clone a full mac

[Mauricio Barrientos]

any idea p[lease ?

thanks

[Doug Metz]

I use Carbon Copy Cloner for this.

Keep in mind that Apple’s last few OS’s do not allow making a bootable clone, but the clone can still be used with Migration Assistant on a clean OS install.

https://bombich.com/

bombich.com

Mac Backup Software | Carbon Copy Cloner | Bombich Software

Mac Backup Software | Carbon Copy Cloner | Bombich Software

[Ben Balser]

The do in fact allow you to make bootable backups, which is exactly what CCC does. I’ve been using CCC for many, many years, it’s the best. TimeMachine is legit, too, you just don’t have the control that you get with CCC. But CCC’s backups are 100 percent bootable backup (clone).

[Doug Metz]

I could’ve phrased that differently – they’re now advising against it. Recent iterations of MacOS with the locked-down System partition have complicated matters… This is on Bombich’s site regarding bootable backups:

“Copying Apple’s system is now an Apple-proprietary endeavor; we can only offer “best effort” support for making an external bootable device on macOS Big Sur (and later OSes). We present this functionality in support of making ad hoc bootable copies of the system that you will use immediately (e.g. when migrating to a different disk, or for testing purposes), but we do not support nor recommend making bootable copies of the system as part of a backup strategy.

Please bear in mind that you can restore all of your documents, applications, and system settings from a standard CCC backup without the extra effort involved in establishing and maintaining a bootable device.”

This, coupled with the restrictions on booting Apple Silicon Macs from external sources, and it just becomes a lot of fuss for no real gain unless you’re still on Intel.

Also a decades-long CCC user here. All my old PPC and Intel backups have been bootable. AS Macs would rather grab a clean install from Apple’s server and then restore all your stuff, and I’m just not in a fightin’ mood. ;^)