How to move a whole external drive to a new external drive

Discussion in 'MacBook Pro' started by CCC-SWEETS, Mar 28, 2018.

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  1. CCC-SWEETS, Mar 28, 2018

    CCC-SWEETS macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2011
    #1
    Hello,

    MacBook Pro (Early 2011) with OS High Siera

    I have so many small external hard drives and CD/DVDs (!), which are taking up my storage space, so I am trying to move everything into my new 10TB external G-Technology drive. (I know it's risky to move them into one drive, but most important ones are already backed up.)

    I was searching about the best & easiest way to do this, and some sites recommend to do "restore" in Disk Utility. So I tried to do that, but it tells me everything in the new drive will be erased. I guess it's like replacing the content of them. But I have many drives, so I need to keep the files in the source drive while transferring the files from the small drives.

    What is the best way to do this? I've tried to copy and paste the whole drive before but it crushed after a few hours so I am looking for the safest/easiest way.

    Thanks in advance!
     
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  2. BrianBaughn, Mar 28, 2018

    BrianBaughn macrumors 603

    BrianBaughn

    Joined:
    Feb 13, 2011
    Location:
    Baltimore, Maryland
    #2
    Using the Finder to copy the contents of each drive to the new drive is possible. A better way might be to use Carbon Copy Cloner (free for 30 days) to copy each drive over to a folder or disk image on the new drive. Alternately, you could use Disk Utility to save each drive as a disk image on the new drive.

    Of the three methods I'd suggest CCC.
     
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  3. MacDawg, Mar 28, 2018

    MacDawg macrumors Core

    MacDawg

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    #3
    I too would suggest CCC
     
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  4. CCC-SWEETS, Mar 28, 2018

    CCC-SWEETS thread starter macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2011
    #4
    OK great, I'll try CCC. Thank you!
     
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  5. Fishrrman, Mar 29, 2018

    Fishrrman macrumors P6

    Fishrrman

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2009
    #5
    One more vote for CCC (or SuperDuper).

    NOTHING will do the job easier and more reliably.
    Not even "the finder".
     
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