Can i clone my snowleopard disc from a macbook to a mini

Question

i've got a mac mini, and i'd like to duplicate everything that's on my macbook...can i do this with something like CarbonCopyCloner, or does snowleopard on the mini differ in some way to the macbook version?

Answer 1

Here is how I would set up a "newish" second Mac for another household member like my wife:
1. If "newish" means used (& not Apple refurbished), make sure you have the grey system discs that should come with it & start by using them to restore the second Mac to its like new state.
2. On the first restart, use the Firewire method in Setup Assistant to transfer appropriate items from the MacBook to it. (This may require purchase of a Firewire cable before you do the restart.)
If you plan on using or administering this Mac yourself, select your user account on the MacBook in the transfer options. (You can exclude individual main folders in your home folder in this step to reduce the file space required if you want.) If the MacBook already has a user account for your wife, transfer that account, excluding none of its folders.
Use the options to transfer applications (an all or nothing option) & to transfer network & computer settings. Optionally also use the 'other files & folders' choice if there are other items at the root level of the MacBook you want transferred. Setup Assistant (& the OS itself) are smart enough not to use settings that won't work on the destination Mac.
3. If the newish Mac does not already have Snow Leopard installed, use a retail Snow Leopard installer disc to update it to that version. Observe the licensing requirements: you cannot use the OS installer discs that came with any other Mac for this for both licensing & technical reasons. If you purchased a retail Snow Leopard disc to upgrade the MacBook, it must be a Family Pack version to use it on both computers. Otherwise, to comply with the licensing requirements, by a second retail copy of Snow Leopard for the second Mac. Snow Leopard is cheap; don't steal it by using a single user copy on more than one Mac!
4. Likewise, some of the software applications on your MacBook may be single user copies. Install them only on the number of Macs the license allows. Also, some software may need to be reinstalled after migration from their original sources to work properly. Most won't, so you can deal with this on a case by case basis.
This may seem like a lot of work but most of it does not require much user attention & more importantly it, or something very similar, is the only legal & technically correct way to set up the second Mac. Besides, it will usually save you time in the long run because you won't have to troubleshoot often odd or subtle problems introduced by other methods.