It is vitally important that you back up your Mac. Whether you do so locally using Time Machine, sending it to a cloud service, or a installing a duplicate creation program (or all three). There is nothing more important than backing up your computer in case an unfortunate event happens so you don't lose your precious data.
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One of the easiest methods is locally, using Time Machine. Another is by backing up your data via a cloud-based service, like Backblaze or CrashPlan. Here, we're going to explain how to clone your Mac using a program like SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner. Zotero for mac.
The difference between cloning and using Time Machine
Local backups through Time Machine, cloud-based backups, and clones all serve a great purpose to keep your data safe in case of an unfortunate even that renders your Mac useless (even temporarily). The thing that makes cloning different is that you can create a bootable copy of your entire hard drive, which means you can access everything on one Mac through another simply by exporting it to an external drive, connecting the drive to the other Mac, and then selecting it from the Startup menu.
Clones are great to have around if, for example, you have to take your Mac in for repairs, but still need to continue working while it's out. You can use the cloned copy while it's in the shop.
Most cloning programs have additional features that include the ability to make regularly scheduled backups. This is ideal since, if something happens to your computer, you aren't necessarily going to want to restore from a year-old backup. I highly recommend investing in these additional features if they are offered with the cloning program you are using (for example, SuperDuper! is free to clone, but costs a licensing fee of $28 for scheduling, smart updates, sandboxes, and scripting).
Before you start
Before you get started, make sure you have an external hard drive with enough storage to fit everything on your Mac. The smartest solution is to use a portable hard drive.
You'll also need to download and install your cloning program. I'm using SuperDuper! from Shirt Pocket for this process. Most cloning programs operate pretty much the same. They will always have a detailed how-to guide to walk you through the steps.
How to prepare your external drive to to use for your clone
You'll need to start with a clean external hard drive in order to make a bootable drive for your cloned backup.
- Connect your external drive into the appropriate port on your Mac.
- Use Spotlight to search for the Disk Utility app.
- Double-click on Disk Utility to open it.
- Find the hard drive under External and select it. It will usually be named after the company that made it.
- Click the Erase tab at the top of the window.
- Name the drive something that you will remember. I renamed mine 'mbp.' You will need to remember this name when you create a bootable drive.
- Select macOS Extended (Journaled) from the format list.
- Click Erase.
- Click Done once the process is complete.
- Close the Disk Utility window.
Your hard drive is now formatted for cloning your Mac.
How to make a clone of your Mac
After you've downloaded and installed your cloning program, you'll need to open it to get started. I'm using SuperDuper! to make a clone for this guide, so I'll reference it here.
Note: You'll need your administrator password in order to make a clone of your Mac.
![Drive Drive](/uploads/1/3/3/9/133915258/335024898.jpg)
- Use Spotlight to search for the SuperDuper! app.
- Double-click on SuperDuper! to open it.
- Select your Mac's hard drive from the drop-down menu next to 'Copy.'
- Select the external hard drive from the drop-down menu next to 'to.'
- Make sure Backup - all files is selected in the drop-down menu next to 'using' (Backup - user files does not create a bootable clone).
- Click Copy Now to begin the process.
- Enter your Administrator password when prompted.
- Click Copy when asked to confirm that you want to erase the external hard drive and then copy the files to it from your Mac.
- Click OK when the process is complete.
Most cloning programs will operate the same, general way. If you don't understand the process for the program you have chosen, refer to the user guide.
How to restore your Mac from a clone
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 continue.
- Select your hard drive.
- Click on the Restore tab at the top of the Disk Utility window.
- Select your external drive next to 'Restore From.'
- Select your Mac's hard drive next to 'Restore to.'
- Click Restore.
Once the backup has finished restoring, restart your computer.
How to boot your clone on another Mac
If you want to work on your backup on another computer while it's in the shop, you can boot it up from the startup menu.
Important: You'll need to partition your hard drive in order to boot your clone as a separate startup disk. Be sure to do that before following the steps below.
- Turn off your Mac.
- Connect your external drive into the appropriate port on your Mac.
- Turn on your Mac.
- Hold down the Option key as soon as you hear the startup chime.
- Select the external drive with the clone backup on it from the list of systems to start up your computer.
Now, you can use the clone to restore files to your partitioned drive.
Any questions?
Do you have any questions about how to clone your Mac so you can use it as a backup? Put them in the comments and I'll help you out.
Peter Cohen contributed to an earlier version of this article.
Textpad for mac. Updated January 2019: Updated for macOS Mojave.
Backing up: The ultimate guide
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This article was originally written in 2015 but it is still relevant. I have just updated it given that SSD prices have dropped dramatically in the last 3 years. Upgrading the boot drive on my Mac Mini to an SSD drive was by far the biggest speed enhancement I’ve experienced on any computer! The speed increase is incredible – almost hard to believe. Boot time went from 60 seconds to under 30 seconds, and applications launch instantly – no bouncing dock icon. In terms of bang for dollar, upgrading to an SSD drive is by far the best upgrade you can do.
SDD stands for ‘Solid State Drive.’ SSD drives are the same shape and size as a traditional drive. The difference is that an SSD drive uses RAM chips instead of a spinning hard disk to store information. This makes it much, much faster.
SSD drives are now reasonably cheap. I’d suggest you upgrade your entire hard drive to SSD.
1. Order an SSD.
There have been issues in the past with SSD drives and there have been some brands not working with OSX, so make sure you get a good one.
The first place I would recommend is macsales.com. I have one of their OWC Mercury SSD drives in 2 of my laptops. They have a screen where you choose your macintosh computer, and it tells you which SSD drive is compatible. Just click here and you will be asked what mac you have, follow the prompts. (I have signed up to be an affiliate of Macsales so I get a commission if you use these links.) Last check a 1TB drive was under $400. When I first wrote this article a 480G SSD drive was $1579.99!
The second place I would recommend is crucial.com. How to check for microsoft updates. If you do get a Crucial SSD you can go for the MX or BX series. I’ve also got a Samsung EVO drive running in a 2012 Macbook pro and it’s running fine. Buy a new SSD not a second hand one. They do degrade over time.
2. Temporarily connect the new SSD Drive to your Mac.
For this you will need a cable to connect your SSD drive to your USB port. They are only about $20 and they look like this:
The external drive enclosures for normal hard disks should also work with an SSD.
Plug the SSD into the enclosure, and then into the Mac, and it should appear on the desktop as an ‘Untitled’ drive.
3. Format the SSD Drive using disk utility.
After your SDD drive is plugged in you’ll need to use Disk Utility to format it – Mac OS Extended (Journaled):
4. Copy everything onto the new boot drive.
Now you need to copy your entire drive onto your SSD drive. You can’t do this by hand – there are hidden files that need to be copied, so need to make what is called a ‘Clone.’ Apple’s built-in Disk Utility won’t do this so you will need an app like Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper.
Using Carbon Copy Cloner, select your boot drive as the target Disk and then select ‘Backup Everything’:
Click ‘Clone’ and your boot disk will be created on the SSD disk.
The other option is to use Super Duper. There’s a free version that will enable to clone your drive. Select ‘Backup -all files’ to make a clone.
Making a clone of you drive can take a long time – hours – so take a break!
5. Reboot from the new SSD boot drive.
Under System Preferences click Startup Drive select the SSD Drive, then restart! (wow – notice how fast it is!)
6. Swap the internal Hard disk for the SSD drive.
Now that it’s working it’s time to get rid of your old hard drive and physically replace it with the working SSD.
The difficulty of this varies according to what kind of a Macintosh computer you have. I’d check out ifixit.com for the best instructions according to your mac model.
Mac Pro
Difficulty: easy – 30 seconds. Imessage for mac.
For a mac pro it simply connects into the spare optical bay slot – no adapters needed, a 30 second operation – see how here. I just sat the SSD drive in and added a bit of gaffe tape but there are some great adapters out there eg Angelbird SSD Adapter
Macbook
Difficulty: moderate – 1 hour.
For a Macbook or Macbook Pro can replace the internal optical drive with your old Hard Drive or order a large SSD drive and replace your old hard drive with it. You can find instructions here.
Mac Mini
Difficulty: hard – 1/2 hr.
For a new aluminium mac mini you will need to replace one of the internal drives. This involves pulling out the fan and motherboard to get the new SSD drive in. You can get the old hard disk out without pulling out the motherboard but the SSD drives are actually ever so slightly thicker and more uniform in shape so the motherboard needs to come out to manoeuvre the SSD drive in place. There’s easy to follow instructions here at mac fixit.
iMac
Difficulty: hard – 1/2 hr.
It’s quite complex to pull the iMac apart and you need a vacuum clamp to pull the glass screen off. This is easier than it sounds, but you still need to but the suction caps to do it. It requires some mechanical skill. There are good instructions here and crucial have their own guide here.
So how fast is it? Here’s a demo of how quickly applications launch from my new SSD drive…
7. Check if you need to Enable TRIM.
Some Hard Drives do not come with TRIM support and so you need to download this TRIM Enabler app and run it. This will enable OS X built in TRIM support which keeps your SSD drive lean and clean.
The SSD I recommend above (Crucial M4) does not need TRIM support (read this article for more information). You can turn it on anyway no problems. The OWC Mercury SSD drives do not need TRIM enabled either.
STOP PRESS: There are new reports that TRIM enabler does not work with Yosemite. Read this article for more information.
![Mac Mac](/uploads/1/3/3/9/133915258/648431507.jpg)
8. Time Machine
If you already have a Time Machine backup, when you change Hard Drives it starts all over again and won’t recognise the old Time Machine backup. Read this post for info on how to get around this. Also here is another very good article on this.
I also just found this GREAT article on keeping Time Machine working when you change the Hard Drive.
If you don’t have a Time Machine backup now is a great time to start! You can use your old Internal Drive as a backup drive.
Related posts:
What is TRIM and do I need to turn it on in OS X?What’s the best SSD drive for a Mac and how do I install it?The best place to buy RAM for your macbook or imac.How to use 2 monitors on your mac7 ways to make your Mac boot faster.« Older CommentsStevesays:February 25, 2019 at 4:02 pmI am using a Seagate 250GB USB 3.0 as the boot drive (Mojave) on my 2014 Mac Mini. Seriously fast boot-up and excellent system responsiveness compared to the 1TB internal hard drive. No need to pull the Mac apart to upgrade the boot drive (just leave the internal spinning disk in place as your data drive, it works fine as an APFS volume, provided its not the system disk).
Installing an internal SSD may give you optimal performance but using an external USB boot SSD still gives a much more responsive system than the old hard drive, for minimal upgrade difficulty and minimal cost.
(I don’t have any trim issues either).
ReplyWaynesays:February 28, 2019 at 12:20 pm Yes now that they have fast External SSD drives with thunderbolt/USB-C this is certainly a great option.
ReplyS Bartruffsays:April 15, 2019 at 11:39 am Help….I have established the SSD as the start-up drive (Mac Mini 2012) and it works effectively (much faster).
However, during the night the Mac reboots and establishes the Mac HD as the default start-up….How do I remedy this issue?
Thanks.
ReplyBartruff Stuartsays:April 30, 2019 at 8:21 am I may have solved the reboot problem by not allowing the Mac mini to transition to a sleep mode
ReplyStuart Bartruffsays:April 16, 2019 at 4:08 am Follow-up to my prior comment. The MAC rebooted again to default the MAC HD as the start-up. I received the following error message: The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer.
ReplyBobsays:May 30, 2019 at 6:46 am I did this with my wifes’ old 21′ Imac…those horrible ones that come with the built in memory. We were going to replace it , but this solution made it work like a new machine…much faster overall. I used a 256 Samsung T5, erxactly as described here.
Replynmetrosays:June 28, 2019 at 3:26 pm External Ssd Drive For Macbook Air
I bought a SanDisk Extreme Portable 1TB SSD dirve at Amazon.
I plugged it into my USB 3.0 port on an iMac late 2014 4k system, with soldered 8 GB memory.
I went through the formatting process with Disk Utility. Making sure that GUID was set.
I downloaded Carbon Copy, and ran it clicking on Trial. I then closed the disks (it took about 40 minutes for 6 GB)
I rebooted, when it was done, held down the Option key and selected the new disk.
I was up in under a minute. I tried a few things and they run much, much faster.
The SSD disk, I purchased, supports USB 3.1 and USB-C. It is also very tiny, light, and it wrapped in rubber to protect it. It is so small it can be attached, by Velcro, to the back of the monitor stand. I wasn’t that comfortable trying to take apart an iMac just to replace the disk.
I do not use my iMac for heavy duty gaming, and the like, but I feel like that I have a new computer.
So these instructions, at least in my situation.
Reply« Older Comments