How to Clone Mac Hard Drive in 2022

Featured Image Caption: Clone a Mac Hard Drive

The stability of MacOS doesn’t force users to take regular backups or clone Mac hard drives. It may not give you any OS-related issues but also does not guarantee any hardware conflicts, virus attacks, or other failures. You may need to perform Mac hard drive cloning for various reasons. If you plan to upgrade HDD to SSD, you will need to back up your data.

If you are unaware of how to clone a Mac hard drive you can follow these manual steps. If these manual steps can’t help you clone a Mac hard drive, you can automate the process with the help of the best cloning software for Mac. Let’s begin with the manual process, to begin with!

Hardware Requirements

• You will need an external SSD of equitant or higher capacity.
• An SSD USB connector will also be required to establish a connection.
• If the manual process doesn’t work, you will need the best cloning software for Mac.

Mac Hard Drive Clone with SSD

You can follow these steps on how to clone a Mac hard drive with SSD to take a backup of your Mac.

Step 1. Mount the SSD with a SATA connector to your Mac.

Step 2. Check the status of the SDD connection in the File Explorer.

Step 3. If you face any trouble, restart your Mac and the power ON the SSD drive.

Step 4. If the SSD drive is not recognized, you will need to format the drive so that the SDD becomes readable with the MacOS file system. Click on the Initialize button on the error message to start the conversion.

Step 5. Disk Utility console will initiate. It will list out all the internal hard drives and external storage devices. Rename the external hard drive and select the file format to MacOS Extended (Journaled).

Step 6. Hit the Erase button to initiate the formatting process.

Step 7. If prompted to use the external hard drive as a Time Machine backup drive, click on the Don’t Use button to skip associating it with the Time Machine.

Step 8. Hit the Show Details button to ensure that the file format conversion process is completed successfully. Internal and external hard drives are now in the same file format. Restart your Mac before you initiate Mac hard drive cloning.

Step 9. During restart, press and hold the (Command + R) key to get into the Utility menu. Select the Disk Utility option in the Utility menu.

Step 10. You will see both the internal and external storage drives with the same file format. Your external hard drive is now ready to be cloned. Select the drive and click on the restore button on the top.

Step 11. Select the internal SSD as the Source drive in the ‘Restore From’ menu. Hit the Restore button to start the Mac hard drive cloning process. The cloning process may take a long time depending on the size of data we are cloning.

Step 12. Once the cloning process is complete, go to the Apple menu and select the Startup disk option. Select the new SSD as your startup disk and restart your Mac.

Ensure that your external hard drive is cloned properly and your Mac is booting up with both the hard drives. You can now remove your internal HDD and connect the new ADD to your Mac. If the cloning process is completed successfully, your Mac will be able to boot with all your data copied exactly to the SDD.

Use the Best Cloning Software for Mac

If you miss out on a single step, your cloning process may not complete successfully. In such scenarios, you can make use of the Best Cloning Software for Mac and ensure that your data is backed up and safely cloned on the new SSD.

The Best Cloning Software for Mac is useful for a small or large business that deals with a lot of data, confidential files, company backup, or other client information. You can have total control over when to clone or what to clone. Time Machine backup can automatically back up all your selected folders and files at a timely interval.

Summing Up

Hard drive cloning is a necessity for those who got precious memories, confidential files, or business data on their Mac. Users think that by just taking an incremental backup using the Time Machine, they can handle big data. This is a myth! You will need to perform Mac hard drive clone if you are switching between storage, taking a bootable backup, or cloning your hard drive for any reason. This article on how to clone a Mac hard drive has the step-by-step process to clone an SSD or HDD on your Mac. Back it up with the cloning process!

By Janny Thomas
who is a technical content writer. As from being a capable engineer, her technical knowledge and expertise in research, blended with an intimate passion to write made her love her profession to the core. She is an avid reader.

Member since October, 2019
View all the articles of Janny Thomas.

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