new hard drives & transferring OS & apps onto it

[Sossity]

when one gets say a bigger or faster hard drive than the one in their mac pro; ie; macpro with a 320GB hard drive with mac os & apps on it, get a bigger faster one for mac os & apps, can one just clone the os & apps from the 320 to the newer hard drive? or do they need to do a reinstall of os & apps onto the new hard drive?

if the drives can be cloned, what would be the best program for this?

 

[mjsmke]

If everything is running fine in the OS then use Carbon Copy Cloner (free).

But if you have a few problems/issues within the OS your better off doing a fresh install.

 

[sOwL]

I'm not sure i fully understand what you mean. If you just want everything to be put on your new, faster hard drive then yes you can just clone the older drive to your newer one and it will work flawlessly. Carbon copy cloner is perfectly fine, another option is SuperDuper but it costs money. If you only want to copy the OS and apps but keep the rest of your files (e.g your home folder) to your older drive then you will need to follow a different path

 

[diazj3]

another option is SuperDuper but it costs money. If you only want to copy the OS and apps but keep the rest of your files (e.g your home folder) to your older drive then you will need to follow a different path

SuperDuper is also free to use in his case. It is only the extra features, such as scripting and the scheduler, that need to be unlocked via registration and payment.

If the OP wants to use one drive for OS and Apps, and another for the user files, cloning it as described is the first step. Then the OP can format the original drive and transfer the user folder and setup the new location.

cheers,

 

[mchalebk]

Disc Utility will also do this just fine.

 

[handheldgames]

Have done this many times.... Gone from a small HD to a much bigger one with new partitions. Ive tried Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper multiple times. From my experience, Carbon Copy Cloner has run into more "errors" where SuperDuper has done a flawless job of transferring the OS to a partition on a new drive. (I don't remember what they were other than the copy job not completing - on multiple occasions)

It's available here: http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html

Really easy to use:

Make sure you repair permissions before the copy for good measure:

Good Luck!

 

[philipma1957]

Have done this many times.... Gone from a small HD to a much bigger one with new partitions. Ive tried Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper multiple times. From my experience, Carbon Copy Cloner has run into more "errors" where SuperDuper has done a flawless job of transferring the OS to a partition on a new drive. (I don't remember what they were other than the copy job not completing - on multiple occasions)



1)disk utility will not make a bootable clone.

2) carbon copy cloner works most of the time 85% 90%

3) super duper has been good about 98% or 99%

 

[sab165]

Have done this many times.... Gone from a small HD to a much bigger one with new partitions. Ive tried Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper multiple times. From my experience, Carbon Copy Cloner has run into more "errors" where SuperDuper has done a flawless job of transferring the OS to a partition on a new drive. (I don't remember what they were other than the copy job not completing - on multiple occasions)



1)disk utility will not make a bootable clone.

2) carbon copy cloner works most of the time 85% 90%

3) super duper has been good about 98% or 99%

1) This is completely wrong! I used disk utility on 3 different MBP's right after Xmas to clone the factory drives to SSD's, and it worked flawlessly.

2) I ran into two errors in a matter of minutes using CCC so I decided to use DU.

3) Never tried super duper, but I've read several threads where it has worked wonders.

 

[DualShock]

If you're running Leopard or later, restoring from Time Machine is also an option.

However, this requires a backup on a hard drive separate from both the original and new drives, and requires you to boot the computer using the OS X disc.

 

[handheldgames]

1) This is completely wrong! I used disk utility on 3 different MBP's right after Xmas to clone the factory drives to SSD's, and it worked flawlessly.

2) I ran into two errors in a matter of minutes using CCC so I decided to use DU.

3) Never tried super duper, but I've read several threads where it has worked wonders.

Tried to get CCC to work and it has failed me multiple times whereas SuperDuper worked great. Never used DiskUtility as I never create a clone of the drive and usually change partition sizes when moving to a larger drive.

There many options out there... I usually take the one thats the easiest for me to complete and offers quickest solution.

 

[xgman]

Have done this many times.... Gone from a small HD to a much bigger one with new partitions. Ive tried Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper multiple times. From my experience, Carbon Copy Cloner has run into more "errors" where SuperDuper has done a flawless job of transferring the OS to a partition on a new drive. (I don't remember what they were other than the copy job not completing - on multiple occasions)



1)disk utility will not make a bootable clone.

IT WILL IF YOU USE IT FROM THE DVD!

2) carbon copy cloner works most of the time 85% 90%

3) super duper has been good about 98% or 99%

 

[mchalebk]

Disc Utility can certainly make a bootable clone.

 

[sOwL]

If the OP wants to use one drive for OS and Apps, and another for the user files, cloning it as described is the first step. Then the OP can format the original drive and transfer the user folder and setup the new location.

Hmm true but.. What if you want to transfer OS & apps to a hard drive that can only fit those and not the rest stuff? That was the case i was thinking of

 

[sab165]

Hmm true but.. What if you want to transfer OS & apps to a hard drive that can only fit those and not the rest stuff? That was the case i was thinking of

The best example I can think of for such a case is when someone would like a small SSD to house the OS and apps and nothing more, while all other files are to be housed on a much larger, cheaper drive. First start by moving all of the extra material (music, photos, videos, etc.) to another internal drive or an external, whichever is available. Then delete those files that were copied from the original drive that needs to be cloned. This should free up the necessary space to make the original drive clonalable to the new drive. Use your preferred software to clone the original drive and voila, everything should be better than ever.

 

[lemonade-maker]

rsync
Carbon copy cloner
Disk utility
Will all do what you are asking. Avoid commercial utilities, if possible.