Copy/Clone of boot drive

Hi.
I've just picked up a 1.5TB drive that I'm planning on sliding into Bay 1 to make it my new boot drive.
Is there an OS X native way to clone my current boot drive so that I can just swap the drive over and I'm good to go?? or is CCC the only way to do it? I'd really like to make it as simple and painless as possible.
Thanks

superduper by far in my experience is the best.
however, id be really wary about those Seagate 1.5TB drives right now.
there seems to be alot of complaints on various PC and Mac forums that theyre unstable.
not trying to scare ya, just thought id give a heads up!

Similar Messages

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    I just bought a new 500GB drive for my G4. What's the best way to clone my boot drive?
    Is there a way to put the new drive on the buss as a second drive and then copy everything from my boot drive to the new drive? How do I make the new drive bootable?
    Or
    Do I have to install OSX on the new drive, put the old boot drive on the buss as a second drive and migrate everything to the new drive with the Utilities Migration Assitant program?
    Are there programs available to make this easier? Where & how much?
    Thanks for any help I can get.

    bamim2:
    Dr. Smoke's FAQ Backup and Recovery has excellent advice on developing a backup strategy.
    You already have a larger extrnal HDD (Hopefully it is firewire?) The next step is to format and partition the HDD. (see step-by-step below). And thirdly you will need a good cloning utility. Carbon Copy Cloner has already been suggested, and the latest version is excellent. I, personally, prefer SuperDuper for its ease of use and efficiency. Both are great tools and relatively simple to use.
    I mentioned the hope that you have a firewire. One of the wonderful benefits of using an external firewire HDD for backing up is that you can make a bootable clone. This gives you an emergency boot drive in case of a problem. It also gives you an external device for running diagnostics and repairs from the extnernal to the computer and vice-versa.
    Congratulations on taking the first step toward securing your computer and your data!
    Formatting, Partitioning Zeroing a Hard Disk Drive
    Warning! This procedure will destroy all data on your Hard Disk Drive. Be sure you have an up-to-date, tested backup of at least your Users folder and any third party applications you do not want to re-install before attempting this procedure.
    Boot from the install CD holding down the "C" key.
    Select language
    Go to the Utilities menu (Tiger) Installer menu (Panther & earlier) and launch Disk Utility.
    Option for formatting an External HDD
    Connect external HDD to computer
    Turn on external HDD
    Start up computer and log in
    Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility and launch DU.
    Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in left side bar.
    Select Partition tab in main panel. (You are about to create a single partition volume.)
    Select number of partition in pull-down menu above Volume diagram.
    (Note 1: One partition is normally preferable for an internal HDD. External HDDs usually have more than one. See Dr. Smoke’s FAQ Backup and Recovery for tips on partitioning external HDD
    Note 2: For more partitions than one, after you have selected the number of partitions you can adjust the size of the partition by selecting the top partition and typing in the size; then move down if more adjustments need to be made..)
    Type in name in Name field (usually Macintosh HD)
    Select Volume Format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
    Click Partition button at bottom of panel.
    Select Erase tab
    Select the sub-volume (indented) under Manufacturer ID (usually Macintosh HD).
    Check to be sure your Volume Name and Volume Format are correct.
    Optional: Select on Security Options button (Tiger) Options button (Panther & earlier).
    Select Zero all data. (This process will map out bad blocks on your HDD. However, it could take several hours. If you want a quicker method, don't go to Security Options and just click the Erase button.)
    Click OK.
    Click Erase button
    Quit Disk Utility.
    Good luck.
    cornelius

  • Possible to use TC as clone of boot drive in Leopard?

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    Bad sectors automatically get re-written when new data are supplied. If the new data don't "stick" a spare will be substituted.
    If you are happy with your clone, just update it. There is no need to write Zeroes to it. I was suggesting that process for when you make major changes -- it takes several hours to complete.
    You may prefer to use you smaller drive, Zeroed, to start a new clone, wait a little while to assure success, then start a Time Machine backup set on the larger Iomega.
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  • File level clone of boot drive leaves extra folders, can I remove or hide?

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    Kostas is correct. These folders are used by the system, and will be hidden from the users when the disk is running as the current system.

  • Which Carbon Copy Cloner backup is the best?

    I want to restore my iMac to a CCC backup. Which is the best type of backup to use? Should I use a regular "backup everything" or should I create a "disk image"?
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    Do I have to create a partition on it for CCC or is that just a reccomendation?
    You only need as much space for CCC (or SuperDuper) that your boot deivce is using, although if you want to keep updating the clone, then the space you reserve for CCC should be as much as the size of the boot device.
    If your external 1TB is much large than your boot drive, then you can partition it so that one partition is sized for your boot device, and the rest you can use form something else (although unless that something else is backed up somewhere else, that something else is at risk ).
    Have you ever restored an HD from a CCC backup? What is the process? Thanks!
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    So you boot from the clone (boot holding the Option key, then select the clone to boot from, or use System Preferences -> Startup Disk to select the disk to boot from.
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  • How can I partition, clone the boot disk, no cd?

    How am I going to partition my boot disk? I only have the OS that came on the hard drive, no cd.
    Tried start up c key on tiger 10.4 but it did not start from that cd where I thought perhaps I could administer this partitioning.
    And further, how can I clone once done, no cd.

    Let me see if I have this straight:
    You want to partition your boot disk. That's it right?
    All you need to do is clone your boot drive to another partition, disk, external, etc. You can use either superduper! (recommended), carbon copy cloner, or even just use osx disk utility.
    http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
    http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/7032/carbon-copy-cloner
    Once you clone your boot drive, make sure it boots up first. Then if everything is good, re-partition the boot disk (erase) into however many partitions you need in Disk utility.
    Then boot up from your clone you just made, open for example superduper, and clone back to your new partitioned drive. Bootup from the new partition drive, and you are set.
    You don't need the CD to partition or even clone using DU.

  • Possible to convert a mirrored RAID boot drive to a single disc boot drive

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    <Edited by Moderator>

  • My mac mini does not boot, after backing the enire system onto an external drive with Carbon Copy Clone

    My Mac Mini does not boot, after backing the enire system onto an external drive with Carbon Copy Clone. I had switched the start-up disk back to the original of course. Now all I see is the Apple logo. What should I do? Thanks in advance.

    Try disconnecting any external devices, especially hard drives
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    for future reference.  It is a pretty good explanation of the
    Mac boot process and how to identify where problems may be.

  • How do I clone my boot volume to a new internal hard drive?

    Hi,
    I record HD shows from my digital antenna using EyeTV 500, not to mention producing DVDs from my 8mm and miniDV home movies. I seem to be eating up disk space at an alarming rate.
    Does anyone have a general solution to storing large amounts of video?
    My current setup is:
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    External Firewire HDD--1 TB LaCie Big Disk Extreme "LUN 0"
    I've just bought a new Hitachi 1TB DeskStar SATA Drive (for the amazing price of $359 after a $30 rebate at OWC: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Hitachi/OBD0A34915/). I plan to remove the original 250 GB drive and install the new Hitachi 1TB drive in that bay.
    My preference would be to make the Maxtor 500GB drive my new OS and Applications drive and the new 1TB internal drive my primary media drive. I should have room to clone the original 250GB drive to the second internal Maxtor 500GB drive, then swap out the 250GB drive for the new drive.
    The System folder is only 1.64 GB, the Library Folder is 11.9 GB, and the Applications Folder is 7.09 GB. The Current boot drive (250GB) has a capacity of 233 GB, with 139.09 GB used and 94.65 GB available.
    The specific questions I have are:
    1) If I clone the current boot drive (250GB) to the 500GB Maxtor Drive, do I have to clone it to a partition the same size as the original (250GB), or, when I Restore using disk utility, will it just become a 500 GB volume?
    2) Is it better to put the System, Apps, and Library in their own Partition, as opposed to having them share the same volume with a lot of other files?
    2) ...if so, how do I calculate how big a partition I'll need for the system and apps on the Maxtor 500 GB drive?
    3) What's the best way to do all this? What pitfalls do I need to watch out for?
    4) I plan on upgrading to OS 10.5 (Leopard) when it comes out next month. (Does this change anything?)
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    The very best way to clone one drive to another on a Mac, is to use a simple utility called Carbon Copy Cloner. It is available online, free as a download. Just google for Carbon Copy Cloner, download it (2.2 mb), and use it. It is really great and you will be happy with it.

  • My clone external hard drive won't boot - start up?

    Hi,
    I am selling my MacPro and need to clone its system drive for the new lap top I will buy soon. So I bought a new external 2TB HDD from OWC. I have found that this external HDD will not boot up, even though it says it is bootable, and appears in the Start Up prefs when I select it. It sppears on the desktop, doesn't make any weird clicking noises as well.
    I am using 10.6.8 OS X. The 2TB HDD has two partitions (created with DU), one is bootable (Mac OS X extended journaled), and the other is a regular HDD space for media etc. It is GUID. It has "Ownership" checked in the info box.
    I used CCC 3.4.4 and since this is 'hopefully' a one time deal, selected the 'Delete anything that doesn't exist on the source' setting. I cloned my system drive to the bootable space and had no problems with the transfer. Plenty of space to write all the files. I even made sure everything was checked in the 'source' window that a system drive might need. Everything was checked.
    I spoke with a representive at the OWC Sales company and checked that this HDD can be used as a bootable drive.
    I checked the connections: with external HDD with FW800, and Sata connectors. I have checked it with my Mac Book Pro as well. Same result. No boot.
    I really don't understand why this drive won't boot, since everything looks correct.
    Does anyone have any thoughts, suggestions, ideas for fixing this issue?
    Thanks
    M

    Not sure if you managed to get this issue resolved yet Marcus, but I too have a similar problem:
    Currently I'm upgrading from Leopard to Lion (via Snow Leopard) on both an iMac and MacBook Pro (both Intel), but before I proceed with the OSX upgrade I wanted to back everything up. Thus far I have partitioned an external firewire drive (G Drive - one that is bootable), and cloned each machine using Carbon Copy Cloner to it's own partition (both GUID). There is plenty of space left over on each partition.
    The issue - I can boot the OS X from the external drive on the MacBook Pro but not on the iMac.
    When I restart and hold down Option on the iMac the only drive that appears is the HDD, not the other two selectable drives that are visible if I boot up on the MacBook Pro. On the iMac in System Prefs > Startup Disc I can see all 3 drives but when I select it and restart, the machine freezes on the grey loading screen and goes no further.
    Not that it should make a difference, but there is a 3rd partition on the external drive that is currently empty (for extra storage).
    Any help is greatly appreciated - I can't find any relevant answers elsewhere. Thanks,
    Dan

  • How do you clone a hard drive with boot camp?

    My daughter got a new 13" Macbook pro in July.  She is still running Lion.  Se started to exerience system freezes.  She called Applye support which had her reset the PRAM(?).  The the system would no longer boot.  When she went away to college, I sent her off with an external usb drive partitioned for Tme Machine and also with a partition of a copy of her system from that date.  She was able to boot into that and continue her work.  The internal hard drive did not show up as a boot option, but was accessible one she had booted to the external drive.  This morning the internal drive was an option when she did the boot to external.  My son had a similar situation a few years ago with a Mac mini and it turned out to be a failing internal hard drive.  We have decided to continue from the external HD until she comes home for Thanksgiving and can go to the local Apple store.  In addition to OSX she also has bootcamp with Windows 7.  Now to my question.  Is there a way to clone her internal hard drive including the Windows bootcamp?  I would like to create a clone we can use for a restore as we expect the internal drive will be replaced.  Time Machine can replce the OSX system, but I am thinking if we can do an exact copy of the internal drive, then we would not have to reinstall or recover the Windows system.  Any ideas?  Would Carbon Copy or Super Duper work better?  I believe one of them has a family license so that I could use it for the other kids cloning as well. 

    You can't clone the entire drive. You can clone the OS X partition and the Windows partition separately.
    Cloning OS X should be done with Disk Utility or Carbon Copy Cloner. The Windows volume can be cloned using Windows software, Winclone 3.5, or Volume Snapshot.

  • Mac Pro Boot slow after Leopard Update and Carbon Copy Cloner

    I just purchased a 1TB Internal hard drive - Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm - and used Carbon Copy Cloner to clone my original hard drive (which is running Tiger). Everything seems to be normal, except the the long boot up process. The desktop appears, the dock appears, and then there is a long pause of 20 to 30 seconds before the drives mount and and the desktop folders appear. I have 10 gigs of RAM, I have rebuilt the Directory with Disk Warrior 4.1, and also repaired the disk permissions (although some of them state that they can't be repaired). When I reboot from my original 250 Gig hard drive, the boot is lightning fast. Any thoughts? I have many third party software programs installed and am trying to avoid a fresh Leopard Install. Thanks, this is my first post!

    this may happen on the first boot on a cloned drive because the system has to rebuild various caches that are not cloned. it should be back to normal boot speed after that.

  • Bullet proof way to install larger harddrive and clone ,copy original to new drive

    I want to install a new and larger hard drive I want a Bombproof and as simple as possiable way   to copy/clone everything on existing drive to new drive,,, end result the old drive becomes a "spare or external drive and new drive is just larger everythihng looks the same

    The super simple 3 clicks and 'toss it in' (lol) method.
    1. grab carbon copy cloner or (my fave) superDuper CLONE app.
    2. attach target clone drive via USB in an enclosure or HD dock
    3. clone internal HD to target HD (external)   [takes about 40 mins depending on size]
    4. Boot ONCE from external (go to sys. preference to boot from external) to TEST the new Clone
    5. open bottom (see videos on ifixit or youtube on same) and remove old, install new.
    http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Replacing+MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2012+Hard+ Drive/10378/1
    * perfect Macbook HD upgrade: 1TB Toshiba (same as used by Apple in Macs)
    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toshiba-1TB-MQ01ABD100-HDKBB96A1A01-2-5-5400RPM-Laptop-N otebook-9-5mm-HDD-/171120091488?pt=US_Internal_Hard_Disk_Drives&hash=item27d78d6 160
    Done
    (FIRST TIME after install boot will be SLOW,...normal and ignore that).
    Clone APPS
    http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
    (Free superduper APP above)
    CCC App
    http://www.bombich.com/

  • Best External Hard Drive for Carbon Copy Cloner?

    I'm about to do a clean install of Leopard on my *Mac Pro* but I want to back up/clone my current system (10.4.11) to an *external hard drive* first. Based on the recommendations of similar users (Logic Studio) -- a clean install is preferable to an upgrade from Tiger to Leopard. I plan to use *Carbon Copy Cloner* to clone my current system but am unclear as to whether I can use an *external USB drive* versus an external Firewire drive.
    Some people claim that firewire is much faster and more reliable for transferring/backing up data, and more importantly, that it's the only type of external hard drive one can boot from -- but I'm not sure that's true for these Intel-based Macs.
    Also, I currently use an *Apogee Ensemble* audio interface which does not like sharing the firewire bus with other peripherals. I've also heard references to a external hard drive chipset called 911+ as being important but I think this may only be in regard to firewire.
    Bottom line, _can I use an external USB drive with Carbon Copy Cloner on an Intel-based Mac?_
    I'm looking for something around 500 Gigs that can sit on my desk with a minimal footprint. I'd like to partition it into three volumes -- the first for the Tiger clone; the second for weekly Leopard back-up; and the third for sound library storage. I'll likely need to access the third volume in realtime from *Logic Pro 8* (audio application) so the HD should be pretty fast. Recommendations?

    So Kappy & Hatter...
    Allow me to spell this out in practical terms. I'm installing Logic Pro, an audio production application. The consensus is that best results are achieved by installing the application on the internal system drive in bay #1 on the Mac Pro.
    Most professional users of Logic Pro recommend a second internal drive in bay #2 solely for audio recording even though the app runs on the drive in bay #1. The drive in bay #2 is often a Raptor because of the 10,000 rpm spin rate, beneficial for the recording process.
    For sound libraries with large audio samples/loops, often streamed to the app -- a third drive is recommended to store the sound library. It can be internal or external. Many people use external drives for this function on a firewire 800 bus. The emphasis for this drive would be to read quickly and stream the samples quickly. I would assume that a 32MB buffer cache versus 16MB would be beneficial. I was looking for hi-speed if I went the external route -- hence my foray into the realm of eSATA buses, but perhaps I should just get an internal drive for this as I do have drive bays available in the Mac Pro.
    Can you recommend drive spex for this task or a particular hard drive for this task of storing and streaming the sound library?

  • Carbon Copy Cloner - Bootable Drive

    I would like to create an exact copy of the hard drive on my iMac and transfer it to a second (and empty) hard drive on my Mac Pro (via ethernet); I presume it will allow me to boot up.
    I did try this but it only moved the files and folders over but not the system itself. I did select the 'Macintosh HD default' from the drop-down menu but the system files were not selected, and they were greyed out so couldn't click on them.
    I do remember a message saying that the destination hard drive needs to be formatted to HFS+ (I can't quite remember the actual message, sorry). I had wiped it overnight using the 7 times option, and had selected the Mac OS Extended (Journaled), as I have done over the years.
    Am I right in remembering the HFS format, and if so (or not, as the case may be!), how would I format the drive so a bootable copy is made?
    Thanks in advance for your help.

    Thank you for your reply. CCC automatically selects what it is going to copy across but doesn't allow my to select the system files and folders; that's why I posted the original question above. Using Target Disk Mode would no doubt be the same?; it's not the connection of Firewire or Thunderbolt but CCC that is the issue. I'm not ready to search through a load of boxes for a firewire cable, get under the desk to connect the two computers, and then find out that TDM doesn't confirm a bootable clone (kaz-k, please confirm it does that, and if it does offer choices on-screen then I will pursue this avenue). Originally, I left CCC copying files over a 24 hour period, and all I got was a hard drive that housed files and folders, and not a disk I could start up on its own and login etc.
    I also read the link you sent me regarding Target Disk Mode but I'm not overly convinced that dragging files to the disk will do what I want. I was expecting software to do that task for me by asking/confirming 'do you want a bootable clone?', but so far CCC and SuperDuper don't say that so are not making it easy for me.
    So, I followed your suggestion of using SuperDuper but it won't get passed password authentication because I failed to authenticate ownership; to unlock this I need to pay $27, a small amount to pay, but if the software doesn't do what I want I'm not willing to pay for it. So much for their trial period
    I was hoping for a bit of software to ask me to select the source, the destination, and then to confirm what I'd like, but neither of the above actually say Bootable or Clone drive etc.
    Perhaps I'm missing something but CCC greys out the system files and SuperDuper wants cash before the trial period is up.
    I'm scratching my head. Is there another way around this?
    Many thanks.

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