Drives For Mac From Another

Drives For Mac From Another

Instead, you can start your Mac from another volume that contains a bootable version of the Mac OS.

Disk Utilitys restore function lets you create a bootable clone.

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It will work with just about any storage device that you can mount to your Mac, including disk images, hard drives, SSDs, and USB flash drives.

While its still possible to create an exact copy (a clone) of any drive connected directly to your Mac, changes to Disk Utility have created extra steps when you use Disk Utilitys Restore function to clone your startup drive.

But dont let the idea of extra steps get in the way, the process is still pretty simple, and the added steps actually help ensure a more accurate clone of the startup drive.

The Restore function in Disk Utility uses a block copy function that can speed up the copy process.

What almost exact means is that a block copy moves everything in a data block from one device to the other.

Using a block copy is faster, but it does have some limits that affect when it can be used, the most important being that copying block by block requires that both the source and destination devices be first unmounted from your Mac.

This ensures that block data doesnt change during the copy process.

But it does mean that neither the source nor the destination can be in use when you use the Restore capabilities.

You cant use the Restore function on the current startup drive, or any drive that has files in use.

If you need to clone your startup drive, you can make use of either your Macs Recovery HD volume or any drive that has a bootable copy of OS X installed.

The Disk Utility app will open, displaying a single window divided into three spaces: a toolbar, a sidebar showing currently mounted drives and volumes, and an info pane, showing information about the currently selected device in the sidebar.

You can find instructions cloning a drive using an earlier version of Disk Utility.

In the sidebar, select the volume to which you want to copyclone data.

The volume you select will be the destination drive for the Restore operation.

A sheet will drop down, asking you to select from a drop-down menu the source device to use for the Restore process.

The sheet will also warn you that the volume you selected as the destination will be erased, and its data will be replaced with data from the source volume.

Use the drop-down menu next to the Restore from text to select a source volume, and then click the Restore button.

You can also see detailed information by clicking the Show Details disclosure triangle.

Once the Restore process is complete, the drop-down sheets Done button will become available.

When you use the Restore function, both the destination and the source must be able to be unmounted.

Mac Drives For Install