Time Machine Restore & Migration Assistant Stall at "less than a minute" mark

[electriclite]

About a month ago my old MacBook Pro's (09) videocard died and I was stuck in a pretty desperate situation. I do graphics and 3D work and my only laptop capable of handling it is out of commission. So of course I had the choice between (repeatedly) repairing an old product for a lot of money or updating to a new'ish product for even more money, just once.

I took the hit and bought a refurbished 2012 iMac. I wasn't too crazy about the design and inaccessibility of all the hardware, but I needed a computer and I could afford this model. I was considering going PC, but I had all this software and work files that I wanted to make sure remained compatible with my device. Luckily I was able to do a Time Machine backup of my old laptop so that I could then transfer my whole setup over to a new comp.

You can appreciate the irony then that when I go to use Time Machine to restore my backup it just stalls at "less than a minute remaining". EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. I.TRY.TO.DO. A. RESTORE.

When I got tired of that route, I decided to try Migration Assistant. Same issue. Stalls for hours on "less than a minute remaining".

I looked around for possible solutions to this issue. I scanned the external drive that the backup is stored on for any errors, it came out clean. I omitted installing my computer User settings in the restore.

I considered that since my laptop ran on Snow Leopard that there might be some compatibility issues restoring on a system that's running Mountain Lion, but that Apple didn't account for this not even remotely rare possibility is ridiculous. My next step would be making a USB installable version of my Snow Leopard Disk and installing it on the iMac, and then once again trying to restore my MBP files. That's gonna be a more complicated endeavor and I just wanted to know if anyone here can suggest anything else before I have to go that route.

The other official apple discussion threads have made somewhat similar complaints (their issues were with Lion) with, as far as I saw, no discernible solution.

Here are some specs to help you out: iMac Late 2012 OS 10.8.3, 8GB 1600Mhx, 2.7 Ghz Intel Core i5

MacBook Pro Mid 2009, OS 10.6.8 (can't remember the rest)

 

[ChrisA]

You do know that when you buy the new Mac you can ask Apple for help with this very problem, moving the old files over. Bring the disk and the new Mac to the store.

You can also boot the old mac in target ddisk mode and use a fire wire cable to connect it to the new mac and move the files directly using migration assistant.

One related thing. The newer version of Time machine allows for multiple TM drives. It wil maintain mulltiple backups. It is good to have more than one.

As a last resort you can always remove the hard drive from the old computer and place it in a USB enclosure and just drag the files over. But try target drive mode first. No, try Apple first.

 

[electriclite]

You do know that when you buy the new Mac you can ask Apple for help with this very problem, moving the old files over. Bring the disk and the new Mac to the store.

You can also boot the old mac in target ddisk mode and use a fire wire cable to connect it to the new mac and move the files directly using migration assistant.

One related thing. The newer version of Time machine allows for multiple TM drives. It wil maintain mulltiple backups. It is good to have more than one.

As a last resort you can always remove the hard drive from the old computer and place it in a USB enclosure and just drag the files over. But try target drive mode first. No, try Apple first.

I have a Time Capsule, 2 other external drives, and 4 versions of my old laptop Time Machine backup.


Yes I know this, but lugging a desktop to the Apple store is kind of my last resort (its waaaay across town, its raining all week and my car is iffy) after I've discovered and tried all other methods. And seeing as how my old laptop now no longer starts up, its looking like I'm going to have to strategize a visit. (sigh)

 

[cavenewt]

You can appreciate the irony then that when I go to use Time Machine to restore my backup it just stalls at "less than a minute remaining". EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. I.TRY.TO.DO. A. RESTORE.

As a Mac consultant, I do a lot of migrations. I have found that running a permissions repair, then Disk Warrior (or at least repairing the disk) on the source prevents these kind of problems. That said, the "last minute remaining" can take a long time. Often, if one is patient, it does finally finish. On the occasions where it doesn't, I go ahead and force quit and things do seem to work out okay.

This has been going on for years, through many operating systems.