Mac Spectrum
How to Clone Mac OS X to a New Hard Drive
- 2008.10.07 - Tip Jar
Popularity: 
Short link: http://bit.ly/5IoOj
A mate of mine who has only been using Macs for a few weeks has been using a PowerBook G3. We installed Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" on it, and then he got a larger hard drive. He was about to reinstall OS X when I suggested cloning.
Being a PC user, he was new to the idea, so I emailed him some instructions, and it worked with no problem. So for anyone new to cloning, here is how to do it.
Cloning makes a complete bootable copy of your hard drive onto another drive.
Here is what you will need:
- a Mac with Mac OS X Tiger or Leopard installed
- a new hard drive
- a FireWire or USB enclosure for the drive (not necessary if you have a Power Mac with room for another internal drive)
- a copy of SuperDuper [Editor's note: You can also use Carbon Copy Cloner.]
Let's get started.
First, put your new drive hard drive enclosure. Plug it into your Mac, and switch the Mac on. If your enclosure needs to be plugged into a power source, do this and then switch it on.
Once the Mac is booted, you will need to format the new drive into a Mac format in Disk Utility (in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder). Down the left hand side Disk Utility will show both drives. Select the one in the enclosure.
You will see five tabs across the middle of the screen: select "Erase". Double check the Volume Format is "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" and give it a name (or leave it as it is). Then select the "Erase" button. The new drive will erase within a few seconds and your drive is now ready for cloning.
Don't worry - you cannot erase your existing hard drive with Mac OS X installed on it, as it is the drive you have booted from and is therefore locked.
Download SuperDuper. It is free when used for cloning. Install it and run it.
In the SuperDuper screen, you will see three drop downs.
In the first one, labelled "copy", select the drive in your Mac. In the second drop down labelled "to", select the new drive that you just formatted.
The third one should be labelled "using" - select "Backup - all files".
New select the "Copy Now" button.
If you are connected via USB 1.1, it will take quite a while (maybe an hour or two). If you are connected via FireWire or USB 2.0, then it will be quicker (maybe 20 minutes - depending on how much is on your hard drive).
Once completed, shut down the computer and external hard drive. Remove the internal drive and replace it with the new one you just cloned to - and boot the machine.*
If successful, the Mac will work exactly as before. You will not notice anything different, except a larger drive.
If it hasn't worked, the machine will not boot.
* Editor's note: You may want to test the clone drive before performing the transplant. To boot from the external drive, hold down the Option key during startup. Your Mac will display icons for any bootable drive. Select the new drive, click on the right arrow icon, and your Mac should boot from it. If not, erase the new drive and try again. Once you know it's working, transplant it. (Note that some of the oldest G3 Macs can't boot into OS X via USB.)
You can also use this procedure to clone OS X to another Mac - just install the cloned drive. As long as it's not too big for that Mac's drive controller to recognize (see How Big a Hard Drive Can I Put in My iMac, eMac, or Power Mac?), you should be good to go.
We've been doing this at Low End Mac headquarters for years, and it works very well. The registered version of SuperDuper is also a great backup program, which we use regularly.
Carbon Copy Cloner works as well as SuperDuper for cloning, and version 2.3 will also let you clone Mac OS X 10.2 and 10.3. (SuperDuper only supports OS X 10.4 and 10.5.) dk
Join us on Facebook!, follow us on Twitter, use our Google+ page, or read our RSS news feed
Recent articles by Simon Royal
- Apple May No Longer Support Your Older Mac, but Microsoft Will, 2012.05.11. Believe it or not, Windows 7 and 8 can run nicely on Macs than can't run OS X 10.7 or 10.8 at all.
- 1998: The iMac Saves Apple, 2012.05.04. Its specs were pedestrian, but the color, lack of standard Mac ports, and missing floppy drew a lot of attention.
- Apple Should Make Older Mac OS Versions Free, 2012.05.03. It can cost more for a copy of the Mac OS than you paid for an old Mac you want to put it on.
- More in the Mac Spectrum index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: PowerBook 500 Series, introduced 1994.05.16. 'Blackbird' includes a 25 to 33 MHz 68040 along with smart batteries and grayscale or color displays.
- May 16 in LEM history: 98: iMac reconsidered - 01: The exclusivist Mac - Cubed - Troubleshooting - 02: SE/30 catharsis - Microsoft free - 03: SCSI and OS X on a beige G3 - 05: Failures: Apple III and Lisa - Bigger, faster, more - 06: MacBook - PowerBook 3400 still useful - 07: 3 GB in a MacBook - 08: Mac Pro beats HP and Dell - Limited USB power in Santa Rosa Macs
- Support Low End Mac
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- 17" MacBook Pro on the Way Out or Changing with the Times?, Dan Bashur, Apple, Tech, and Gaming, 2012.05.15. No other MacBook rivals its expansion options, but is that enough reason for Apple to keep the largest MacBook Pro around?
- 3 Ways to Use Microsoft Office on Your iPad, Alan Zisman, Zis Mac, 2012.05.14. You can't run Microsoft Office natively on the iPad, but one of these workarounds may do the job for you.
- Swapless: Disabling Virtual Memory in Ubuntu, Austin Leeds, Low End PC, 2012.05.14. A slow hard drive slows virtual memory, and virtual memory can reduce the life of flash memory, so you may want to turn it off.
- Safari 5.1.7 and OS X 10.7.4, How Flashback Works, Free Lion Boot Disk Tool, and More, Mac News Review, 2012.05.11. Also Chrome passes Firefox for #2 spot, use Android with your Mac, Amazon and Microsoft cloud services for Macs, and more.
- Tablets Out to Kill Laptops, New iPad vs. MacBook Air, $799 MacBook Air This Fall?, and More, The 'Book Review, 2012.05.11. Also should Apple discontinue the 17" MacBook Air?, 2012 MacBook Pro may include SSD and bigger batteries, and more.
- New iPad Design Apple's Second Choice?, Updated iPad 2 Improves Battery Life, and More, iOS News Review, 2012.05.11. Also hack improves iPad editing, Netgear Genie printing app, dual tip iPad stylus, recycled iPhone 4/4S case, and more.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
- Best Classic Mac OS Deals
- Best iBook G4 Deals
- Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals
- Best Mac Pro Deals
- Best 15" PowerBook G4 Deals
- Best 17" PowerBook G4 Deals
- Best MacBook Deals
- Best iPod shuffle Deals
- More deals in our archive.
About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact
Follow
Low End Mac on Twitter
Join Low End Mac
on Facebook
Low End Mac Reader Specials
Macsales.com SuperSpeed SSDs from $58. Transform your Mac with an SSD Solution of up to 960GB! You won't believe it's the same machine! Once you experience an OWC SSD, no going back! - Macsales.com
Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Macpokeronline.com will show you how to download and play Poker on a Mac natively on your Mac in just minutes.
Favorite Sites
MacSurfer
Cult of Mac
Shrine of Apple
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac Museum
Deal Brothers
DealMac
Mac2Sell
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End Mac FAQ
Affiliates
Amazon.com
The iTunes Store
PC Connection Express
Parallels Desktop for Mac
eBay
