Migration Assistant not copying files
migration assistant not copying files
MacBook Air (2018 – 2020)
Question marked as
This is a narrative explaining how I spent a lot of time getting files transferred from a 2015 MacBook Air to a new 2025 MacBook Air.
Ran Migration Assistant (MA) connecting a USB cable between MacBooks. An hour later it finished without any error messages, yet no files were copied to new MacBook
Contacted Apple Support and they watched me launch MA again and again no errors and no files transferred.
Contacted Apple Support again and they suggested I run MA again from a Time Machine backup of the old MacBook as they said "this is the most reliable method". Again no errors and no files transferred.
Contacted Apple Support again and this time they suggested I run MA again via WiFi. This time it worked.
My conclusion: Apple programmers have done a poor job of capturing errors in MA and letting the using know what is going on "behind the scenes". While I'm sure MA is not a software product that gets much attention, but it sure caused me a lot of lost time and frustration getting it to work. I have owned Apple products since 2006 and this was by far my worst user experience. I'm a retired Software Engineer so these aren't "user errors" causing this bad experience.
Lastly the new MacBook Air was a Christmas present for my wife and she wondered why it took so long for her get to use it.
