Cloning hard drive to another disk means making an exact copy of the source disk and deploying the copy to the target disk. Usually, the partition layout will keep intact after cloning. When it comes to cloning the disk where operating system is installed, the boot partition including boot.ini, NTLDR, BCD, winload.exe and MBR will be cloned.
Stellar Drive clone is one of the best disk cloning app for Mac. It creates an identical, ready to use copy of the hard drive. The Clone software creates partitions in the same way as that of the actual hard drive. The tool supports various types of cloning like, HFS-to-HFS, FAT-to-FAT and NTFS-to-ExFAT. Mar 18, 2020 If there is any reason you end up needing to restore your Mac from a backup, you can use a clone to do so. Turn off your Mac. Connect your external drive into the appropriate port on your Mac. Turn on your Mac. Hold down the Command and R keys as soon as the system restarts to enter Recovery Mode. Your Mac will boot to the macOS Utilities screen. Click on Disk Utility and then click. Reason 1, your Mac can use a Seagate external hard drive formatted as HFS+ for a Time Machine backup. So if anything happens to your Mac you can restore your entire Mac from a Time Machine backup. Reason 2, when you accidentally delete a file you want, then you can bring that file back as well. Aug 12, 2009 Here is Mac Disk Cloning Software that allows Mac user clones their Mac hard disk fully as a complete bootable copy of your hard drive onto another drive. Drive Cloning is very important because it is useful for system recovery in case of a hard disk disaster happens or upgrade to a larger hard drive with minimal hassle. Apr 12, 2017 In the nutshell, cloning your Mac hard drive provides you with additional secure backups and saves you time restoring the data if needed, especially when your main boot drive fails to start and you are unable to enter the first screen of the desktop. Like any other types of storage media, hard drives just come and go.
Jun 08, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions
Apple claims that its Mac OS is fully equipped to assist its users for day-to-day PC activities, and they seem to have proven the same over the years. Since Mac users save a lot of important data on it, it is necessary to keep all such information secure. Mac Disk Utility does exactly that with the help of its “Restore” option. This function basically teaches you how to Clone a Mac’s Drive with Disk Utility.
In this article, learn how to copy all the data and clone a Mac’s Drive (internal/external) easily. Read and know more about Mac Disk Utility, its “Restore” function, how to clone a Mac’s Drive with Disk Utility and a simple way to recover your Mac’s Drive.
Part 1: Why You Need to Clone a Mac’s Drive?
“What is the need to clone a Mac’s Drive?” This thought must have crossed your mind atlas once while using Mac. To be precise, cloning of hard drives protects your important data which is under possible risk of physical destructions, loss, etc.
No matter how new or of what quality your hard drive is, you cannot say for sure that it will last forever and never crash or suffer from a system failure. Old hard drive or one suffering from mechanical, firmware or electrical error can permanently destroy your data, such as photos, documents, videos, music, and other files. Also, if important personal documents and business files are misplaced in the process, retrieving them is next to impossible.
Therefore, to prevent these and many more situations that may arise due to data loss, we recommend that you always know how to Clone a Mac’s Drive using Disk Utility. Mac Disk Utility and its “Restore” functions can keep your data, important information and files secure by literally copying it from your Mac Drive.
Difference Between Time Machine Backup and Cloning Hard Drive
If you’re wondering whether to use Time Machine or Mac Disk Utility to clone a Mac’s Drive, let us clear the confusion for you. Time Machine is a built-in application to back up and make an up-to-date copy of the data you save on the Mac. Its unique feature is that it makes real-time backups to recover files easily whenever needed. When set-up for the first time, Time Machine performs a full backup of the Mac and its contents. Time Machine keeps, hourly, daily and monthly backups all categorized separately.
If Time Machine can do so much, then why consider using Mac Disk Utility?
To start the discussion, Mac Disk Utility is free and also comes built-in with every Mac OS version. It has various new features that makes it more suitable than the Time Machine. Say for example, its “Restore” option does something what is called block copy and make the entire cloning process swifter. It is also capable of making an almost cut to cut exact copy of the contents of the Drive. No important files, documents or data is left behind using Mac Disk Utility. It works in blocks and does not involve file to file transfer.
Some changes have been introduced in the Mac Disk Utility toolkit which makes more accurate cloning and copying data from the Drive.
Part 2: How to Clone Mac’s Drive using Disk Utility?
Curious to know how to clone a Mac’s Drive with Disk Utility? Follow these simple steps and you’re good to go:
- Open Mac Disk Utility on your Mac from Utilities or Applications.
- Click “Erase” from the top of the Disk Utility interface.
- Now chose a media on left panel to make it your backup drive.
- At the drop down list which has “Format” options, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Then hit “Erase” again and wait for the drive to remount on Mac.
- Then at Mac Disk Utility interface, click “Restore”.
- Now comes the tricky bit. Select the target drive, drag it and drop it at the “Source” field.
- Now drag and drop the destination Disk/Drive and leave it at the “Destination” field.
- Hit “Restore” once and for all. The contents of the drive will be copied and saved on the destination drive.
Part 3: How to Recover Mac’s Drive Data?
What does one do if some data is lost during cloning the mac’s Drive? Don’t worry. The loss isn’t permanent and the destroyed data can be recovered with the help of Recoverit for Mac. It is a recovery tool for MacBook, iMac, Hard Drives, Flash Drives, Memory Cards, phones, cameras and camcorders. It can instantly retrieve the lost contents from the Mac Drive and provide reliable data recovery solutions. It can recover documents, images, videos, audio files, emails and archives files.
The steps given below will help you use Recoverit for Mac to recover Mac’s Drive:
- Download, install and launch Recoverit hard drive recovery software. Now choose the target drive where the data gets lost, and click 'Start' to recover lost data.
- And then the data recovery tool will set in motion an all-around scan to search the lost files.
- Finally, you can preview the whole scanned results, select the ones which need to be restored, click “Recover” as shown below and save the recovered data in another drive/disk to keep it secure for future.
Conclusion
Bottom-line, we have attempted to answer a commonly asked question on online forums, i.e., how to clone a Mac’s Drive with Disk Utility. We hope you will find this red useful and now be able to clone your Mac’s drive and keeps its contents safe.
Also, the Recoverit drive data recovery toolkit is a safe, effective and trustworthy medium to retrieve your lost documents and file. So go ahead and follow the instructions in this guide to clone a Mac’s drive or recover hard drive data deleted accidentally during its process.
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Can I Use Cloning Software To Cole Mac Hard Drive Windows 10
As a Mac fan, you know the significance of data backups. Time Machine, Apple's built-in backup software, makes it easy to save multiple copies of your Mac data to an external hard drive (HDD or SSD) or to an AirPort Time Capsule. There are also dozens of online backup services you can choose from if you prefer not to carry a physical drive around.
But, let's be honest, when data loss disaster strikes, are you going to be patient enough sitting in front of your Mac for hours even days (yes, it can take that long) only to wait for the recovery process to complete? We bet you won't, right? How about online or cloud backup options? The main drawback is that it would take ages to finish backup if your Internet connection is slow.
Can I Use Cloning Software To Cole Mac Hard Drive Download
So is there any better backup solution out there? There is — clone your Mac hard drive!
We recommend Stellar Drive Clone, a fantastic Mac utility that is designed for this purpose. The app makes Mac disk copy much easier and best of all, it enables you to perform immediate recovery whenever you need.
In short, this Mac drive clone tool stands out for efficiency. That's all what we need, isn't it?
Why Clone Mac Hard Drive & When You Need It?
In the nutshell, cloning your Mac hard drive provides you with additional secure backups and saves you time restoring the data if needed, especially when your main boot drive fails to start and you are unable to enter the first screen of the desktop.
Like any other types of storage media, hard drives just come and go. In particular, if your Mac is equipped with a spinning hard disk drive, somehow its life tends to end earlier compared to an SSD (solid-state drive). If your Macintosh HD fails, it could cause a number of problems — one of which is data loss. Even if you have set up Time Machine backups, most likely you still need a trip to Apple Store or a computer repair shop because you'll need to set up a startup disk that contains macOS operating system.
In fact, I learned the lesson the hard way. One day my mid-2012 MacBook Pro hard drive died, and I couldn't turn on my Mac after pressing the start button. Then I scheduled an appointment with Apple Genius bar and took the machine for a diagnosis. It turned out the 750GB Hitachi hard drive was totally down, based on what Apple Mac technical support guy said. I was instructed to purchase an SSD drive from Crucial online. I did it. But that was not all. When I successfully replaced the dead hard drive with the new SSD, I realized that I didn't have a Mac reboot disk. Another trip was made to Apple Store and the guy installed OS X El Capitan for me. Ah...it was not over yet. Since I had Time Machine backups, I had to select a snap and restore all my data. Oh mine, it took me almost an entire day!
Lesson learned the hard way — Time Machine is not that efficient to restore data. That's why I'd strongly encourage you to try cloning your Mac hard drive just in case.
Mac Drive Clone App: What to Look for?
- Security: this is the number one thing you need to make sure when using any apps on your Mac. Sure, Macs are less prone to viruses and malware. But it's no longer the case. There are annoying adware bundled in the programs you install. They tend to slow down your Mac system as well as cause other damages.
- Reliability: a great Mac cloning app should be able to perform several standard functions such as create an exact, identical replica of any Mac disk, clone drives formatted with Master Boot Record (MBR) partition, and quickly extract volume image file to recover all your data, etc.
- Compatibility: it must be compatible with all commonly used OS X versions including latest macOS Sierra. Also, it should support operations on Macs with either a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD).
- Ease of Use: the software must be easy and simple to use, even if you are not experienced at all with Apple macOS operating system.
What's The Best Hard Drive Clone Tool for Mac OS X?
Stellar Drive Clone stands out for two reasons: it's powerful, and simply to use. The app supports cloning OS X Yosemite/El Capitan/Sierra boot volume including Recovery HD, which ease your life in case your Mac hard drive is totally down. Besides Macintosh HD, you can also use it to clone an exFAT-formatted drive. Here's a screenshot.
How To Clone A Hard Drive For Mac
Best Way To Clone A Hard Drive Mac
Chris is a computer geek for a decade. He loved talking to computers via codes, and now he finds it more interesting communicating with the real people. He now writes everything related to computer issues and loves helping people solve problems.