SuperDuper fails to clone pre-USB-c Mac to a USB-c Mac?

[thagomizer]

i just sold an old iMac and bought a 2017 15” MacBook Pro. This is my first machine with USB-c. I used migration assistant to move my data from the iMac to the new laptop over a thunderbolt to USB-c adapter.

I also have a 2014 15” MacBook Pro.

It has been my habit to keep my macs as clones of each other. So yesterday I tried to clone my new 2017 MBP to my old 2014 MBP. I have the appropriate cable and i know the cable and adapter are fine. I first tried a Smart Update, which resulted in a system that would boot but not let me login. Then I did an erase of the old system and full clone of the 2017 MBP to the 2014MPB. This time, the 2014 won’t even boot.

I’ve been Cloning macs for over a decade without. A problem, and it never mattered what model they were. iMacs to MacBooks, old Mac Pro to MacBook Pro, it has never failed as long as the OS was the most recent, and that the older machine was known to be able to handle the newer machine’s OS. It always worked. Is there something very different about the new Macs, or the version of Sierra that they come with, that prevents that copy of the OS from running on a 2014 Mac?

Should I try Carbon Copy Cloner, or is this problem inherent to the hardware combination?
[doublepost=1506184839][/doublepost]I messed up the thread title. As I wrote in the post, I am trying to clone a USB-c Mac to a pre-USB-c Mac. Cloning from the 2017 to the 2014. After the clone complete and I try to boot the 2014, it immediately fails with a black screen with a bunch of Unix error messages.

 

[Weaselboy]

Sierra should run fine on the 2014.

I'm a little confused how you are physically connecting things though?

 

[thagomizer]

I have an Apple thunderbolt cable connected to an Apple thunderbolt-to-USBc adapter.

The 2014 was running Sierra fine before this. But for some reason it will not accept a perfect clone of the 2017.

 

[Weaselboy]

I have an Apple thunderbolt cable connected to an Apple thunderbolt-to-USBc adapter.

It might be because of the way you are connected. Are you in target disk mode?

The more common way people do this is to use SD or CCC to clone to an external, then clone that back to the second Mac.

 

[organicCPU]

Sometimes a NVRAM reset performs miracles after cloning one Mac to another.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

 

[thagomizer]

It might be because of the way you are connected. Are you in target disk mode?

The more common way people do this is to use SD or CCC to clone to an external, then clone that back to the second Mac.

I am trying something similar now. Cloning the 2017 to a USB drive, then I will use migration assistant to import that into a clean install of Sierra on the 2014. Then software update. Taking a long time....
[doublepost=1506205412][/doublepost]

Sometimes a NVRAM reset performs miracles after cloning one Mac to another.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

That's a good idea, I didn't think of thT. I'll keep it in mind.

And to answer the question above, yes, when I did the direct connection it was target disk mode on the 2014.

 

[thagomizer]

The attempt I described in my previous post worked. I cloned my 2017 Mac (with all my stuff on it) to a USB drive. Then did a fresh install of Sierra on the 2014 Mac. Then used Migration Assistant on the 2014 Mac to restore from the USB drive.

Afterwards, all I had to do was go to App Store and install a few updates for Sierra, Safari, iTunes, etc.

Hopefully after High Sierra comes out I'll be able to clone machine-to-machine again.