Using Disk Utility to restore/copy disk - who is correct?
I had two long talks with two separate Apple Care people online today who both insisted what they were saying was right and the other person was wrong.
Hmm....
My question is this.
I have a MBP and the internal HD is currently empty. I've been running off of an external HD for about a year now.
I want to clone my external HD into my internal HD and use the internal HD as my system disk now.
One Apple Care person said to go into Disk Utility, select the source disk, from the tabs on the right hand side select Restore and then drag the source disk into the source field, drag the target disk into the target field and press restore. She said this will make a complete clone of the external HD in the internal HD.
The other Apple Care person said "No no no. You can't do that to clone a system disk that way." He said the best thing was to install a new system and then use the restore as a new system from Time Machine option (where I also have a backup.)
I believe the second method will work, but it's more cumbersome for me because I haven't been backing up everything in Time Machine. I have excluded items, such as podcasts and Parallels disk images.
If I could do this from the external system disk life would be easier.
But is the first Apple Support person right or wrong about this? Can I use Disk Utility to copy the system disk from one external HD to another that way?
Thanks,
doug
p.s. I am not in the market for 3rd party software to deal with this one-time issue, so if possible I would like to accomplish this using OS X included features...
The advantage is CCC has built in routines that "bless" (see the Terminal.app command "bless") the
os x installation so it will boot properly on the new volume it is being installed on.
Disk Utility simply copies (restores) files from one volume to another. Many times this works just fine.
Sometimes it won't boot afterwards. Most of the time (as long as there are no system files missing
or corrupted) a person may "bless" the drive and restore it to working condition.
CCC is not a "magical" application, it is in fact a front end to applications that already exist separately
in OS X (asr, hdiutil, diskutil, bless, etc.).
It doesn't matter to me how you do it. It's your time not mine. Everyone should spend some time
behind the command line in terminal. I do many tasks using the command line, including and not
limited to complete system restores, backing up data, disk partitioning, installing software, disk
repair, permissions repair, ACL management, restoring data, managing disk images, network
management, user management, file management, etc. Many people are fearful of the command
line. I feel just the opposite, I'm fearful without it.
Say Hello to my little friend.
http://manuals.info.apple.com/enUS/Command_Line_Adminv10.5.pdf
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/unixopensource/clix.html
http://www.macobserver.com/tips/macosxcl101/index.html
http://www.matisse.net/OSX/darwin_commands.html
Kj
Similar Messages
-
Last month I did a Disk Restore onto my large external hard drive using Disk Utility.
I would like to do that monthly, so as to ensure that whenever I add, change, delete data, configurations, etc. on my internal hard drive..that I have the latest restore data..plain and simple.
My question is: In doing subsequent disk restore maneuvers on a monthly basis, do I need to manally delete the previous month's restore data from my external hard drive or will it just overwrite (like copy and replace) the current data on my ext drive?
I don't want the restore feature to duplicate any data from previous transactions on my ext drive. That's why I am asking. Does anyone know?
Thanks,
Henri
Powerbook G4, 1.67Ghz Superdrive 2GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.7)Disk Utility->Help->Restoring files from a disk or disk image
You can choose to erase the destination disk and then have the disk image copied to it. Alternatively, you can choose not to erase the disk and add the disk image information to the current contents of the destination disk.
As I read this, if you don't erase the previous copy, when your restore, everything that's on the source will overwrite similarly named items on the destination. You cannot do incremental updates using DU's restroe function. For that, you need something like Carbon Copy Cloner, SuperDuper!, etc. -
Hi, I have a hard disk failure so to recover my data I am using disk utility to restore the data on an external drive while booting from a second external hard drive. When I perform the operation and after having selected both my destination and source drives, the operation begins but soon fails due to input/output error. If I try to create an image of the drive it gives me the same error message. Any help would be much appreciated.
Disk Utility only creates a image of the drive, so it's no help getting exactly what you want, which is your files. If the file structure is messed up or the drive is failing then it's no help.
If you have a external boot drive and you can't access the internal non-booting drive though the typical Finder and windows to transfer your files via drag and drop methods, then you need to install Data Rescue on the external boot drive and it will do as best as it can to recover your files. (works on non-encrypted/non-Filevaulted drives only)
.Create a data recovery/undelete external boot drive
Are you sure you have hard drive failure, or that OS X isn't merely not booting?
Because if the drive is working physically, then there is a host of fixes
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents#/ -
I can't burn a dvd using any method, idvd tells me that my super drive is missing, dvd studio pro quits when i click burn and disk utility keeps spitting the disk out when I click burn and enter the disk??? how do i repair my superdrive for imac, or how do I do whatever I need to do to get it working: I have already tried using a lens cleaning cd and also restored my nvram or something i forget what it was called but i restarted my computer holding down command+optoion+p+r and still nothing???
Free solutions are the best, although if I have to pay I will, I would prefer to not have to buy an external burner if possible and already know that is an option so please don't give me that answer... thank you for any help you can giveUnless your iMac is still covered by AppleCare, get an external DVD burner.
You can get perfectly good ones from Amazon for less than $40. -
A Disk Utility Image Restore Question
I like to create a bootable partition on my external firewire HD and then restore my bootable utility disks to it, so that I have access to all of them without using the actual disks.
I'm curious if there is a better way of doing it than I am using now. Currently, I use drive genius to make as small a partition as possible (because disk utility seems unable to partition this external HD at all anymore) and then restore the image to that partition, but this always leaves partitions that are much bigger than they need to be.
Is there any way to have disk utility create a partition that is the same size as the image I want to restore from? Putting a 2GB bootable disk on a 2GB partition, or a 600MB disk on a 600MB partition? It just seems silly to have a 600MB disk on a 5GB partition.Eehatu wrote:
I like to create a bootable partition on my external firewire HD and then restore my bootable utility disks to it, so that I have access to all of them without using the actual disks.
I'm curious if there is a better way of doing it than I am using now. Currently, I use drive genius to make as small a partition as possible (because disk utility seems unable to partition this external HD at all anymore)
then something is wrong with your drive or it has the wrong partition scheme. I would reformat it completely with disk utility. make sure that the partition scheme you use is GUID.
and then restore the image to that partition, but this always leaves partitions that are much bigger than they need to be.
Is there any way to have disk utility create a partition that is the same size as the image I want to restore from? Putting a 2GB bootable disk on a 2GB partition, or a 600MB disk on a 600MB partition? It just seems silly to have a 600MB disk on a 5GB partition.
I believe 1 Gb is the smallest partition size you can possibly get with disk utility. If GUI disk Utility won't make a partition small enough you can do it from terminal using diskutil command.
I just tried using diskutil and was able to reduce the size of a partition on one of my drives to 1GB although it did not want to do it in one step. I first had to reduce it to 10GB then to 5GB and then to 1GB.
enter
man diskutil
for command usage -
Mac started hanging up while streamlining a kids show. Restarted and got the screen with the apple and the circle. restarted with control-option p and r. Ran disk repairitem got the following results;
invalid index key,
it rebuilds catalog b-tree,
volume repair complete,
updating boot support partitions for the volume as required,
Error disk utility can't repair disk
I'm then prompted to back up all files, reformat the disk and restore backed up files.
Obviously need help here as I think I'm in danger of losing my files, photos etc if I don't do this right.
Can anyone help
SteveYou might want to back up the disk as soon as possible, do the repair, then back it up again. First time will have the issues that Disk Utility can't fix, however, you'll have the data saved. Then, once you get things repaired, make a new backup, and go from there.
If you're going to use a hard drive directly connected to your iMac for backup, this is what I mentioned earlier: http://twelvesouth.com/products/backpack/ Great way to use space behind the iMac without adding something else to the desk top. You can buy it through Apple online/stores or Amazon, and there are probably other sources too.
For external hard drives, I like those sold by OWC at http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/ as many of them use Oxford chip sets, wihch work well with macs (I've used several for years with no issues). Most pre-packaged drive/cases have a 3 year warranty, although you can buy a case and add your own hard drive. I like Western Digital Scorpio Blacks that have a 5 year warranty. -
Disk Utility stopped repairing the disk. I was instructed to backup as many of my files as possible.reformat the disk and restore my backed up files. Since I use time machine, can I assume that all my files and programs can be restored from my recent back ups?
Hi jeromefrodia,
Welcome to the Apple Support Community!
I understand that you are concerned about your data before reformatting the disk. Because you use Time Machine your information should be safe. Please refer to the attached article for information about what Time Machine backs up and how to restore from that backup.
Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac
Cheers,
Joe -
"This disk needs to be repaired. Start up your computer with another disk (such as your Mac OS X installation disc), and then use Disk Utility to repair this disk."
Stick the disk in, reboot holding c.
Disk Utility is a menu option about the 2 or 3rd screen in the installer. (don't install OS X!)
Because your booted form the installer disk, you can repair the disk.
Quit and exit the installer and reboot.
If your drive is not repaired, make a note of all what it says, for Apple to use.
Reboot and get your files off to a external drive,
Take the note and your comptuer to Apple for a warranty/Apple care call, they will replace the drive. -
Disk utility couldn't repair disk
OK GUYS, SO FOR A START, WHEN I PLUG A HARDRIVE INTO THE COMPUTER, IT DOESNT SHOW UP IN FINDER. THEN WHEN I GO TO DISK UTILITY, IT SAID I NEEDED TO REPAIR THE DISK. I TRIED DOING THAT BUT AFTER A FEW SECONDS, MY ENTIRE COMPUTER CRASHES. CAN SOMEONE PLZ HELP ME FIGURE A SOLUTION THAT DOESNT REQUIRE ERASING ANY DATA BECAUSE THERE IS A LOT OF IMPORTANT FILES IN THERE THAT I REALLY REQUIRE.
THANKSTyping in all capital letters is considered shouting on the Internet and makes your post harder to read.
You might also update your profile to reflect the OS you are using if it isn't 10.9.3.
Do a backup, preferable 2 separate ones on 2 drives. Boot into the Recovery Partition (command - R on a restart) and use Disk Utility's Restore tab to copy your data to another external hard drive. This will reformat the destination drive. Then run disk repair on the external hard drive. If the drive can't be repaired, reformat the drive using Disk Utility/Erase Mac OS Extended (Journaled), then click the Option button and select GUID. -
I purchased my Macbook in the summer of 2011 and before it went berserk it was running Mavericks. 3 years later, it's finally seemed to have run its course.
It won't start up normally and it won't start up on safe boot. Attempting to use disk utility to repair the disk only gives me the message: "Disk utility can't repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible." There are also horizontal lines across the start screen (before it inevitably shuts down) and the screen looks very faintly purple-ish/off-colored.
This actually didn't come out of the blue. On Monday, my macbook suddenly froze, went white, and beeped three beeps repeatedly. I restarted it and backed up all my important work files and set up an appointment at the genius bar for Friday once work ended. It remained buggy during this process with the beeps returning an occasionally a blue screen popping up.
Unfortunately, there wasn't enough space to back up my important photos and by the time I returned on the next day with an external hard drive to store them on, my macbook would no longer turn on.
Is there anything I can do to bring my macbook back to life? Ideally I'd like for it to last one more year before I graduate college. Is it still salvageable, and if so, is it worth salvaging?I hate to spread gloom, but that computer has serious problems. The only people who can diagnose the problem(s) are technicians. I would take it back to the Apple store for further testing.
Barry -
Will using AirPort Utility to "restore to original settings" make you have to re-back up your computer's files on a Time Capsule?
The advantage is CCC has built in routines that "bless" (see the Terminal.app command "bless") the
os x installation so it will boot properly on the new volume it is being installed on.
Disk Utility simply copies (restores) files from one volume to another. Many times this works just fine.
Sometimes it won't boot afterwards. Most of the time (as long as there are no system files missing
or corrupted) a person may "bless" the drive and restore it to working condition.
CCC is not a "magical" application, it is in fact a front end to applications that already exist separately
in OS X (asr, hdiutil, diskutil, bless, etc.).
It doesn't matter to me how you do it. It's your time not mine. Everyone should spend some time
behind the command line in terminal. I do many tasks using the command line, including and not
limited to complete system restores, backing up data, disk partitioning, installing software, disk
repair, permissions repair, ACL management, restoring data, managing disk images, network
management, user management, file management, etc. Many people are fearful of the command
line. I feel just the opposite, I'm fearful without it.
Say Hello to my little friend.
http://manuals.info.apple.com/enUS/Command_Line_Adminv10.5.pdf
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/unixopensource/clix.html
http://www.macobserver.com/tips/macosxcl101/index.html
http://www.matisse.net/OSX/darwin_commands.html
Kj -
Disk Utility can't repair disk
Hi, I just saw that the amount of memory left on my HD just dropped around 60GB, so I used the "Verify Disk" option on Disk Utility, and the output was:
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Performing live verification.
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Checking catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking catalog hierarchy.
Checking extended attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
Volume header needs minor repair
The volume Macintosh HD was found corrupt and needs to be repaired.
Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Start up your computer with another disk (such as your Mac OS X installation disc), and then use Disk Utility to repair this disk.
I don't have the disk right now, so is there some other way I can repair it, get another install disk, or anything else? I've been thinking of booting up with a Linux livecd, but can it access the HFS+ filesystem?
Thanks.Try this: from http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417
Start up your computer in single-user mode to reach the command line.
Note: If necessary, perform a forced restart as described in the Emergency Troubleshooting Handbook that came with your computer. On desktop computers, you can do this by pressing the reset/interrupt button (if there is one) or holding down the power button for several seconds. On portable computers, simultaneously press the Command-Control-power keys. If your portable computer doesn't restart with this method, you may need to reset the Power Manager.
At the command-line prompt type:
/sbin/fsck -fy
Press Return. fsck will go through five "phases" and then return information about your disk's use and fragmentation. Once it finishes, it'll display this message if no issue is found:
** The volume (name_of_volume) appears to be OKIf fsck found issues and has altered, repaired, or fixed anything, it will display this message:
***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
Important: If this message appears, repeat the fsck command you typed in step 2 until fsck tells you that your volume appears to be OK (first-pass repairs may uncover additional issues, so this is a normal thing to do).
When fsck reports that your volume is OK, typerebootat the prompt and then press Return.
Your computer should start up normally and allow you to log in.
If you can't find your original install disk, you could always buy another Snow Leopard disk. It's only $29. -
Macbook Pro not booting after update. ''Disk Utility can't repair disk''. Help needed!
I have recently updated my macbook pro as I had some pending software updates. I left it to do the job over night and the next day I noticed it was not letting me sign in to my account session as usual.
I restarted the computer and ever since then when I boot it, it just shows the apple grey screen with a bar that loads to about a 3rd and then it turns off again. I have contacted apple but they were unable to help me with this.
So far I have tried to:
1. Re-install OS X 10.8 - but it says the disk is locked or OS X cannot be installed on Recovery HD.
2. Verify and Repair the disk and I errors but it cannot fix them. Some are:
'invalid leaf count''
''missing thread record''
''incorrect number of file hard links''
''overlapped extent allocation''
and it finally says ''the volume Macintosh HD cannot be repaired'' Error: ''Disk Utility can't repair this disk.. disk, and restore your backed up files.
I would like to know a way to back up my files so that i can completely restore the disk without any data loss as I havent backed up for a while!
If anyone has any solution to this issue it would be much appreciated!I just ran the Disk Utility, and cannot very disk. It gives me an error message;
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
and when I run the repair, this is the message:
The volume GERRARD could not be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
1 volume could not be repaired because of an error
Repair attempted on 1 volume
1 volume could not be repaired
Prior to running Disk Utility, I have already tried DiskWarrior, and could not repair my disk. Anyway I can fix this problem??? Formatting the disk would be my last option (though I am unsure if it will fix the problem). Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Meanwhile, I will continue to back up my file, and delete unused data and try to run it again.
Thank you all very much for any input.
Cheers,
Matt -
Disk Utility - Can't repair Disk - Help needed :(
Hi,
I have some trouble to use Disk Utility (on my iBook G4 - 1.33 Ghz+1 GB RAM)
I run Disk Utility to verify and repair permissions, which worked, and then Verify Disk. HEre is the logged result:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Aug 26 09:32:58: Disk Utility started.
Verify permissions for “E=G4”
Determining correct file permissions.
Permissions verification complete
The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume
Verifying volume “E=G4”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Volume Bit Map needs minor repair
Checking volume information.
Invalid volume free block count
Invalid volume free block count
uld be %@ instead of %@)",2)
4078185
4078184
Volume Header needs minor repair
The volume E=G4 needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
Disk Utility stopped verifying “E=G4” because the following error was encountered:
The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I wanted to run Disk Repair, but the button would not highlight, therefore could not be started.
I retried today, and now the Verify Disk task won't even work, blocking Disk Utility (needs force quit)
(E=G4 is the name of my Hard Drive on the iBook)
I also tried TechTool Deluxe coming with Applecare protection plan, but TTD can not check the "Volume Structure".
Has anyone got any tips or sequence to solve this?
Thanks in advance
Yann
Message was edited by: ObiYannI just ran the Disk Utility, and cannot very disk. It gives me an error message;
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
and when I run the repair, this is the message:
The volume GERRARD could not be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
1 volume could not be repaired because of an error
Repair attempted on 1 volume
1 volume could not be repaired
Prior to running Disk Utility, I have already tried DiskWarrior, and could not repair my disk. Anyway I can fix this problem??? Formatting the disk would be my last option (though I am unsure if it will fix the problem). Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Meanwhile, I will continue to back up my file, and delete unused data and try to run it again.
Thank you all very much for any input.
Cheers,
Matt -
Error Message, during installation of Lion; “This disk is not formatted as Mac OS Extended (journaled). Use Disk Utility to enable journaling or reformat the disk.” The disk I selected to install OS X on, was the only one listed, “Macintosh HD”. The results of a Disk Utility check are; Format: Mac OS Extended (journaled), Name: Macintosh HD. There is a fresh Time Machine backup. The computer was Restarted and installation attempted again - same result. I have downloaded Lion a second time, and tired install again, same results. The computer is a December 2007, iMac 24” with 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB Memory, s/w version 10.7.5; Disk Capacity 319 GB, Available 117 GB. Macintosh HD has alway been the system disk, does it now have an identity crisis? Would reformatting the disk mean Erasing it? Exactly what do I do in Disk Utility to “reformat” the disk, I don’t see that listed on the menus. This computer is getting cranky, I no longer Shut Down at night, only Sleep. If it’s Shut Down, the next morning I am treated to a white screen, for a long time, before it finally shows me the Log On Screen. Suggestions would be appreciated.
RRFS - This took me a long time to finally get to a fix. Your reply led me to investigate the Repair Disk Partition - as it turned out there wasn't one; the HardDrive was going bad slowly. The 10 to 40 minutes it took to startup in the morning, was the HD trying to find it's way. I had the 320GB HD replaced with a 2TB HD. All is OK now. Thank You very much!! Also, the Apple store geeks couldn't make it better but the locally owned Apple retailer did just great with it. from San Luis Obispo County - Peace.
Maybe you are looking for
-
The last couple of times I have tried to sync my ipad it tells me that certain files, usually movies, can't be written and then it completely freezes and doesn't complete the sync. This has also started happening with my iphone. I'd rather not delet
-
Photoshop 7 will not install on my XP Pro after system crash
I have been working with Photoshop 7 for a long time. My system crashed and I lost all. Now when I attempt to re-install it it asks were I want it and all it will do is put the default Photos in my Photo director not Install the program??
-
<select name="Action"> <option value="Display">Display Info</option> <option value="Delete">Delete Info</option> <option value="Display">Update Info</option> </select> above is my option for my list box. how do i write a jsp coding to tell that i hav
-
SAPUI5 Bootstrap Script Query For Application Cache Buster
Hi, I am trying to implement Application Cache Buster. I am following Fiori Wave2 application structure. As Demokit says "To activate the Application Cache Buster the configuration data-sap-ui-appCacheBuster="./" must be added to the bootstrap script
-
Point to Point webservice communcation
Hi Experts, Could you please tell me, how to do point to point webservice communcation using Enterprise Portal? Regards Sara