Want to Clone from one iMac (with Windows partition) to another in Target Disk Mode

[rickpoet]

Hi, I'd like to clone on old intel iMac to a newer (albeit 2015) iMac. The old iMac has both MacOS and a Windows partition. My thought is to connect the newer / recipient iMac to the older one with the newer connected in Target Disk mode. Then use some kind of disk cloning software to clone the entire hard drive as is, block by block, to the newer Mac, ideally leaving the newer mac ready to boot in either MacOS or Windows as the older one currently is.

Wondering if there's a single piece of cloning software which can do this in a straightforward easy way? If so, what is it and, do I need to pre-format the recipient Mac's drive in any particular way before proceeding.

Thanks so much,

Rick

 

[Fishrrman]

I would suggest using a USB drive for this.
Just clone to the external drive.
Take the external drive to the target iMac.
Boot from the external and "RE-clone" to the target iMac.

You can try target disk mode first, perhaps that will work.
But if you encounter problems, try MY way -- almost 100% guaranteed to work.

 

[rickpoet]

I would suggest using a USB drive for this.
Just clone to the external drive.
Take the external drive to the target iMac.
Boot from the external and "RE-clone" to the target iMac.

You can try target disk mode first, perhaps that will work.
But if you encounter problems, try MY way -- almost 100% guaranteed to work.

Is there a reason it wouldn't work in Target with the internal drive of the recipient mac set to Target Disk mode? Seems like that would save the whole step of re-cloning?

And the other part of the question is what software can accomplish cloning the entire drive as is (both Windows and MacOS partitions)?

 

[Fishrrman]

I recommend using an external drive because it eliminates one factor that could go wrong (target disk mode). I'm not saying that won't work. I just see using a backup drive as "the better way".

Neither CarbonCopyCloner nor SuperDuper can clone a windows partition.

I don't use bootcamp.
I understand there's something called "WinClone" that can back up the windows partition.
I don't know if it's possible to restore a bootcamp partition to another Mac.
That's for others to answer.

 

[DJLC]

I'd think Target Disk Mode would work fine... Carbon Copy Cloner used to be a great option for the Mac partitions before APFS. But it's a bit harder to make a true clone of a macOS boot disk these days. More info on that from the CCC developer here.

For the Windows side, there are options like WinClone that may be able to do it. Sometimes cloning Windows works great; other times it's a pain. Hard to say. You may also have trouble getting Windows to see the hardware properly so you can clone.

If I'm being honest: I think you'd have a far easier time migrating stuff with Migration Assistant or by hand for macOS + reinstall Windows from scratch.

 

[AppliedMicro]

Remember that some things just won’t work.
Such as cloning local (non-iCloud) keychains with saved passwords. You‘ll not be able to access them.

so, what is it and, do I need to pre-format the recipient Mac's drive in any particular way before proceeding.

If you want to clone block by block, pre-formatting is pointless.

I recommend using an external drive because it eliminates one factor that could go wrong (target disk mode).

There’s nothing wrong with target disk mode. It just works like an external system. I would choose target disk mode for that very reason: to eliminate the factor of the external HDD. That’s one clone process less than using an external HDD.

If I'm being honest: I think you'd have a far easier time migrating stuff with Migration Assistant or by hand for macOS + reinstall Windows from scratch.

I second that. I‘d use Migration Assistant to migrate - and it may be a good idea to set the old Mac into target disk mode to use as a source disk.

Worry about Windows separately.

 

[rickpoet]

Thanks for the input. I feel like, if it's actually going to work, a direct cloning of hard drive to hard drive would be the easiest way without worrying about a new Windows install or using migration assiststant. (Of course I recognize the big variable hear being "if it's actually going to work." I was looking at this article on using DD (terminal command) to do this: https://github.com/vitalz/how-to-dd-on-mac/blob/master/README.md - I would launch the source Mac in recovery mode...then attach the recipient mac in Target Disk mode and follow those DD instructions to move the whole thing over. Then pray.

 

[DJLC]

I would launch the source Mac in recovery mode...then attach the recipient mac in Target Disk mode and follow those DD instructions to move the whole thing over. Then pray.

I suppose the worst case scenario is: dd doesn't end up working, so you reinstall macOS on the new Mac and go to plan B. No harm, no foul.

I'm not sure I'd recommend trying it, but I'm definitely interested to hear if you do try it! Please let us know how it goes.

 

[rickpoet]

Well, so far I received an "operation not permitted" message in Terminal and the iMac is so old that "Full Disk Access" in preferences/security/privacy doesn't exist. :/

 

[DJLC]

IIRC, I think you need to run it as root + you need to manually unmount (not eject) the disks in question first. Hopefully that helps, but of course YMMV.

 

[rickpoet]

I used terminal to unmount the destination drive, but I have to unmount the source drive too? (Terminal isn't available in recovery mode so I booted as the admin user on the source mac.)

 

[rickpoet]

I used terminal to unmount the destination drive, but I have to unmount the source drive too? (Terminal isn't available in recovery mode so I booted as the admin user on the source mac.)

Actually I see terminal isn't available from within Disk Utility...I need to get to it before I head into Disk Utility from the Utilities dropdown menu. :/

 

[DJLC]

I think the process most likely to maybe possibly work is...

1. Boot source into recovery, destination into target disk mode.
2. Open Disk Utility. Unmount source volume (Macintosh HD presumably). Unmount destination volume.
3. Close Disk Utility. Open Terminal. Use DD to copy source to destination.

This said, I'm realizing one issue with this: if you wanted to copy the entire drive but you're booted from Recovery, I'm not sure it'll let you unmount the entire disk. Pretty sure you'll only be able to unmount the non-active partitions. It might be better to boot the source from a USB drive so you can unmount and dd from entire disk to entire disk rather than partition to partition.

Disclaimer: totally open to someone smarter telling me I'm gravely mistaken and completely wrong.

 

[rickpoet]

I've done everything above except unmounting the source drive. The DD command is entered...no response from it, assuming (as we do) that it's just in the process of copying and will let me know when it's done?

 

[DJLC]

I've done everything above except unmounting the source drive. The DD command is entered...no response from it, assuming (as we do) that it's just in the process of copying and will let me know when it's done?

That sounds right to me. I think there's a switch you could've added to the command to get some sort of progress indicator. But by default, I'm pretty sure it just sits there mysteriously until it's done.

 

[rickpoet]

Recommended religions or gods to pray to while it's doing it's mysterious thing?

 

[Fishrrman]

If you'd followed the plan I originally presented in post 2 above, you'd be up-and-running on the target iMac already...
(without the Windows/bootcamp partition, of course)

 

[rickpoet]

If you'd followed the plan I originally presented in post 2 above, you'd be up-and-running on the target iMac already...
(without the Windows/bootcamp partition, of course)

My whole goal here is to make sure the Windows partition gets cloned. Cloning the Mac isn’t really an issue. If that’s all I needed, I could just use migration assistant without any issue. So whereas I appreciate your plan, it doesn’t actually do what I need it to do.

 

[hfg]

My whole goal here is to make sure the Windows partition gets cloned. Cloning the Mac isn’t really an issue. If that’s all I needed, I could just use migration assistant without any issue. So whereas I appreciate your plan, it doesn’t actually do what I nerd it to do.

I used 'WinClone' to move my Windows partition to new machines in my Intel/Mac days.
Worked great!

 

[chrfr]

My whole goal here is to make sure the Windows partition gets cloned. Cloning the Mac isn’t really an issue. If that’s all I needed, I could just use migration assistant without any issue. So whereas I appreciate your plan, it doesn’t actually do what I need it to do.

Winclone is the way to go for this, but your Windows install may not actually boot on the new iMac due to hardware differences on the two computers, unless you run Sysprep in Windows first.
Winclone is not super cheap, but it works very well, and it’s worth the money to back up and clone Boot Camp installations if that’s what you need to do.