Oh boy, setup issue on my MBP '18 15"...

[donawalt]

Just got my new MBP 2018 15", 2.9 GHz today! Tried setting it up as usual, which for me is to, as part of the setup, have it pull data from my Time Machine backup so it comes up ready to go.

It boots up, I select English, and English Keyboard. Set up my WiFi. Acknowledge Data Privacy screen. Select transfer from a Mac, Time Machine backup, or startup disk - it finds the disk properly, I select it and enter my password, chose to transfer all information, it says 2 minutes remaining on the progress bar, but the progress bar is all the way across and it finishes instantly (odd - see * below I may have caused this). It finishes and says setup will resume following the restart, and after a restart it says Migration Complete, with only a Quit to select - which I do, the Touch ID bar flashes 3-5 times, and I am back at the Welcome Screen!

* the first time I went through this process, the transfer from Time Machine backup started, and it got to "1 minute left" in about a minute, then it sat there for 20 minutes with no progress. Having done this on other machines in the past I thought this odd, so I hit Cancel. It asked me was I sure as setup was not finished, and I said Yes. It restarted the laptop and went to the Welcome screen which seemed fine. From that point on, the data transfer from Time Machine backup was instantaneous, yet it kept going back to the Welcome screen as described above.

So after trying this a few times, I set it up scratch as a new Mac. What is the best way to be able to set the laptop up with my data from Time Machine?

 

[prh8]

You can open Migration Assistant and try that, although it is basically the same process that you already had fail on you

 

[donawalt]

I did the Supplemental Update and then tried Migration Assistant, it ran pretty quickly (less than 2 minutes), but the system looked the same - none of my apps were there for example, desktop looked identical, as did the bar at the bottom.

 

[maflynn]

I set it up scratch as a new Mac

That's how I do it, that way I don't pull stuff over that ought not to come over. I control every aspect and I feel I get a more stable system that way.

 

[donawalt]

That's how I do it, that way I don't pull stuff over that ought not to come over. I control every aspect and I feel I get a more stable system that way.

Thanks, that's not what I prefer to do however.

 

[maflynn]

I did the Supplemental Update

The supplemental update is for the throttling issue, and it wouldn't change how Migration Asst. works.

 

[donawalt]

The supplemental update is for the throttling issue, and it wouldn't change how Migration Asst. works.

I know, I was just being complete in what I did. The point was Migration Assistant didn't appear to work any better than installing new from a Time Machine Backup.

 

[donawalt]

Anyone? I tried a Mac to Mac transfer of data, it reported it had
Apps 25.26 GB
user Acct 852.8 GB of data
Other files/folders 3.63 GB of data
Computer and network settings 169.3 MB of data

I did not have a Thunderbolt to Thunderbolt cable so I started the transfer with Migration Assistant over WiFi, it said it would take 7 hours...90 minutes in, it completed and said "Some data could not be transferred". While much if not all of Documents were transferred, many settings were not, Systems Extensions like from Parallels were blocked, it was a mess. How did Apple break the Migration so badly?

Has anyone successfully set up a new MBP from Time Machine? I may just return this laptop, it's too much trouble for the price - I have been slogging through things all afternoon.

 

[Newtons Apple]

OP seems to like punishment.

 

[donawalt]

OP seems to like punishment.

Come on now, why the abuse when I am just trying to set up a new Mac via a Time Machine backup, something that has worked flawlessly for many years? Is that so stupid to do? Has the community gotten that cynical about all this? Sheesh. Thanks for the help.

 

[bevsb2]

I set up my new computer using migration assistant. The process was completed quickly - I didn't time it but about 15 minutes. I don't have a lot on my computer however so probably not comparable. I'm sorry you are having so much trouble. Don't give up on your new MacBook - it's a great computer.

 

[donawalt]

Thanks for the words of encouragement @bevsb2 ...haven't given up yet.

 

[donawalt]

After many hours of trying different things, here are my latest conclusions. In short, there is NOT a way to transfer data to this new mbp. I tried from multiple new Time Machine backups, and instead of showing about 900GB of data coming across, it reports 20 MB of data to restore every time - obviously resulting in an incomplete set up. For example, no apps are transferred at all. My procedure in this case:

Cmd R to Disk Utility - erase disk, then reinstall MacOS so it starts in fresh setup.
Select setup from Time Machine.
It asks for my password as the backup disk is encrypted, but it only finds 20 MB.

This is how it has always worked, there are ample videos on youtube and text to explain this is all you have to do. “It just works”. My hunch is it is not handling the encrypted backup disk properly or it is a T2 issue.

So then I do the same thing only using Migration Assistant to copy across from my old mbp. I use a TB 3 to TB 3 cable to connect the two mbps.

Cmd R to Disk Utility - erase disk, then reinstall MacOS so it starts in fresh setup.
Select setup from another Mac. I setup Migration Asst on my old mbp, they link, it correctly reports about 900GB to transfer. Passwords are entered as requested.

This fails in a different way (see pic below), and as a result data looks to have come across but virtually no settings have.

Any ideas how to get either approach working? I have a few days to decide whether to return it, and I have decided I am not going to install everything from scratch. Thanks!

 

[maflynn]

Any ideas how to get either approach working? I have a few days to decide whether to return it, and I have decided I am not going to install everything from scratch. Thanks!

You should be able to access your TM backup and pull back all of your data fairly easily. Of course that means installing the OS as a fresh copy and does require you to reinstall your applications, but at least your data is easily restored.

 

[haralds]

Mine completely borked with migration assistant. I figured I could just wipe and reinstall after setting the T2 for external boot. Now even the Genius cannot get it to install. I tried internet recovery 5x. It goes through downloading everything after the initial install screen comes up and than fails on reboot going back to the network prompt.
My theory is that the T2 settings are authorized by an admin password (migration assistant transferred enough for that to happen.) When the partition as erased, it just locked everything.
Have to send it back. They wanted to repair it and makes me wait 2-3 weeks just for parts!

I don't think so. This has been the worst Apple experience in my life - a fan boy no longer! On last count, we have 8 running machines and 12 or so total Macs in this house. Sad...

 

[Lobwedgephil]

No issue restoring from my backup, not that it helps you. Just a data point that it can work.

 

[donawalt]

No issue restoring from my backup, not that it helps you. Just a data point that it can work.

Thanks for the reply. Did your settings come across - like how the dock bar is set up, how the finder window is set up with favorites in the sidebar, various things in System Prefs, or did you have to go through and set everything the way you like it?

 

[macdudesir]

Can you access your data from said Mac or another? Is it possible the data on your time machine backup is somehow corrupted?

 

[donawalt]

The data is mostly there but not the settings as I noted examples of above, on the migration from mbp. In the backup, I tried creating several new backups and used them with the same result.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

Thanks for the reply. Did your settings come across - like how the dock bar is set up, how the finder window is set up with favorites in the sidebar, various things in System Prefs, or did you have to go through and set everything the way you like it?

Yeah everything transferred correctly, sorry you haven't been able to get it working. Hope you can figure it out.

 

[maflynn]

Sounds like Apple definitely has their work cut out with regard to the T2 chip. That seems to be the cause of a number of headaches with the Mac.

 

[lovejimbo]

I migrated a 2017 2TB Time Machine backup to the new 2018 flawlessly.

It literally started up like it was the same Mac - all my project files, apps, plugins, preferences, etc, etc came across perfectly and other than having to enter the licence details for a couple of plugins, it was ready to start rendering jobs within 10min of completion.

This was 1.4TB of film and animation content, Photoshop, Illustrator, inDesign, AE, C4D, Octane, Maya files. My photos library, iTunes, wallpapers and dock etc

Looks to be a gremlin in your actual backup files maybe?

 

[YaBe]

Come on now, why the abuse when I am just trying to set up a new Mac via a Time Machine backup, something that has worked flawlessly for many years? Is that so stupid to do? Has the community gotten that cynical about all this? Sheesh. Thanks for the help.

You are restoring it wrong..... I guess that's the defensive attitude when you "touch" Apple, some people will tell you you are the problem, when instead as you point out, what before worked now it is not (working).

Blame the user, when they should blame the company..... If we really cared about Apple we would be more critic of it, as only trough constructive criticism you can grow, this "you are doing it wrong" and "It is not happening to me so it is your fault" will keep making things worse.

 

[maflynn]

Looks to be a gremlin in your actual backup files maybe?

That's possible, but with some folks dealing with the T2 crashing the system, and some others unable to alter the secure boot settings, the common theme is the T2 chip. Apple doesn't have a track record with having an ARM chip controlling security on a laptop

 

[mollyc]

I set up my daughter’s 13” MBP using migration assistant but did not use a time machine backup. I just found her iMac on the network and transferred over WiFi. There were a few minor things she had to recreate, but by and large it worked seamlessly.