Backup to new Mac Studio failed

[Pocotoo]

Backup to new Mac Studio is messed up.
MIGRATION FROM BACKUP HARD DRIVE TO NEW MAC STUDIO


DID NOT GO WELL





It appears most info from my 27” iMac backup drive is on the first user part of the computer - nothing on the Administrative User (Walter Fredell) part of computer.





MISSING- ALL OF MY MOST IMPORTANT FILES ARE MISSING


* All Word and Excel files are missing.


* All files, etc, in the DOCUMENTS are missing. Many, and very important.


* PHOTOS in first User section- almost 10,000 Pictures and 400 Videos.


* PHOTOS in Admin User are lesss than half that. How does that happen??????


* All Music is missing


* All Icons identifying files are missing. Icon file is missing.





NOW MY MAC STUDIO IS A MESS. OLD STUFF ON USER ONE AND THE NEW COMPUTER STUFF ON ADMIN USER TWO.


MY MOST IMPORTANT FILES ARE NOWHERE…….





CAN I GO INTO THE BACKUP DRIVE AND FIND THESE FILES, DO SOME SORT OF RECOVERY TO GET THEM INTO THE COMPUTER?>





WOULD IT BE BEST TO WIPE EVERYTHING CLEAN AND START OVER WITHOUT A 2ND USER? POSSIBLE? WOULD THAT JUST FILL THE INTERNAL DRIVE WITH A BUNCH OF STUFF? I UNDERSTAND THE COMPUTER HOLDS ONTO EVERYTHING THAT IS DELETED UNTIL THE INTERNAL HARD DRIVE IS FULL- THEN STARTS GETTING RID OF DELETED WHEN IT NEEDS ROOM FOR NEW. WOULDN’T THIS SLOW DOWN A NEW SYSTEM????





APPLE SUPPORT - 2ND TIER?????

 

[bobcomer]

It all depends on what backup software you used. If it's Time Machine, yeah, that's easy to go into a backup and get your files. Just google Access time Machine backups...

 

[b17777]

Is everything still on the original iMac and do you have access to it ?

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"NOW MY MAC STUDIO IS A MESS. OLD STUFF ON USER ONE AND THE NEW COMPUTER STUFF ON ADMIN USER TWO.
MY MOST IMPORTANT FILES ARE NOWHERE……."

I'm going to say it plainly:
You didn't do a correct "migration".

REASON WHY (and I'm speculating here):
a. You set up the new Studio
b. You turned it on and created a NEW user account
and then...
c. You connected your backup, and
d. Then used "migration assistant" to migrate your OLD account over
and the result is:
e. Now you have TWO user accounts (old and new) instead of one.

That ain't the right way to do it.
You've just found out why.

OP then asks:
"WOULD IT BE BEST TO WIPE EVERYTHING CLEAN AND START OVER WITHOUT A 2ND USER? POSSIBLE?"

Yes, you CAN do this.
Let's take it step-by-step and we WILL "get you right".
I recommend that you PRINT OUT this reply so you can keep it near as you work.

First question (VERY important):
Do you still have a backup drive with all your ORIGINAL (non-migrated) apps, accounts, files?
It should be either a time machine backup, or a CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper backup.

It's important because we're going to COMPLETELY WIPE CLEAN the Studio and start over.

What you need to do next with the Studio:
a. Open System Preferences
b. Go to the System Preferences menu (in the menu bar)
c. Choose "Erase all Content and Settings", then enter your password.
d. This will open the erase assistant
e. Just click through and follow instructions. You want to erase EVERYTHING.
f. Erase assistant will "wipe clean" everything you have done since you first turned on the Studio, leaving it in "fresh-out-of-the-box" state. The OS itself will be "preserved".
g. When done (I've never actually run it), I belive it will present you with the initial Mac startup screen (choose your language).
h. NOW connect your backup drive. This should be either a time machine backup or a cloned backup created with CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.
i. Start clicking through. At the right moment, SETUP assistant (NOT "migration" assistant) will ask if you wish to migrate from another drive. YES, you do.
j. Point the way to the backup and give setup assistant time to digest things.
k. Setup assistant will present you with a list of stuff to migrate. Easiest way is to migrate everything. However, if you have old apps, you might UNCHECK "applications" and install these manually (your user prefs WILL still get migrated via your accounts).
l. Let setup assistant do its thing -- it will take a while.
m. When done, you should see your login screen as it looked on the old Mac.

If you choose to go the way I've pointed and it works, please come back and let us know.
Good luck.