Its Disk Utility good enough to clone?

[orbitalpunk]

Hi there,

I am upgrading my storage drive from 2TB to 3TB and wondered if using the built in Disk Utility Restore feature is good enough to moved my data over to the new drive or do I need something like Super Duper to be on the save side?

I wonder if Disk Utility includes hidden files as well.

Thanks guys

 

[gr8tfly]

Disk Utility works very well. I've used it for years, and can't remember a time I had issues with a Restore, including any problems booting if it's an OS clone. Edit: Disk Utility's backend, Apple Software Restore (ASR), has a long history. It has and (AFAIK) is used by Apple for factory disk imaging.

You will need to startup off a DVD or the Lion Recovery HD to use the Restore feature to clone your startup drive.

Lion Disk Utility uses block copy by default. On previous versions, check "erase destination...) to enable block copy. With block copy, all files will be Restored (cloned). Lion Disk Utility will also clone the Recovery HD partition to your destination drive.

Also, when first partitioning your new drive, make sure to use GUID partition table type ("Options..." when on the Partition tab).

 

[orbitalpunk]

well I ended up using Lion's Disk Utility and my folders have the correct size and number of files. But when I get info for the entire drive, there is about 60megs less in the newer one thats being used. hidden or system files perhaps?

 

[gr8tfly]

It could be .fsevents files, which Time Machine uses to determine changes. I believe on a new partition, it's deleted (the drive has a different ID) - you'll notice that Time Machine has your correct time line, but will still do a full backup after a Restore.

I can't remember if Spotlight needs to re-index or not, but that could be a difference (Spotlight indexes so fast these days, i usually don't notice - even on a re-index).