Can Disk Utility restore feature make a bootable clone?

[VitoBotta]

I have ordered a new thunderbolt enclosure+bigger SSD to replace my Samsung X5 as the boot drive. I have a license for CCC but it seems it can no longer make bootable clones. What about Disk Utility's restore function? Can it make the clone bootable?

 

[chrfr]

I have ordered a new thunderbolt enclosure+bigger SSD to replace my Samsung X5 as the boot drive. I have a license for CCC but it seems it can no longer make bootable clones. What about Disk Utility's restore function? Can it make the clone bootable?

No, Disk Utility is no more capable than CCC for this sort of usage.

 

[VitoBotta]

No, Disk Utility is no more capable than CCC for this sort of usage.

Thanks. I was afraid that would be the answer

 

[Fishrrman]

OP asks:
"I have a license for CCC but it seems it can no longer make bootable clones. What about Disk Utility's restore function? Can it make the clone bootable?"

Download SuperDuper from here:

https://www.shirt-pocket.com/mint/pepper/orderedlist/downloads/download.php?file=https%3A//www.shirt-pocket.com/downloads/SuperDuper%21.dmg

It will create a bootable cloned backup on an external drive that works.
(at least, it will for Monterey -- not sure about Ventura)

And... you don't need to register it to do this.
SD is also very easy to understand and use (CCC, not so much these days).

 

[VitoBotta]

Edit: NVM my bad

Will check it out, thanks

 

[Realityck]

OP asks:
"I have a license for CCC but it seems it can no longer make bootable clones. What about Disk Utility's restore function? Can it make the clone bootable?"

Download SuperDuper from here:

https://www.shirt-pocket.com/mint/pepper/orderedlist/downloads/download.php?file=https://www.shirt-pocket.com/downloads/SuperDuper%21.dmg

It will create a bootable cloned backup on an external drive that works.
(at least, it will for Monterey -- not sure about Ventura)

And... you don't need to register it to do this.
SD is also very easy to understand and use (CCC, not so much these days).

Well he finally says it’s works with Ventura (3.7.5), but doubtful it allows full incremental bootable backups instead it’s likely a bootable snapshot as CCC is. That’s because Apple’s APFS utility hasn’t been fixed yet By Apple.

As far as CCC it’s just using Disk Utility to group volume erase the back up target beforehand, then when it mounts after that, launch CCC, remove audit association for that new erased volume you will use for backup and the when click on it and select the legacy bootable snapshot copy option you’ll see rather then standard backup.

Hey we have MacOS 14 coming in a month a half. It’s that never end story of seeing if the next one fixes APFS utility or more of the same. Yes CCC 6.1.5 works with 13.4 beta 2.

 

[VitoBotta]

The first attempt with Super Duper failed. I bought it so I could try the "Smart Update" feature to incrementally update the clone, since I would not use it if I have to erase and do a copy from scratch each time. So I first erased and cloned the boot drive to a Samsung T5 via USB, then did a Smart Update. No errors etc. I disconnected my boot drive (Samsung X5), restarted to try and boot from the T5 (the clone) but got an error about "no authorized users" or something like that (forgot to take a picutre), then it got stuck in a sort of reboot loop until I turned the mini off.

I then reconnected the X5 to boot again from the source drive. I am now trying again with an unencrypted filesystem, since the first time I formatted the clone with encrypted APFS and I read on the SuperDuper blog that there is some issue with encrypted bootable volumes. I am waiting for the copy to finish and then will try to boot from the clone again. However I also contacted support to ask what to do because I don't want to keep an unencrypted copy of my data.

 

[chrfr]

The first attempt with Super Duper failed. I bought it so I could try the "Smart Update" feature to incrementally update the clone, since I would not use it if I have to erase and do a copy from scratch each time. So I first erased and cloned the boot drive to a Samsung T5 via USB, then did a Smart Update. No errors etc. I disconnected my boot drive (Samsung X5), restarted to try and boot from the T5 (the clone) but got an error about "no authorized users" or something like that (forgot to take a picutre), then it got stuck in a sort of reboot loop until I turned the mini off.

I then reconnected the X5 to boot again from the source drive. I am now trying again with an unencrypted filesystem, since the first time I formatted the clone with encrypted APFS and I read on the SuperDuper blog that there is some issue with encrypted bootable volumes. I am waiting for the copy to finish and then will try to boot from the clone again. However I also contacted support to ask what to do because I don't want to keep an unencrypted copy of my data.

I would reconsider whether or not you actually need a bootable clone.

 

[Realityck]

I would reconsider whether or not you actually need a bootable clone.

Yeah all you need is an unencrypted standard backup of your data to use with migration assistant as a ASR volume. Bootable isn’t primary concern.

 

[VitoBotta]

Second attempt with an unencrypted volume also failed. The system just doesn't boot from it. When I get the new SSD I am going to reinstall macOS and restore apps and data from TimeMachine. Shame because I would have like to keep an always up to date bootable clone.

I would reconsider whether or not you actually need a bootable clone.

According to SuperDuper it made the clone bootable.

Yeah all you need is an unencrypted standard backup of your data to use with migration assistant as a ASR volume. Bootable isn’t primary concern.

Yeah that's what I am going to do I figured.

 

[avz]

No, Disk Utility is no more capable than CCC for this sort of usage.

Restore function in Disk Utility produces a perfectly bootable copy of the system. I also recently learned that when you do it from the Recovery, Disk Utility "quits" after it verifies the source and the target and starts the restore process.

 

[chrfr]

Restore function in Disk Utility produces a perfectly bootable copy of the system. I also recently learned that when you do it from the Recovery, Disk Utility "quits" after it verifies the source and the target and starts the restore process.

It won't with the most recent macOS versions.

 

[avz]

It won't with the most recent macOS versions.

I keep forgetting that Mojave is the new Snow Leopard at this stage.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Not sure if I mentioned this earlier.

Since the introduction of the m-series CPU, and with the latest OS releases, whether or not you can create a bootable clone seems to depend on WHAT KIND OF DRIVE you're using for the backup.

The first times I tried to create a bootable cloned backup for my MacBook Pro 14", it failed.
That's because I was trying to create the clone on an OLD platter-based hard drive in a PATA (not SATA) enclosure, which was USB2 at best.

The data would be all "cloned over", BUT... the drive would not become bootable.**

For a while, I figured that bootable clones were a thing of the past with the new Macs.

BUT...
Then I tried creating a bootable clone using an SSD and SuperDuper.
Went right through the first time without problems.
I set up the "options" in SD to
erase the drive
copy the entire drive to the backup

The backup boots.

I can "incrementally update" the clone using either SuperDuper OR CarbonCopyCloner.

For many years on this forum, I have been a staunch advocate of CCC.
For some reason, Mr. Bombich seems to have made it increasingly harder to create a bootable backup using his latest versions.

I'd like to see a "one-touch" option in CCC to create a "legacy backup", right up in the menus, easy to find (so easy that it "jumps out" at you), easy to use.

It may not be for everyone any longer.
But... it should still be there for those who want it.

**drive SPEED and the control interface seem to have something to do with this.
Too slow = no boot

 

[VitoBotta]

OP:

Not sure if I mentioned this earlier.

Since the introduction of the m-series CPU, and with the latest OS releases, whether or not you can create a bootable clone seems to depend on WHAT KIND OF DRIVE you're using for the backup.

The first times I tried to create a bootable cloned backup for my MacBook Pro 14", it failed.
That's because I was trying to create the clone on an OLD platter-based hard drive in a PATA (not SATA) enclosure, which was USB2 at best.

The data would be all "cloned over", BUT... the drive would not become bootable.**

For a while, I figured that bootable clones were a thing of the past with the new Macs.

BUT...
Then I tried creating a bootable clone using an SSD and SuperDuper.
Went right through the first time without problems.
I set up the "options" in SD to
erase the drive
copy the entire drive to the backup

The backup boots.

I can "incrementally update" the clone using either SuperDuper OR CarbonCopyCloner.

For many years on this forum, I have been a staunch advocate of CCC.
For some reason, Mr. Bombich seems to have made it increasingly harder to create a bootable backup using his latest versions.

I'd like to see a "one-touch" option in CCC to create a "legacy backup", right up in the menus, easy to find (so easy that it "jumps out" at you), easy to use.

It may not be for everyone any longer.
But... it should still be there for those who want it.

**drive SPEED and the control interface seem to have something to do with this.
Too slow = no boot

I tried with an SSD (Samsung T5) via USB 3.0 and couldn't get it to work. Even the SuperDuper dev could not really help with this, blaming Apple.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"I tried with an SSD (Samsung T5) via USB 3.0 and couldn't get it to work."

Was this with Monterey or Ventura?
Can you explain EXACTLY what choices you picked using SD...?

 

[gilby101]

Can it make the clone bootable?

What macOS? And, I don't think you have said what Mac. You do need to use a recipe for your Mac type (Apple silicon, Intel with T2, Intel without T2) as well as macOS version.