Would cloning the drive be appropriate course of action?

Hello. I am considering purchasing my first Mac which is from liquidated stock originally owned by a film company. This is a new 2009 MacBook Pro 15.4" that will come loaded with quite a bit of high-end graphics software including Adobe CS4 Master Collection. The only issue is that the install disks for all the software are not included (we're talking about $4300 worth of software). I figure the company's IT people installed the software on the company Macs from the master disks. The software DOES include proper serial #s that have not yet been registered (according to the seller). I'm looking for a way to protect this software in case the drive fails as I won't have the disks to reinstall it. Would cloning the drive prior to using the MacBook be the appropriate and most effective way to do this? I apologize if this is a stupid question. Right now I'm using a PC and want to migrate to the Mac but do not want to spend the money on this particular Mac if not having the software install disks will create a headache in the future. (Other software preinstalled & without the installation disks includes: Aperture 2, Final Cut 2, Logic Express 8, Filemaker Pro 10 , Quark Xpress 8 and Toast 9 Titanium.
Any advice from the Mac community would be MUCH appreciated! Thank you.

Cloning the drive would make sense, but understand that this may not protect the software from requiring installers. Some software "knows" that it's been restored from backups and will require re-entering registration codes.
The seller of the computer should provide you with the original software installer discs or copies, and you should ask for them as part of the sale. Without them you may not be able to reinstall the software or get product support.
Making a clone of the drive helps, but it does not protect you against multiple drive failure or corruption that may render the drives unusable. Having installer discs is your best protection.

Similar Messages

Hi Group: I think my "Macintosh H.D." disappeared off my desk top when I cloned the drive in setting up ext drive. The space at top rt corner went blank, the drive shows in disk utility, startup window, in the finder it shows up as "my Mac Pro'Help"

Hi Group:
In trying to set up an ext Drive for different purpose, I cloned my Macintosh H.D. drive and saved on another drive. Then I cloned the data on the Ext, used my orig. DVD to install sy on it, 4 attempts before it would accept the install. Did a reboot to confirm install no luck, and noticed that the space at top rt of D/T blank, the 2nd,3rd,& 4th bay Drives appeared below a blank space. My Mac H.D. appears in startup window & D/U but in finder Pref it is listed as " my name Mac Pro". The desk top has stayed the same, I can use startup to S/U in all drives with a Sy, including Macintosh H. D. altho no icon or other clue that I am booted in it.
During all my attempts with cloning and saving etc I think I made it invisible. I am not comfortable to try Terminal to find out. I will be totally thankful for all suggestions.
I am using a Mac Pro (2008) with OS 10.6.8
The external drive is on Firewire
I used Disk Utility to set up drive
I used CCC to clone
Thanks Funoptics

go to finder preferences then side bar. make sure hard disk is ticked.

Hard drive crashed, best course of action?

I have a 2011 MacBook Pro. I have not had problems with it before this, but last night I opened it to work on something and it was frozen with safari open as is left it. I had a cursor and it's wasn't showing the spinning wheel but nothing was responding (ie the dock wouldn't pop up and quitting/minimizing or clicking anything on the top bar didn't work). I decided to restart manually with the power button. When it powered back on it showed a blinking question mark folder. I've looked this up and tried suggested fixes. Disk utility doesn't show my hard drive so I can't repair it, which I have gathered from other posts means my hard drive is probably dead. I did not regularly do any sort of manual backups, is there a chance I'll be able to salvage my stuff? What is my best course of action here?
Also, not as important but I'm just curious as to what could have even caused this as it happened out of nowhere.
Thanks!

seen countless HD "die out of nowhere" nature of the beast.
Grab yourself a new 1TB HD (not Western digital) and install same.
If youre not up to doing this, make an appt. with your Apple store for HD replacement.

Cloned iMac drive onto a new macbook???

hey all,
I am converting our family pc from an intel 20" iMac to a new 2.4ghz macbook. I have a current copy of my iMac drive made by CCC onto a firewire drive. I was going to just boot off that drive on my new macbook then clone the drive onto the macbook drive. I was already running the latest verizon of 10.5 and iLife. And reasons this would be a bad idea??
Thanks!
Tony

Don't know what to tell you, if I choose about this mac, and click where it says version, I get Build 9C7010.. I did what you said, ran it off the firewire drive for a while everything seemed fine, so I went ahead and cloned the drive. So far so good..

Cloning hard drive with skype install?

Hi all, I can't see a clear place to ask this question so I'll post here. I am getting ready to roll out skype to a couple dozen computers and I will be cloning all of them from a single master image. I know that some software doesn't like it when you do this, and one of the people I am working with on the project suggested I look into pottential problems with skype.
So,are there any problems(software licence-wise or technical) that would prevent me from installing skype to the imagemaster, preforming a sysprep operation, and cloneing the drive 20+ times? If so, I can certainly install skype after the image is done, but if you've done things like this you'll know its best to avoid as many little "after cloning" changes as possible.
Thanks!

Is disk utility really no good? Does that explain it?!
In that case I'd better get ccc or superduper later but right now i only have 500MB space left on my mac so I can't add anything more. I've had a look at what I've achieved so far and the copying stopped in the middle of an old xerox printer plugin in the library after 1 hour of slow but good work. I finished copying the library by drag and drop and it all looks the same as the original. That leaves previous systems, systems and users. Can I just keep going by dragging and dropping?
Right now my problem is that I tried to copy previous systems and after nearly 2 hours it is still 'preparing to copy' and i can't stop it, it doesn't respond.

Is there any way to expand both the OSX and Bootcamp partitions after imaging the drive to a larger HDD?

Hey all. I have been searching forums and racking my brain to find a way to fix an issue I am having with my Late 2011 13" MBP. SInce I wasn't able to find an answer, I figured it was time for reach out to the community.
I purchased a Late 2011 13" Core i5 MBP that had a bad HDD from a friend. I replaced the HDD with an old 100GB SATA drive I had lying around. My mistake was thinking that it was a 1TB drive. Regardless, I was able to reinstall Lion to the new HDD and get the machine up and running. Once that was working, I went ahead and upgraded to Mountain Lion with no issues, then I unstalled Boot Camp and Windows 8. Everything installed without a hitch and was working great. Right about that time I realized that I had almost no free hard drive space and discovered my error (the 100GB HDD).
I pulled the HDD and put in in my ASUS G74SX laptop along with a Seagate 750GB Hybrid Drive and used Clonezilla to do a hardware-to-hardware clone of the drive. When it was completed, I put the 750GB Hybrid drive in the MBP and it booted right up with no problems. I was also able to switch back and forth from my Boot Camp drive and everything appears to be working as it should.
The only problem I have is that both the OSX partition and the Boot Camp partition are still the same size as they were before I cloned the drive. Try as I might, I can't find any way to expand either one to use the additional 650GB of space that is sitting on the drive unused. Disk Utility won't allow me to expand the partitions unless the free space is contiguous with the drives.
Does anyone know of a utility that I can use to fix my problem? I really don't want to reload everything from scratch.
Thanks,
Scott

You need to combine the libraries on one computer. Otherwise you'll be constantly erasing your iTunes content as you switch computers. iPhone will only sync or manually manage iTunes content with ONE computer at a time.

HP H8-1500z and Samsung SSD - BIOS sees the drive, Win 8.1 doesn't

I'm trying to help a friend (no really!) I've worked in IT support, but this has me stumped so far.
The H8-1500z has an AMD hexacore CPU, and the AMD Raid storage driver. The Samsung Magician software has been run using a USB adapter to clone the internal HHD to the SSD drive, and it seemed to go fine. When all else has failed, the SSD has been bootable as a USB device. So it would seem the SSD is working OK, just not when connected to an internal SATA port.
The current SATA config includes the internal HDD, a four-device memory card reader/writer, and now the Samsung SSD.
The SSD is visible to the BIOS, but not to Windows 8.1.
I switched the BIOS from RAID (the default) to AHCI - the PC still works, but no change. Win 8.1 updates are all installed, and the BIOS reports it's also up-to-date. I've run the HP troubleshooter a few times--it reports it has made changes, but again, no joy.
Samsung tech support wrote this to him:
All Samsung Solid State Drives are compatible with AMD processors. The only known issue with AMD machines is with the Samsung SSD Magician software, in which the native AMD SATA port drivers are not compatible with the SSD Magician software. To remedy this, we simply ask that you install Microsoft SATA port drivers or NVIDIA SATA port drivers and the issue will be resolved.
We've scoured the Micrsoft site and Google on how to "simply" do this. Comparing the driver names for my Crucial SSD drives and his, the three files are the same. I think he already has the drivers installed. The Device Manager lists the "Microsoft Strorage Space Controller." He did attempt disabling the AMD drivers by renaming them; the PC was unbootable. Thankfully he was able to boot off the SSD with USB and put the filenames back and restore bootability.
I've suggested he disconnect the memory card reader to test. He hasn't tried it yet. I'm thinking of bringing my rig over, and seeing if my homebuilt can see his drive, and if his HP can see one of my SSD drives.
We've been at this for several weeks, and I've spent hours on this site and Googling to try and figure out why the BIOS would see the drive, but not Windows.
I really hope someone can point us in the right direction.
Many thanks,
Steve

Hello @SteveM27,
Welcome to the HP Forums, I hope you enjoy your experience! To help you get the most out of the HP Forums I would like to direct your attention to the HP Forums Guide First Time Here? Learn How to Post and More.
I understand that you are attempting to get your friend's desktop computer to recognize the new SSD in Windows 8.1, and I would be happy to help you!
Since the SSD is visible from the BIOS, I recommend following the steps in this document on How To Change Drive Letter In Windows 8.1. This should help the Windows operating system see the SSD.
Please re-post with the results of your troubleshooting, and I look forward to your reply!
Regards
MechPilot
I work on behalf of HP
Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
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Windows based WD external hard drive not showing up in Disk Utility to reformat to Mac... how can I erase the drive

We have a WD external harddrive previously used with a PC that we want to completely erase and reformat for use with our iMac desktop for use with Time Machine. The drive shows up on the desktop of the Mac, but it does not show up in Disk Utlity, assuming because it's Windows format. Outside of the standard "erase" feature in Disk Utility, is there any way to reformat this drive for Mac OS X? Or how can I get this drive to show up in Disk Utility? Note: The drive functions properly, has power, and we are able to view its current contents through the desktop icon, so it is a working drive. And we are ok with losing all the current data on the drive.

Hmm strange, I had just moved my external Lacie drive from my windows machine to my iMac and it was showing up in disk utility still formatted fat32 or whatever. I would disconnect the drive and restart the machine then replug the drive and try again.
Also not that it will make a difference ( I dont think it will but hey why not ) try accessing disk utility from the install disk?

BSM Auditing - what would be the Audit_id ?

Hi all,
Please tell me what would be the audit_id in the following scenario.
I have two nodes, say Node1 and Node2
On Node1_
I have created a role called *audit_role*
I have assigned audit_role to user called test on Node1.
These are the contents of the /etc/user_attr
root::::auths=solaris.*,solaris.grant;profiles=Web Console Management,All;lock_after_retries=no;min_label=admin_low;clearance=admin_high
audit_role::::type=role;defaultpriv=basic,dtrace_kernel,dtrace_proc,proc_owner,dtrace_user
test::::type=normal;roles=audit_role
On Node2_
I have logged in to Node2 as a user called *user1*.
Now audit_id on Node2 would be *user1*.
After this I have logged in to user *test* on same node(Node2) using the command *su*.
     Now If login to the Node1 as role *audit_role* what would be the audit_id on the Node1.
     #*Ssh l audit_role Node1*
     After successful login on Node1 as audit_role, if some action were carried out with this login what would be the audit_id on Node1 for these actions? Whether it would be user1 or test?
please do reply if post is not clear.
thanks,
Rajeshwar

Regarding your function hanging, that seems to be because your loop never ends. Also the inner query is missing a WHERE clause:
Select Translate(comnt_rec.comment_text,'%#$^',' ') into repvalue from test_comnt; <-- How many rows will this bring back?However I don't think you meant to query the test_comnt table at all - it looks as though you just wanted to assign the result of the TRANSLATE expression (btw please, TRANSLATE() or translate() but not Translate() - the parser doesn't care but it drives me nuts), in which case just
repvalue := translate(comnt_rec.comment_text,'%#$^',' ');or even include the expression in the cursor itself and save yourself the trouble.
Another thing that drives me nuts, although not the rest of the world apparently, is the name "c1" for a cursor. Why don't you name your variables "v1", "v2" etc? If you had two cursors would you seriously name the second one "c2"?
While I'm at it, what kind of a name is "test_comnt"?

Cloning a drive

I have the following problem:
I cloned the disk from a an old 867 powerbook Titanium
to a MacBook. Severals applications have problems and I'm not
able to open it.
I found it the problem, cause in cloning there was some mistake
and system/library/framework/osaka.kit was not well copied.
Infact i got this message when I try to open iWork or iWeb:
Process: Pages 240
Path: /Applications/iWork '09/Pages.app/Contents/MacOS/Pages
Identifier: com.apple.iWork.Pages
Version: ??? (???)
Build Info: Pages-7510000~15
Code Type: X86 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd 105
Interval Since Last Report: 57 sec
Crashes Since Last Report: 1
Per-App Interval Since Last Report: 0 sec
Per-App Crashes Since Last Report: 1
Date/Time: 2009-06-24 12:23:33.468 +0200
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.5.7 (9J61)
Report Version: 6
Anonymous UUID: D5F58769-E31D-4812-BC6B-6B8BDA6F0DB4
Exception Type: EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000
Crashed Thread: 0
Dyld Error Message:
Library not loaded: /System/Library/Frameworks/OSAKit.framework/Versions/A/OSAKit
Referenced from: /Library/Application Support/iWork '09/Frameworks/SFApplication.framework/Versions/A/SFApplication
Reason: no suitable image found. Did find:
/System/Library/Frameworks/OSAKit.framework/Versions/A/OSAKit: unknown file type, first eight bytes: 0x00 0x10 0x00 0x00 0xEB 0x57 0xE0 0x8F
/System/Library/Frameworks/OSAKit.framework/Versions/A/OSAKit: unknown file type, first eight bytes: 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x61 0x74 0x69 0x6F
Now I tryied to copy the osaka folder from the original disk, with all the right permissions, but I'm not able to copy it, or better it does not copy.
I'm not in the mood to re clone again, I got 150 GB, and no time to wait,
so if anyone could give any help or suggestions will be much appreciated.
Thank you
omanto
mac book Mac OS X (10.5.7)

What I was trying to figure out is why you cloned the drive. A clone is an exact copy of the drive including the OS which has been set up for a PPC processor and all of the drivers, etc are for the wrong hardware.
If you are trying to move a user account to a new Mac, you should set the old machine up in Target mode so that it shows up as just a hard drive on the new Mac.
Start Migration Assistant on the new machine, which is running the proper OS for the hardware and import the old user account into the new OS. Make sure you are logged into a User account with a different name from the one you are trying to import so that there is no confusion by a duplicate account.
You can create a temporary user that you can delete later so that the new computer can have the same user account name as the old one. Log in on the new account and delete the temporary account when the transfer is completed.

Cloning hard drive with OSX 10.5

Hi all
I was successful in cloning my OSX 10.5 hard drive into my second hard drive. When my G4 AGP Mac boots up from second hard drive and I try to launch some apps, it displays this message," you cannot open the app because it is not supported on this architecture." In the apps folders, many of my apps has the minus red symbol, some don't. Why is this happening?
Please help as I need access to many of these apps
Thanks
Web dude

Are you running the clone on the same machine it was sourced from?
The reason I ask is that it sounds like the apps don't include the PowerPC code needed to run on the G4. Many applications are shipped with both PowerPC and Intel-based code but it's possible to strip an app so that it only has the code base that's necessary (e.g. there's no need for an Intel machine to have the PowerPC code, and vice versa).
So it's possible if you cloned the drive from an Intel-based machine that the apps no longer have the PowerPC-based code. Your option is to re-install the app from scratch.
If, on the other hand, the disk was cloned off the same machine and rebooting off the original drive works then I have to ask how you cloned the drive in the first place.

Apple loop index is empty folder!!! Can not find loop in logic browser because they just no longer exist on my hard drive, what would be the new appropriate step to take?

Apple loop index folder is empty from the hard drive, which may explain why i can not find loop in my logic pro browser, just sort of grey in disaabled format. what would be the next appropriate steps to take??? I do have an external back up disk.

The IDE interface that the iBook and your desktop use are the same, just a different plug size. So with the rite adapter you could put the iBooks drive in your desktop, you could even boot off it too.
If you want to install the laptops HD in your desktop this will do it for you. Or you can use the iBooks HD as an external hard drive with this

I have a MAC Pro from 2011 currently running MAC OS 10.9.5. This weekend I cloned the MAC HD drive to a new SSD drive for improved performance. The clone was completed successfully with no errors. After the clone completed I successfull restarted my sy

I have a MAC Pro from 2011 currently running MAC OS 10.9.5. This weekend I cloned the MAC HD drive to a new SSD drive for improved performance. The clone was completed successfully with no errors. After the clone completed I successfully restarted my system using the SSD as the boot device. I then successfully tested all of my products, including Photoshop CS6 and all of its plug-ins. I successfully tested the key features that I frequently use. Today while attempting to launch Photoshop CS6 a message is being displayed indicating that a scratch disk cannot be found. All drives are available on the system via the Finder and Disk Utility. I can access all drives including the old MAC HD which is no longer the boot device. I've even attempted to launch Photoshop from the old device yet the same error persist. Is there a way to review/edit/change Photoshop preferences if Photoshop doesn't launch? I've even restarted my system several times to see if that would resolve the issues. Does anyone have any recommendations for this issue? Have you previously address this issue?
Thank you Gregg Williams

Boilerplate text:
Reset Preferences
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/375776
1) Close the program and press Ctrl+Alt+Shift/Cmd+Option+Shift during startup (not reversible)
or
2) Move the Folder. See:
http://www.bugge.com/Family-and-friends/Illy/illy.html
--OB

Pavilion Slimline s3760a: Cloning the Hard drive to replace with larger drive

Product Name:Pavilion Slimline s3760a
OS: Vista
Hi All,
I'm Turina, just joined the forum think I'm posting in the right place but let me know if I'm not please.
So we've had our computer for several years, the hard drive is in the red so am swapping it out before it dies of old age, for a WD 1TB Hard drive.
I am going to use a Sata-usb adapter and the Acronis True Image WD Edition Software to clone the installed hard drive.
It is only used at home, and we are purchasing another one for gaming, so this is just the usual photos, music, documents computer, some website/ftp type stuff, but nothing too consuming.
I don't think I have the original cd that came with the computer, so I don't have a cd of the OS.
Have already backed up the computer several times so should I return to factory setting prior to changing the hard drive? No important stuff on there that I can't retrieve.
Questions are:
The current drive is partitioned, the C: and the D: which is the Factory Image. I want to know if I can clone the factory image separately to the C drive onto different drives. ie the factory image onto one drive and the rest onto another drive. I actually am not sure what a factory image is but after reading about it I asume it is the information used to restore your computer back to factory settings??
If I can't clone separately, when I clone the drive will the computer then be able to recognise the extra 1TB or will it still just recognise the current drives memory of 320GB. I know you can enlarge partitions etc. no idea how or even if I need to do this??
And would a separate SSD or even hard drive for the OS be over kill? I don't actually think I can put the os on a separate drive as I don't have the cd, and don't know if I can do it with the cloning software. But thought I would ask anyway.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your time
Turina
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Your correct, the D is a protected image used to create a factory Recovery. It's less than 15GB.
A prepped/formatted 1TB drive creates about 931GB of useable space.
The clone process will create about 916GB for C. The remaining will be the D.
Hope that helps.
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(2) HP DV7t i7 3160QM 2.3Ghz 8GB
HP m9200t E8400,Win7 Pro 32 bit. 4GB RAM, ASUS 550Ti 2GB, Rosewill 630W. 1T HD SATA 3Gb/s
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Both Customs use Rosewill Blackhawk case.
Printer -- HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 Plus

I would like to use time Machine to back up to a network SMB drive. I can see the drive on my desktop but it will not show in the time machine window to be able to select it

I currently have a mini server (OSX10.8.5, server 2.2.2) that I am using Time Machine to back up 4 external drives that are connected to the server via firewire 800. I would like to use Time Machine to back up to a windows network SMB drive. I can see the drive on my desktop but it will not show in the time machine window to be able to select it for use.
Can this be done
Thanks for any and all help

The supported targets for Time Machine backups are local (direct-connected) disks, and network targets include Time Capsule, a disk hanging off the current-generation AirPort (though not earlier AirPort devices), and OS X Server systems.
The Time Machine storage is based on the HFS+ file system, so I would not expect TM to work with SMB file services.
While there are hacks to allow Time Machine to access network drives, I would not consider those to be reliable. Skim the forum and the 'net for related details, and for previous discussions of setting this up and the related issues that can arise.
Remember to test the recovery with whatever you decide to use; whole point of backups is the ability to restore the data, after all.
If you want to learn more about Time Machine, Pondini is an excellent resource.

Would cloning the drive be appropriate course of action?

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