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Did I kill my Mac mini?

J

jeffsaha

macrumors member
Oct 6, 2011
54
0
i think for time machine you would have to install the time machine backup which may take longer. If you already have CCC, I would use that. Then you would still have the exact copy of your original drive and it should line up the sectors properly with a clone. From what I've heard, cloning onto an SSD is a better option. But I have done the time machine recovery before on my MBP after getting an SSD and it went just fine. I found that I like the CCC method better. I did it recently also on the MBP when a file copying to the drive was corrupt and caused the drive to fail completely. Luckily I cloned it a couple days prior just to test an external drive speed and it worked great. So it's really up to you to try out and familiarize yourself with either process. You could even try both if you are bored and have time. Just keep that original drive/data handy and wipe the SSD after the first attempt and try the other :)

I find that time machine is better suited for particular file recovery or reverting states and cloning is better for drive migration.
 
J

jeffsaha

macrumors member
Oct 6, 2011
54
0
Luis2004 said:
Okay, so which part of my external should I clone? It never got erased like I thought it would....so maybe just the system folder, with the X on it, or what?
Click to expand...

Oh if you have already attempted to erase the original drive, your option may only be limited to installing the OS and migrating data from time machine.
 
L

Luis2004

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 30, 2012
615
1
jeffsaha said:
i think for time machine you would have to install the time machine backup which may take longer. If you already have CCC, I would use that. Then you would still have the exact copy of your original drive and it should line up the sectors properly with a clone. From what I've heard, cloning onto an SSD is a better option. But I have done the time machine recovery before on my MBP after getting an SSD and it went just fine. I found that I like the CCC method better. I did it recently also on the MBP when a file copying to the drive was corrupt and caused the drive to fail completely. Luckily I cloned it a couple days prior just to test an external drive speed and it worked great. So it's really up to you to try out and familiarize yourself with either process. You could even try both if you are bored and have time. Just keep that original drive/data handy and wipe the SSD after the first attempt and try the other :)

I find that time machine is better suited for particular file recovery or reverting states and cloning is better for drive migration.
Click to expand...

Are you saying that you were able to clone time machine to the SSD and it booted?

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jeffsaha said:
Oh if you have already attempted to erase the original drive, your option may only be limited to installing the OS and migrating data from time machine.
Click to expand...

I don't have a problem installing the OS, but from where?
 
J

jeffsaha

macrumors member
Oct 6, 2011
54
0
Luis2004 said:
Are you saying that you were able to clone time machine to the SSD and it booted?

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I don't have a problem installing the OS, but from where?
Click to expand...

either the original install disk or through internet recovery. since the mini did not come with an install disk you may have to do the internet recovery.

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i agree with niteflyr though. If you haven't done anything with the original drive, just clone everything from it as source and ssd as destination
 
L

Luis2004

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 30, 2012
615
1
jeffsaha said:
either the original install disk or through internet recovery. since the mini did not come with an install disk you may have to do the internet recovery.


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i agree with niteflyr though. If you haven't done anything with the original drive, just clone everything from it as source and ssd as destination
Click to expand...

The problem is that my external has about 1TB of data in a hundred folders, and the SSD is 180GB, lol.

I'll do the long and tedious reinstallation of OS and see what happens.


Ah, 4 hours, 55 min to go..... I think I will go to bed and check on it in the morning. Can I disconnect my external now that the OS is downloading/installing to the SSD?
 
J

jeffsaha

macrumors member
Oct 6, 2011
54
0
Ahh, yeah cloning won't work. Just install OS and migrate data from time machine. Depends on where the time machine data is located. If on the original drive, then I would leave it connected. If not, it should be alright to remove it.

IMO I would just leave everything as is as to not add more variables for failure during the install by disconnecting the drive.
 
L

Luis2004

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 30, 2012
615
1
jeffsaha said:
Ahh, yeah cloning won't work. Just install OS and migrate data from time machine. Depends on where the time machine data is located. If on the original drive, then I would leave it connected. If not, it should be alright to remove it.

IMO I would just leave everything as is as to not add more variables for failure during the install by disconnecting the drive.
Click to expand...

Ok, leaving the external plugged in for now. I'll check on it in the morning and see what's what.

Thanks for all your help. This is a great forum! I hope to learn as much as possible (probably mostly through trial and error) so I can help out someone else down the line.

Thanks again!

:)
 
J

jeffsaha

macrumors member
Oct 6, 2011
54
0
No prob! Yeah, unfortunately, my first experience with throwing a clone onto another drive on a mac, with CCC, happened at work where the MBP is my main workstation. Luckily I had just cloned the drive a couple of days prior to an external. Getting thrown into the fire like that definitely gets the process burned into your brain pretty quickly :)
 
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