Cloning HDD (Mac+Bootcamp partitions)

[goodfidelity]

Any news on this subject?

Is there any cloning tool that will clone a Bootcamp SSD with GPD partition + NTFS partition into a new SSD, and keep it just the way it is?

Is there any application like this:

-One step, one app, one OS application for cloning the bootcamp partition and the small partition needed for booting it.
-Free to download

I tried to do this with samsung data migration tool, but it only clone the NTFS partition and not the boot partition that is before it.

Would really like to clone my SSD into the NVME ssd for my Mac Pro 5.1.

I have a PCI riser, and Samsung EVO 970 plus that i want to run Windows 10 for gaming.

Any help on this will be very appreciated!

Thanks guys!

//GF

 

[VaZ]

Any news on this subject?

Is there any cloning tool that will clone a Bootcamp SSD with GPD partition + NTFS partition into a new SSD, and keep it just the way it is?

Is there any application like this:

-One step, one app, one OS application for cloning the bootcamp partition and the small partition needed for booting it.
-Free to download

I tried to do this with samsung data migration tool, but it only clone the NTFS partition and not the boot partition that is before it.

Would really like to clone my SSD into the NVME ssd for my Mac Pro 5.1.

I have a PCI riser, and Samsung EVO 970 plus that i want to run Windows 10 for gaming.

Any help on this will be very appreciated!

Thanks guys!

//GF

Winclone
https://twocanoes.com/products/mac/winclone/

 

[goodfidelity]

Thanks!

Mangaged to do a clone from the internal SSD to my M2 SSD.
(using another free app, called Macrium)

But i just get the "no bootable device" on boot.

The two partitions looks very much the same when i look at them in the windows partition manager. But i am not sure that the boot partition for bootcamp is working properly.

When i look carefully i can see that the original disk says GPT protectivepartition, and on the cloned disk it does not..

Does anyone have advice here? How can i clone that GPT partition?
(i will try now to install the Mojave so that i can run the Winclone 8 and try that route too)

I would so much like to get my M2 ssd up and running..

//GF

EDIT:
Installed Mojave, downloaded winclone. Now it seems winclone does not support this feature in the free application. One has to pay. And that means if it does not work out as i intend, it will be money wasted.

All applications tried so far did not manage this operation.

So question remains, are there any free applications that can clone a bootcamp drive, straight into another drive and have it working? Including the boot partition?

 

[Mike Boreham]

Any news on this subject?

Is there any cloning tool that will clone a Bootcamp SSD with GPD partition + NTFS partition into a new SSD, and keep it just the way it is?

Is there any application like this:

-One step, one app, one OS application for cloning the bootcamp partition and the small partition needed for booting it.
-Free to download

I tried to do this with samsung data migration tool, but it only clone the NTFS partition and not the boot partition that is before it.

Would really like to clone my SSD into the NVME ssd for my Mac Pro 5.1.

I have a PCI riser, and Samsung EVO 970 plus that i want to run Windows 10 for gaming.

Any help on this will be very appreciated!

Thanks guys!

//GF

Years ago I regularly and successfully used CopyCatX by SubRosaSoft for this purpose....cloning a complete drive, Mac and Bootcamp in one operation.

I see it is still available, but since it proudly says "now compatible with Yosemite" I don't know when last updated.

Note that it can't clone incrementally so you have to do the whole disk every time.

My experience was all pre APFS but since I believe it works at block level this shouldn't matter.

 

[patent10021]

Any new news? Catalina + Bootcamp Win10 here.

Still CCC + Winclone for the win?

If I understand this thread correctly, CCC for macOS easy peasy and make Winclone clone on external USB.

For restore: Make partition for Bootcamp and partition for macOS. Restore both accordingly.

Correct?

 

[Mike Boreham]

Any new news? Catalina + Bootcamp Win10 here.

Still CCC + Winclone for the win?

If I understand this thread correctly, CCC for macOS easy peasy and make Winclone clone on external USB.

For restore: Make partition for Bootcamp and partition for macOS. Restore both accordingly.

Correct?

Yes, thats about it but I personally have not done this for a few years, so can't vouch for current versions of Windows 10, macOS, CCC and Winclone. As I remember it, the Winclone image doesn't have to be on an external, can be anywhere. convenient.

 

[RokGuitar]

I just cloned my OSX with Bootcamp to a new drive. I used Clonezilla without issue. Older Mac with High Sierra 10.13.6 and Boot Camp with Windows 10. Cloned entire disk to a new SSD directly. Everything worked extremely well. I hope this helps.

Install Clonezilla onto USB key. Boot machine from USB key. Clonezilla Launches automatically. Once booted, I clone from internal drive to USB mounted external SSD. Clone using all default setup. MAke sure to clone Disk to Disk not separate partitions.

 

[Megabass]

I just cloned my OSX with Bootcamp to a new drive. I used Clonezilla without issue. Older Mac with High Sierra 10.13.6 and Boot Camp with Windows 10. Cloned entire disk to a new SSD directly. Everything worked extremely well. I hope this helps.

Install Clonezilla onto USB key. Boot machine from USB key. Clonezilla Launches automatically. Once booted, I clone from internal drive to USB mounted external SSD. Clone using all default setup. MAke sure to clone Disk to Disk not separate partitions.

I tried to make a boot flash drive in various ways, but I could not load clonzilla: ( I tried RUFUS, balenaEtcher for mac and win, tuxboot. In some cases, I managed to start downloading with a flash drive, but unfortunately all attempts ended up hanging imac

What version of clonzilla did you use and how did you make the flash drive bootable?

 

[RokGuitar]

I tried to make a boot flash drive in various ways, but I could not load clonzilla: ( I tried RUFUS, balenaEtcher for mac and win, tuxboot. In some cases, I managed to start downloading with a flash drive, but unfortunately all attempts ended up hanging imac

What version of clonzilla did you use and how did you make the flash drive bootable?

Hi Megabass, I am used clonezilla-live-2.6.4-10-i686.iso I tried the latest release version and there seems to be an issue where it is not adding the vmlinuz file to the live folder which causes it to not run properly. Maybe try clonezilla-live-2.7.0-22-i686.iso I set this onto a USB and it appears to work. The Clning should work just as well. I use the ISO file for i686 CPU. I use Rufus to create the USB key. It makes the USB bootable and ready to use. https://clonezilla.org/downloads/download.php?branch=testing

 

[Megabass]

Hi Megabass, I am used clonezilla-live-2.6.4-10-i686.iso I tried the latest release version and there seems to be an issue where it is not adding the vmlinuz file to the live folder which causes it to not run properly. Maybe try clonezilla-live-2.7.0-22-i686.iso I set this onto a USB and it appears to work. The Clning should work just as well. I use the ISO file for i686 CPU. I use Rufus to create the USB key. It makes the USB bootable and ready to use. https://clonezilla.org/downloads/download.php?branch=testing

Thank you very much for such a detailed response 👍.
I tried the clonzilla amd-64 - maybe that's why it didn't work out.

 

[RokGuitar]

Thank you very much for such a detailed response 👍.
I tried the clonzilla amd-64 - maybe that's why it didn't work out.

Definitely need the i686. Good luck. I hop eit works for you too.

 

[Megabass]

Definitely need the i686. Good luck. I hop eit works for you too.

So I did not succeed: (
I was able to run Clonzilla, she even showed that she was able to make a disk clone, but the final disk was empty.
I guess I'll have to choose not to clone the bootcamp partition, but to install windows on an external disk and then install the bootcamp drivers
In addition, I've solved the problem of non-working Bluetooth on Windows, so now my magic mouse 2 and magic keyboard work completely

 

[mwidjaya]

I tried to make a boot flash drive in various ways, but I could not load clonzilla: ( I tried RUFUS, balenaEtcher for mac and win, tuxboot. In some cases, I managed to start downloading with a flash drive, but unfortunately all attempts ended up hanging imac

What version of clonzilla did you use and how did you make the flash drive bootable?

Apparently the trick is to erase/format the USB in a particular way so that Mac will see it when you Option-Start.

-Erase USB, choosing GUID and FAT
-Grab zip version of clonezilla live - I use AMD64
-Unzip files/dir onto root of USB

-Option-Start, you will see the EFI Boot
-Choose to fire up clonezilla

Tested and worked on my intel MBP

Clonezilla / Discussion / Clonezilla live: Clonezilla live for MacBook Pro

sourceforge.net

 

[macstatic]

I'm the OP and never got around to cloning the Bootcamp partition back then, but I want to give it another shot (I'm going to replace the 1TB SSD inside the Macbook Pro (mid-2012) with a 2TB SSD), so I decided to give Clonezilla a go but am obviously having problems with it.

First, after following the Clonezilla "USB setup with MacOS" instructions I got some conflicting messages.
First an error message when the BelenaEtcher app was done installing Clonezilla on to the USB flash drive, saying the USB flash drive is not readable by this computer:

And a couple of seconds later this MacOS notification message popped up saying it's successfuly flashed:

Obviously BelenaEtcher can't makeup its mind
So I tried booting the USB but my Mac didn't see the USB flash drive it at all.
I've tried with several different Clonezilla download ISOs but neither worked, so moving on to the suggestions posted above (posting #38)...

So I first reformatted the USB flash drive using ExFAT and GUID partition map (I suppose that's what you meant, Mwidjaya? There's also "MS-DOS (FAT)" but as far as I know that's an old, mostly outdated standard with many restrictions and not very usable these days).

Next I download the AMD version (clonezilla-live-2.7.1-22-amd64.zip) from the "stable" release branch as a ZIP file (not ISO as originally instructed at the Clonezilla site). After unzipping I copied all the files over to the USB flash drive. I renamed the "untitled" USB flash drive to "Clonezilla" to make it clear which drive to boot from.
Then, when rebooting I press (and hold) the ALT key until I get to choose which drive to boot from. Strangely I don't see "Clonezilla" but a drive named "EFI Boot".

....anyway, I choose that "EFI Boot" drive, resulting in a text-only window coming up entitled "GNU Grub" with a DOS command line. Obviously I'm doing something wrong. Some thoughts and questions....

1) I'm confused about which architecture to download. I've tried both AMD64 and i686 with the same result. My mid-2012 Macbook Pro (non-retina) has a 2.5 GHz i5 processor.

2) when trying to follow the original installation method (using ISO downloads) I tried double-clicking them in the Finder but all I got was an error message saying "No mountable file systems":

Actually got the same error message with two different ISO downloads (clonezilla-live-20160210-wily-amd64.iso and clonezilla-live-2.7.1-22-i686.iso). Does this mean the files are both corrupted or they're just not readable within MacOS?

 

[macstatic]

or if your Mac will boot from USB then this is by far the easiest way
http://knowledgebase.macrium.com/display/KNOW/Cloning+a+disk

While trying to figure out Clonezilla I want to try the above (Macrium).
This appears to be Windows software, so while I have the drive I want to make the clone to attached (an external enclosure via USB 3) I should first reboot the Mac into Windows/Bootcamp, then download and run Macrium?

Will this clone the entire Mac drive (both Mac and Bootcamp partitions) in one go, or do I first have to clone the Mac partition using CCC (or similar -Chronosync works fine for me since I already have it), then clone the Bootcamp partition with Macrium?

My Macbook Pro allows booting from external USB. Are you referring to rebooting from the cloned drive when done (for testing that it works before physically moving it over to the Mac)?

EDIT: I just realized Macrium is commercial software, not free. But there's a free version with limited features. Will that version do for the purpose discussed here?

 

[Mike Boreham]

While trying to figure out Clonezilla I want to try the above (Macrium).
This appears to be Windows software, so while I have the drive I want to make the clone to attached (an external enclosure via USB 3) I should first reboot the Mac into Windows/Bootcamp, then download and run Macrium?

Will this clone the entire Mac drive (both Mac and Bootcamp partitions) in one go, or do I first have to clone the Mac partition using CCC (or similar -Chronosync works fine for me since I already have it), then clone the Bootcamp partition with Macrium?

My Macbook Pro allows booting from external USB. Are you referring to rebooting from the cloned drive when done (for testing that it works before physically moving it over to the Mac)?

EDIT: I just realized Macrium is commercial software, not free. But there's a free version with limited features. Will that version do for the purpose discussed here?

My impression is that Windows backup tools like Acronis and Macrium don't understand or support Bootcamp partitioning when it comes to restoring a whole system. OK within Bootcamp for files on that system.

I am not up to date on this stuff so this may have changed.

 

[macstatic]

My impression is that Windows backup tools like Acronis and Macrium don't understand or support Bootcamp partitioning when it comes to restoring a whole system. OK within Bootcamp for files on that system.

I am not up to date on this stuff so this may have changed.

So you're basically saying that I clone the entire drive in two steps like this?:

1) clone the Mac partition(s) using "Carbon Copy Cloner", "Super Duper" or similar.
2) clone the Bootcamp (Windows) partition using Macrium or whatever

 

[Mike Boreham]

So you're basically saying that I clone the entire drive in two steps like this?:

1) clone the Mac partition(s) using "Carbon Copy Cloner", "Super Duper" or similar.
2) clone the Bootcamp (Windows) partition using Macrium or whatever

No. I am saying that Macrium or Acronis will NOT restore a complete Windows System to a Bootcamp partition. (or didn't when I was doing this stuff)

The only way I have ever successfully restored a complete Windows system was using Winclone.

But I have also successfully cloned a complete physical drive with Mac and Bootcamp, in one go with both CopycatX and Drive Genius as in post#9 nearly four years ago. I said then it wasn't recently, so even more likely to have changed now!

 

[macstatic]

This seems to be more complicated and time consuming than I had hoped for

I just tried the free version of Macrium (downloaded and installed within Bootcamp on the same Mac I'm going to clone from).
All looked well until it was actually ready to clone. First I got this question about building a Windows PE rescue environment. I have no idea what this is, so I clicked "no" to this:

Then I got an error message saying it was unable to lock the drive and can't proceed.
Perhaps I should have answered "yes" to the above Windows PE stuff?

Winclone seems a little expensive (US$ 50) for something I might use once or twice, which is why I was hoping for a free solution.
CopyCatX which you mention is apparently no longer solde/supported -if you go to the Subrosa website they say they've "closed shop".
Drive Genius at US$ 79 (US$ 98 with taxes for me) is even more expensive than Winclone.

 

[Mike Boreham]

This seems to be more complicated and time consuming than I had hoped for

I just tried the free version of Macrium (downloaded and installed within Bootcamp on the same Mac I'm going to clone from).
All looked well until it was actually ready to clone. First I got this question about building a Windows PE rescue environment. I have no idea what this is, so I clicked "no" to this:
View attachment 1725989


Then I got an error message saying it was unable to lock the drive and can't proceed.
Perhaps I should have answered "yes" to the above Windows PE stuff?

View attachment 1725991


Winclone seems a little expensive (US$ 50) for something I might use once or twice, which is why I was hoping for a free solution.
CopyCatX which you mention is apparently no longer solde/supported -if you go to the Subrosa website they say they've "closed shop".
Drive Genius at US$ 79 (US$ 98 with taxes for me) is even more expensive than Winclone.

When I used Bootcamp regularly I regarded Winclone as absolutely essential and good value. As well as providing a backup and restore option for the Bootcamp partition, it also enabled resizing (up and down) and moving Bootcamp to an external drive.

Backing up the data inside your Bootcamp install is a different issue from being able to restore the whole volume onto a Mac.

Paragon may have some tools that do similar, but I never tried them. And as I said before, my experience in all this may be out of date.

 

[macstatic]

Thanks for sharing.
Actually, it may be better to fork out the cash for Winclone or similar software than spending all this time and frustrations getting things to work when they don't, to be honest.
Unfortunately the trial version of Winclone needs 10.15 (Catalina) while a license allows for older versions to be used with it as well (The Macbook Pro is currently at 10.9.5 and I plan to upgrade to 10.13 High Sierra) -so I've contacted TwoCanoes Software to ask about a compatible trial version.

Am I understanding it correctly that just about all the other regular Mac cloning tools out there only allow for cloning the Mac partition, and likewise, specialty tools such as Winclone and the other ones you mentioned only clone the Bootcamp partition?

I'm sorry if I misunderstand you, but what do you mean by the following?:

Backing up the data inside your Bootcamp install is a different issue from being able to restore the whole volume onto a Mac.

Are you referring to other methods than Winclone etc. or are there things that even Winclone won't duplicate on to the new drive?

Sorry for all the repeated questions. The subject is confusing and I'm trying to find a not-too-complicated working solution for all of this. Most of the methods appear very geeky, complex and time consuming. Not very Mac like if you know what I mean

 

[Mike Boreham]

Regular Mac Cloning tools like CCC and SD only clone the Mac Partition.

Winclone only clones (actually makes an image of) the Bootcamp partition.

The other ones I mentioned (Copycat and Drive Genius) will drivecopy a whole drive, both Mac and Bootcamp. But these are not really backup and restore tools and have limitations and restrictions.

What I meant by "Backing up the data inside your Bootcamp install is a different issue from being able to restore the whole volume onto a Mac" is that Winclone can backup and restore the whole Bootcamp partition, obviously including all your files, data, apps and settings inside Bootcamp. My belief, based on the when I was last doing this stuff, is that Macrium and Acronis, which run from inside Windows can backup all the files, data, apps and settings, but NOT restore the Bootcamp partition onto a Mac. I may not be up to date on this.

This discussion reminds me why I gave up on Bootcamp five years ago and have only used Parallels, which avoids them all and is much simpler to manage, backup, restore, move between computers etc.

Have you seriously considered Parallels?

 

[Mike Boreham]

My belief, based on the when I was last doing this stuff, is that Macrium and Acronis, which run from inside Windows can backup all the files, data, apps and settings, but NOT restore the Bootcamp partition onto a Mac. I may not be up to date on this.

I expect your Googling of Macrium and Bootcamp found this thread, which says that Macrium can be used to restore the Bootcamp partition, but it didn't look simple. Winclone, which is run from the Mac side is much simpler.

I still recommend Parallels.

 

[macstatic]

Thanks for the link (no I hadn't read it). I agree -this stuff looks complicated.

I might have tried Parallels several years ago when looking into ways of running Windows, but I ended up with Bootcamp because it was already available and was told that it was my best option as I needed it for controlling an EPROM programmer connected to the USB port (apparently not all virtual software can handle this properly).

I hope to get trial versions of Winclone soon so I can try it out. It's frustrating that I can't just clone the whole drive in one go, but then again I won't need to back up the Bootcamp partition regularly as I don't keep files there. It's just a temporary work area (but I don't want to reinstall everything in case a crash etc.)
The Mac partition on the other hand is where I do keep all my files, so that needs to be backed up regularly, but that's no problem with Time Machine etc. of course

Reading earlier postings I'm curious about "dd" as it apparently clones the entire drive without "looking" at what's actually there (i.e. it doesn't care about the file format etc.) so that should be interesting.
I need to make a bootable USB-flash drive with MacOS on it first though as it's not recommended (or possible?) to clone from a drive that's actually in use. But Winclone sounds more user friendly.

 

[Mike Boreham]

I need to make a bootable USB-flash drive with MacOS on it first though as it's not recommended (or possible?) to clone from a drive that's actually in use.

CCC works fine cloning the mac volume it is booted from. This is the normal use case.