You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Moving data from my old MacBook Air to my new one.

I backed up my old MacBook Air to a hard disk. Then I moved that back up into my new MacBook Air.

Much of my data is missing or corrupted. No pictures. And empty address book. Mail app won't work. Any advice on how to fix this? Should I erase everything I tranferred? I'm at a complete loss on what to do now.


Thanks for any replies and help.

Posted on Feb 5, 2020 10:05 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 5, 2020 2:20 PM

How to move your content to a new Mac - Apple Support

4 replies

Feb 6, 2020 7:51 AM in response to ruth nicholls

As you may know (and forgive me if I’m telling you what you already know, many don’t), Setup Assistant is used the first time you turn on your computer and Migration Assistant is used if you’ve already set up the computer and reached the desktop. They are the same process with one significant difference: If you use Setup Assistant your account is created and everything is migrated into that account. If you use Migration Assistant a new account is made and everything is migrated into that account. If you used Migration Assistant you’ll have to log into the newly migrated account to find your stuff.


Now if you use Setup Assistant or you did log into the migrated account and everything is messed up I can suggest two things. First, if you haven’t done so, restart the computer and see if your stuff shows up after logging back in. If that’s no good then something truly did go haywire - that’s rare. I’ve used Migration and Setup Assistant hundreds of times (I’m a tech worker) and I’ve seen only a small handful of total fails. You have two courses of action. Delete the account (you may have to create a new Admin account first, you can’t delete your only account) and try again. That will probably work assuming your TimeMachine (or cloned) backup is good. In very rare cases I’ve had to start completely over, wiping the drive, reinstalling the OS and then using Setup Assistant to restore.

Feb 6, 2020 2:05 PM in response to dwb

I placed my data in the new computer sometime in January. Can't remember which way I did it.

I appreciate your answer. You went to some trouble to help me.

This is so messed up. Now I even see that my Safari, which I thought was ok, never remembers my passwords.


Maybe I'll call the Apple Store and see if they can fix it for me. This is horrible. Brand new computer. ugh.


Moving data from my old MacBook Air to my new one.

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.