long haul to get Mail working properly.

But thank you anyway for trying to help.

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Answer 15

anonyme4321

Level 6

17,275 points

Sep 27, 2016 3:29 AM in response to cbaz

You'll need to but an adapter then: http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MJ1K2AM/A/usb-c-digital-av-multiport-adapter

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