unusual use for migration assistant

[RCharles]

I'm on a long trip and forgot to pack my Macbook Pro - but I have the Time Machine disk for it and access to a friend's MacBook Air.

I'd like to copy some files from the Time Machine disk to the MacBook air or, ideally, to a new external hard drive on the Macbook Air.

Possible issue: Time Machine disk written under 10.10.x while MacbookAir is still at 10.9.5

Can Migration Assistant do this?

Related questions:
1. Can I run Migration Assistant more than once, e.g., copy files first then go back and copy apps?
2. Will Migration Assistant always create a user account on the target machine?
3. IF I copy apps from Time Machine, does it copy data relate to the app?

Thanks!

RCharles

 

[chscag]

Welcome to the forums.

I'm not sure it's a good idea to try to migrate from your Time Machine backup to your friend's MacBook Air. What will likely happen is that your account will get created on your friend's MBA which may create some confusion for the both of you. I'll try to answer your questions.

1. Yes, you can run the MA more than once but be careful.

2. As stated above, your account will get created on his machine.

3. No. You will have to copy the apps and then make sure you locate and copy all associated data. Keep in mind that if you have apps that require activation and a key code, they will not simply migrate to your friend's machine. They will have to be installed.

You may also run into some difficulty because your friend's machine is running Mavericks and your Time Machine backup is Yosemite.

If you decide to do this, tell your friend to backup his machine first using cloning software, not Time Machine. Tell him to make a clone to an external Hard Drive using either Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper software. That way if anything goes wrong, he has a clone backup which he can use to restore and boot from.

And... how does one forget to pack his MacBook Pro? (just teasing you)

 

[RCharles]

Hello chscag

A new thought: if I use Carbon Copy Cloner to duplicate the MacbookAir memory, can I re-boot the MBA from the copy? If yes, then I could run Migration Assistant from the external drive and move my files from Time Machine to the external drive. If it creates a new user that would be within the external drive OS; re-booting from the internal memory should put me back to the original MBA configuration.

Your thoughts?
RCharles

 

[ferrarr]

If you really want to, you can sign into the Mac App Store and download Yosemite. Then install it on the external drive and connect your Time Machine backup. It will be slow. Or, if your friend is not using then MBA while you are, clone his drive to the external and then download Yosemite and install to internal and use as needed. Erase and clone back his OS drive when done.

 

[RCharles]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the Yosemite upgrade suggestion.
Let me outline my situation: My friend Julie and I are in CA on a three week vacation; the MacBookAir(MBA) I can use belongs to Julie. We're trying to do the minimum possible, both in terms of changes and time to complete. Also, we're at the mercy of wi-fi connections wherever we're staying, which makes downloading a complete OS a bit much.
I've just partitioned and formatted an outboard drive and now running time machine to one partition. I've also downloaded CarbonCopy and will run that to create a bootable copy of the MBA internal drive in another partition.
If all that goes well I'll reboot using the external drive, then run Migration Assistant to restore a few files from the TimeMachine I have for the forgotten macbook. I only need a few directories of time-sensitive things that I need to address while on vacation.

I'll be back with status in a day or so.

Thanks to all for the help!!

RCharles

 

[RCharles]

OK, Wednesday morning.
On the external drive we created:
A Time Machine backup of the MBA 10.9.5 OS X
A Carbon Copy back of the MBA 10.9.5 OS X

We then booted from the carbon copy on the external drive; MBA running 10.9.5
Time Machine will not restore from a backup file created under a newer version of OS X. My laptop Time Machine file is from 10.10.x.

We decided to gable on upgrading the OS but OS X 10.10 is no longer available from Aplple.
El Capitan download ran overnight on the hotel wi-fi but completed.
Install of El Capitan ran successfully in about an hour.

With the MBA running 10.11.x, we launched Time Machine. It allows selecting a different drive but, when I select my laptop backup, Time Machine asks if I want to change the MBA to use the new drive or alternate between the new and old. There does not seem to be a way to just read and restore from the laptop drive. I'm reluctant to let the MBA use both drives because it will be modifying the laptop backup that was created under an earlier OS X.

Any suggestions on how to get some files out of the laptop Time Machine file?

Can Carbon Copy read a Time Machine file? (I may try this.)

Cheers!
Ray

 

[RCharles]

SUCCESS!!

I had my laptop Time Machine drive installed and, out of frustration, opened it under finder. I was able to open all the way down to a list of backup dates. Selecting the LATEST backup, I was able to open the entire copy of my laptop directory, then copied specific directories into the MBA drive.

I've run Time Machine on all of my MACs but never had to use it for recovery. I assumed I needed to read the backup file under Time Machine but the content is available using FINDER to open and read it. Did not need to run either Time Machine or Migration Assistant.

Cheers!

RCharles

 

[Slydude]

Finder is kind of a last resort of sorts when restoring files from a Time Machine backup. The preferred method when restoring files is from within Time Machine as you guessed. The Migration Assistanty method is good for moving most/all of the content of one Mac to another.

 

[RCharles]

Finder is kind of a last resort of sorts when restoring files from a Time Machine backup. The preferred method when restoring files is from within Time Machine as you guessed. The Migration Assistant method is good for moving most/all of the content of one Mac to another.

Hello Slydude
Thanks for the feedback but I have to politely disagree.

Certainly Time Machine is a powerfull tool for doing major restores or recoveries. But the built in limitations seriously reduce its overall utility.

In my case, I needed to retrieve a few directories from a TimeMachine file that was created under a newer OS X than the target macbookair. Time Machine refuses to do this with no options or exceptions. I spent several hours over two days on multiple attempts to work around the Time Machine restrictions, only to find I could open and copy anything in the Time Machine backup file using FINDER. I completed what I needed in about twenty-minutes and it's working flawlessly.

And Apple is primarily guilty. When I went to the Apple Flagship store in San Francisco and explained my problem, a sales guy suggested I buy a replacement laptop, restore my entire time machine file to reproduce my laptop configuration, then copy the directories I needed to the macbookair, and then RETURN the purchased laptop to Apple for a full refund. In a word, this is absurd.

Apple should make it clear that FINDER can be used to locate and retrieve anything in a Time Machine backup file; this makes Time Machine much more useful in day-to-day operations, e.g., when a file or two from the past is needed again.

Regards
Ray