Cloning NVME Drive

[RoadRunnerAlgarve]

I have an M4 MacMini sitting on a Satechi hub with a 1TB NVME. The OS is still on the MacMini with some applications and data on the NVME drive.
I am having many problems with external drives (e.g. Time Machine; Super Duper; Photos and Music) frequently not being recognised.
I have decided to deal with some of these problems by replacing the 1TB drive in the hub with something bigger to at least hold the photos and Music.
I can't face doing the whole reinstallation and want to just precisely replicate the content of the 1TB drive onto a bigger drive of same type, e.g WD Black SN850X M2 2280
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Boyd01]

I don't see why Carbon Copy Cloner wouldn't do what you want. The only limitation is that they no longer fully support bootable clones, but you don't want to do that (if I understand what you're saying). Now, if there are problems reading the old disk, that's another matter. But my experience is that Carbon Copy tries very hard to copy everything and will do a better job with a sketchy disk than a straight Finder copy.

 

[Bigwaff]

I have an M4 MacMini sitting on a Satechi hub with a 1TB NVME. The OS is still on the MacMini with some applications and data on the NVME drive.
I am having many problems with external drives (e.g. Time Machine; Super Duper; Photos and Music) frequently not being recognised.

Is your Satechi hub have its own power supply or using the mini for power?

 

[RoadRunnerAlgarve]

Is your Satechi hub have its own power supply or using the mini for power?

The Satechi MacMini hub does not have its own power supply. It relies on the connection to one of the 3 Thunderbolt ports on the back of the Mac Mini M4

 

[Bigwaff]

The Satechi MacMini hub does not have its own power supply. It relies on the connection to one of the 3 Thunderbolt ports on the back of the Mac Mini M4

Unfortunately, I believe the mini M4 has inconsistent power delivery from the USB-C ports during sleep/low power mode. Many threads from mini M4 owners regarding disconnecting drives attached directly to the ports. Adding a powered hub resolves the disconnects.

 

[RoadRunnerAlgarve]

Unfortunately, I believe the mini M4 has inconsistent power delivery from the USB-C ports during sleep/low power mode. Many threads from mini M4 owners regarding disconnecting drives attached directly to the ports. Adding a powered hub resolves the disconnects.

I was considering this and the Caldigit seems the best, but too expensive for me, so I think I will go for the OWC Thunderbolt 4 11 port

 

[RoadRunnerAlgarve]

Going back to the original question re cloning NVME drive, would Carbon Copy Cloner be any better/ easier/ safer than SuperDuper?
I would stress that the Satechi NVME drive is used to increase storage on the basic Mac Mini M4 with the OS still on the Mini

 

[Bigwaff]

Going back to the original question re cloning NVME drive, would Carbon Copy Cloner be any better/ easier/ safer than SuperDuper?

Nope, especially if your primary use case is copying/cloning a data only drive.

 

[Ray2]

Going back to the original question re cloning NVME drive, would Carbon Copy Cloner be any better/ easier/ safer than SuperDuper?
I would stress that the Satechi NVME drive is used to increase storage on the basic Mac Mini M4 with the OS still on the Mini

I’ve been running a daily scheduled clone to an external OWC/SN850X, bus powered off M2 Studio using SuperDuper. Flawless, boots every time. Works on an M1 Air as well. 2 caveats: 1), follow the instruction on his blog, 2), erase and start fresh after every MacOS upgrade. Can’t speak to CCC, stopped using it long ago.

 

[RoadRunnerAlgarve]

I’ve been running a daily scheduled clone to an external OWC/SN850X, bus powered off M2 Studio using SuperDuper. Flawless, boots every time. Works on an M1 Air as well. 2 caveats: 1), follow the instruction on his blog, 2), erase and start fresh after every MacOS upgrade. Can’t speak to CCC, stopped using it long ago.

Thanks Ray2. I have been a SuperDuper user for many years, but have never had to put it to a severe test, so your experience is most valuable. Thanks for the tip about renewing after MacOS updates - I hadn't thought of that.

 

[Ifti]

You could always use an offline cloning unit. It's an additional purchase, but I find its quite handy to not only clone, but also connect and access data from NVMe drives without using a full external enclosure.......
Just another option......

 

[RoadRunnerAlgarve]

One thing that is worth passing on is that the popular hubs which sit under the Mac Mini (or at least the Satechi version) seem to have a significant shortcoming, i.e. power limitations to the ports.
It seems pointless to provide a number of ports on the front of these devices if you cannot plug a couple of backup HDD's in without having drive recognition problems, which the manufacturer states are because of power limitations.
However, lesson learned and will now have to buy a mains powered hub.

 

[theluggage]

I can't face doing the whole reinstallation and want to just precisely replicate the content of the 1TB drive onto a bigger drive of same type, e.g WD Black SN850X M2 2280

You could try something like this - doubles as a plug-in M.2 reader for Mac. Maybe not worth it for a one off job but it’s a handy tool if you’re messing around with M.2 sticks.

Cloning is a stand-alone operation - doesn’t have to be plugged in to the Mac. Disclaimer: I haven’t tried it with APFS format sticks.

SSK M.2 NVMe SSD Cloner, Dual Bay Enclosure, Tool-Free 20Gbps USB3.2 Gen 2X2 Docking Station for M Key PCIe NVMe SSD Reader, Offline Clone

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[RoadRunnerAlgarve]

You could try something like this - doubles as a plug-in M.2 reader for Mac. Maybe not worth it for a one off job but it’s a handy tool if you’re messing around with M.2 sticks.

Cloning is a stand-alone operation - doesn’t have to be plugged in to the Mac. Disclaimer: I haven’t tried it with APFS format sticks.

SSK M.2 NVMe SSD Cloner, Dual Bay Enclosure, Tool-Free 20Gbps USB3.2 Gen 2X2 Docking Station for M Key PCIe NVMe SSD Reader, Offline Clone

www.amazon.co.uk

Yes, I did look at those and I have similar for HDD's, but I can't see me having much subsequent use for one so it would sit in the drawer. I think I will go for a Zike drive and together withe the redundant 1TB drive, use it as a backup drive in some way. Still uneasy about mixing Time Machine B/U and other data on same drive!

 

[Ray2]

Thanks Ray2. I have been a SuperDuper user for many years, but have never had to put it to a severe test, so your experience is most valuable. Thanks for the tip about renewing after MacOS updates - I hadn't thought of that.

The blog How To is years old and may not be fully updated. If you want to read it, it’s an entry dated Monday, October 25, 2021, when he got cloning on M Series Macs working. It may even say you can’t run a clone on any updated MacOS (dot updates). The way Dave subsequently dealt with this is SD only updates the user portion after Apple has blessed the clone. Which is fine with me, if I need an OS updated clone I simply boot off it and run the update. For upgrades, I’ve wiped and redone the clone rather than see if I can upgrade off the clone. Might be possible, don’t know. If it fails when starting to write to the external, make sure the User Data volume was mounted. On the Air I inconsistently have this issue and I have to mount it manually. No issues with the Studio.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS:
Is the drive that's currently in the under-the-Mini hub a boot drive?
Or... is it just "a data drive" (is not bootable)?

If it's just "a data drive", then what you want to do is easy.
a. get the new nvme
b. get another external nvme enclosure to put the new drive into
c. connect it and use EITHER CCC or SD to just "clone it over"
d. when done, swap the two drives.

HOWEVER...
If it's a BOOT drive, things get more complicated.
How I'd do it:
a. get the new nvme
b. get the external nvme enclosure
c. take the OLD drive OUT OF the hub, and put the new drive into it.
d. put the OLD drive into the external nvme enclosure, set it aside for the moment
e. boot to the recovery options, open disk utility
f. erase/format the new nvme to APFS, GUID partition format
g. open the OS installer and install a brand-new copy of the OS onto the new drive
h. when done, the initial setup will appear. At this point, connect the OLD nvme drive in the external enclosure
i. begin setup, and use setup assistant to migrate the entire contents of the OLD nvme to the new one.
Now you'll have a clean copy of the OS, and all your apps/accounts/data/settings on the new drive as well -- just as before (but with more drive space).

Yes, this is more work.
But cloning an m-series OS can be tricky. Might work, might not. You can give it a try, but if it doesn't work, my method above should...

 

[RoadRunnerAlgarve]

The OS is still on the Mac Mini and the WD NVME drive just has most of the non-Apple apps, so I think it will be the simpler process described. Some apps don't seem to function well currently on the external drive i.e. Nord VPN, Logitech etc so I want to check everything out first.
I am also going to integrate an OWC hub first to ensure more reliable connections before I attempt the cloning.