A clone also comes in handy for troubleshooting, because you can use it to run third-party utilities on your ailing drive. (Your Mac’s built-in OS X Recovery features include Disk Utility, but.
. Yes, it's possible and very reliable. The Recovery HD partition is cloned automatically. It's simpler to do than with CCC. Clone Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion using Restore Option of Disk Utility Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Select Disk Utility from the main menu then press the Continue button. Select the destination volume from the left side list. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button. Destination means the SSD drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Put the SSD into an external enclosure so you can clone your HDD to it. When you finish test to be sure the computer will boot from the SSD: Boot Using OPTION key: 1.
Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the 'OPTION' key. Release the key when the boot manager appears. Select the SSD icon from which you want to boot. Click on the arrow button below the icon.
If all is well, then remove the SSD from the enclosure and install it in the computer. Yes, it's possible and very reliable. The Recovery HD partition is cloned automatically. It's simpler to do than with CCC. Clone Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion using Restore Option of Disk Utility Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears.
Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button. Select Disk Utility from the main menu then press the Continue button. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button. Destination means the SSD drive. Source means the internal startup drive. Put the SSD into an external enclosure so you can clone your HDD to it. When you finish test to be sure the computer will boot from the SSD: Boot Using OPTION key: 1. Restart the computer.
Immediately after the chime press and hold down the 'OPTION' key. Release the key when the boot manager appears. Select the SSD icon from which you want to boot.
Click on the arrow button below the icon. If all is well, then remove the SSD from the enclosure and install it in the computer. If you use Time Machine for normal backups then you don't need to use CCC. CCC cannot replace Time Machine, but it can be used to make additional backups on separate drives. I'm a big fan of having multiple backups done multiple ways to protect ones data from loss. I consider CCC a valuable backup tool as well as a cloning tool.
If you choose to make additional backups using CCC or any other backup utility, do not use your Time Capsule for those backups. This is aside from the fact that you cannot actually partition a Time Capsule drive. I am a backup fan aswell, and I like to keep safe backups. I consider Time Machine a safe one because in case of full loss of data or the purchase of a new MAC, I can migrate or restore my data from it on top of a well working operating system. If something is wrong in during the process, at least my MAC will still work 100%. By restoring a clone I will restore my operating system aswell, and I do not like this option in an emergency situation scenario.
So in case of normal backups for an emergency situation I prefer TM. However, for simplicity, if I have my safe TM backups, I consider easier to clone a HD in case of HD/SSD upgrade. For the above entioned reason I consider TM backups safer than other softwares or cloning. Maybe I am wrong but an advice from an expert would be much appreciated 😉 Just to explain better my point of view, I am querterly saving extra manual backups, but just manualy copying my data and files to manual folder in external HDs and to have extra backups; these backup are not practical at all because cannot be automatically restored, but in case of loss of data on my MAC and total failure of automatic backup, they can be a very safe option to recover the recoverable 😉. I encourage any form of additional backup.
I do, however, discourage complete reliance on Time Machine versus other backup utilities. When Time Machine goes south it can completely corrupt a backup.
Personally, I would not put all my faith on Time Machine. At least in my experience Time Machine is less reliable that any other decent backup utility such as CCC. I do use Time Machine for one backup. But I also make regular backups using CCC on different drives.
I backup with CCC daily. A further problem with Time Machine is that eventually it will consume all the space on the backup drive. At that point you pretty much have two options: store the old drive and install a new one; erase the backup drive and start over. CCC simply overwrites old files with new ones and never uses more backup space than the size of the drive it backs up.
Kappy wrote: A further problem with Time Machine is that eventually it will consume all the space on the backup drive. At that point you pretty much have two options: store the old drive and install a new one; erase the backup drive and start over. A minor disagreement with Kappy in this instance. In order to extract the maximum advantage from Time Machine, a HDD should be significantly larger than the primary or source HDD. When the Time Machine HDD does get full, Time Machine will then delete the oldest backups in order to make room for the newest ones. It becomes a question of how far back does one need for historical data. If you want to retain all historical data, then Kappy is correct, but that rarely will be that case.
A Time Machine HDD 2 times the source HDD will take a long time to become full unless you have a very volatile source HDD. Apple Footer. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided; every potential issue may involve several factors not detailed in the conversations captured in an electronic forum and Apple can therefore provide no guarantee as to the efficacy of any proposed solutions on the community forums. Apple disclaims any and all liability for the acts, omissions and conduct of any third parties in connection with or related to your use of the site. All postings and use of the content on this site are subject to the.