Merge 2 user accounts? Or move data?

I'm a brand new Macbook Air user (Lion 10.7.4), migrating from Windows. (I used Macs long ago but not recently.)

I ran the Migration Assistant *after* starting the Mac. All my data came over but I didn't understand about user accounts, so now it's in a user account that I never meant to create. Ah, cluelessness.

Ideally (I think) I'd like to just merge the two user accounts. Or, just move all the migrated data to the correct account on the Air. Or anything else that will make my migrated data show up in my normal login.

Can do? Or do I have to migrate again, I hope not I hope not?

(As a separate rant, does anyone know why Migration Assistant doesn't assume I want the data to go into my current login??)

The mistake (and it's a common one) was using the Migration Assistant after you had already setup a user account on the new Air. That's why when you first turn on your new Mac it asks you if you wish to copy data from another Mac or PC.

Anyway, don't worry about it. Just copy the data from the migrated account to the one you initially setup on the Air. When you're satisfied you have everything you need moved over, remove the migrated account that was created. Don't run migration assistant again or you may wind up with more confusion.

(As a separate rant, does anyone know why Migration Assistant doesn't assume I want the data to go into my current login??)

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Because it doesn't know what and what not to overwrite. It does the safe thing and places the data in a separate account and leaves it up to you to make that decision. Wouldn't you rather have it that way?

chscag said:

Just copy the data from the migrated account to the one you initially setup on the Air.

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Pardon my newbieness... that's what I would have thought, but for the life of me I can't see how to do that.

Logged in to the unwanted account, I went into Documents, did Select All, and did Copy for all the items. I wouldn't think that clipboard would transfer to the other login for Pasting, and indeed it didn't.

What am I missing? (My favorite question these days...)

Thanks for your help!

EDIT 4:20pm ET: I'm working on it now, using a shared folder per the method here: http://pondini.org/OSX/Transfer.html

EDIT 4:35 pm .... LOL, set up sharing on both accounts, created shared folder and put the mismigrated data there, and for the life of me can't find out how to browse TO that folder now .... lots has changed since my last Mac, last century. Still workin in on it.

I've put in another hour of effort so far, trying to find the shared folders I described above. There seems to be some level of basic Mac skill that I've missed.

This article OS X Lion: Open someone "OS X Lion: Open someone’s Public folder" talks about opening someone's public folder, in the Users folder, but ladies and gents forgive me, I have no clue how to find the Users folder. In Finder, I see no such thing. What have I done wrong, or failed to do?

Here's hoping some of this will be of help to the next poor soul

- MAJOR difference between Windows UI and Mac: on Mac apps (e.g. Finder) the menu bar isn't attached to the document window. So, I'd open Finder, and go looking for the "Go" menu, and it wasn't attached... I eventually found it at the top of my screen. "Duh," in hindsight, but unthinkable to my Windows mind.

- That was necessary in order to get at the shared folder (from my unwanted identity) where I'd moved the mismigrated data.

- To do THAT, I had to turn on folder sharing, which required hunting for that info.

What a pile of to-do's for a newbie to endure. Seems to me that when the Mac starts up, and it OFFERS the Migration Assistant, it should warn that there may be major consequences if you don't do it right then.

Otoh that would require scaring the newbie, yes? "Careful - if you don't do it this way, your new-user experience may be soured"?

I'm trying to figure out what's the best way to avoid the trouble I've had with this switch. I'm less clueless than most people I know, so I'm sure some have had much more trouble. Also, I've not previously encountered a system where porting files would cause such unexpected consequences.

Otoh, I understand that the migration assistant doesn't JUST move documents - it ports a whole identity. Hm, I wonder if it could have an option - "Move Everything" or "Just Move Documents, Not Other Settings"?

MA intelligently moves only those things that are relevant to be moved: mostly documents, media, preferences, settings. It doesn't move system files or outdated applications, but it does move third-party applications and any non-system fonts you may have added.

deBronkart said:

What a pile of to-do's for a newbie to endure. Seems to me that when the Mac starts up, and it OFFERS the Migration Assistant, it should warn that there may be major consequences if you don't do it right then.

...

Otoh, I understand that the migration assistant doesn't JUST move documents - it ports a whole identity. Hm, I wonder if it could have an option - "Move Everything" or "Just Move Documents, Not Other Settings"?

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It would be perfectly easy for Apple to allow for migration at a later time. I eventually got my stuff straightened out, but what an unbelievable process for something so simple. All they have to do is to give the user the various merge options when the identities are combined, showing the date/time of each resource and, maybe, even giving the option to do a document merge (via Pages or whatever).

I was sorely tempted to ship my MacBook Pro right back when I ran into this problem.

And no, the message about migration when you first set it up is not a dire warning. In fact, I recall that it states quite clearly that you can come back to this later.