I am swapping the old Hard Drive out of my 2011 iMac this weekend for a SSD drive. I usually install new drives with a fresh everything, but for this Mac I need to keep everything as is, lots of stuff there for my vinyl graphics business. Would you guys recommend CCC to backup my existing drive to the new one and just swap it? I’ve never used CCC before, can it really be that easy?
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Carbon Copy Cloner
- Thread starter ispperformance
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Yes I would it is what I do every time and it is that easy. For so many years I forget how long it is I have used it to do this. It has never failed me in this, it works perfectly for the task.
I think you would probably be safe with Apple's migration assistant, but cloning will definitely work.
I highly recommend using CCC for bootable backups in general, and it is really easy to use. Although, I am still using an older version, but I doubt it has gotten more complex.
It seems like each version I'd getting more simple and easy to use.
One thing though, I would make backup if your HDD, make sure it works externally first, then update your internal HDD to High Sierra to get the firmware update.
After installing a SSD, I tried going from 10.10 to 10.13 on a Mid 2011 iMac, but was unable to install past 10.12 due to not having some firmware updated.
I couldn't update the firmware on the SSD, from my research, it had to be an Apple OEM drive.
I swapped everything back, updated the OS to High Sierra on the failing drive, and swapped everything again, and was able to install a fresh OS on the internal SSD.
BTW, the SSD with be a huge upgrade to the Mid 2011.
I highly recommend using CCC for bootable backups in general, and it is really easy to use. Although, I am still using an older version, but I doubt it has gotten more complex.
It seems like each version I'd getting more simple and easy to use.
One thing though, I would make backup if your HDD, make sure it works externally first, then update your internal HDD to High Sierra to get the firmware update.
After installing a SSD, I tried going from 10.10 to 10.13 on a Mid 2011 iMac, but was unable to install past 10.12 due to not having some firmware updated.
I couldn't update the firmware on the SSD, from my research, it had to be an Apple OEM drive.
I swapped everything back, updated the OS to High Sierra on the failing drive, and swapped everything again, and was able to install a fresh OS on the internal SSD.
BTW, the SSD with be a huge upgrade to the Mid 2011.
Yes to both replies so far. I've used CCC for HD->SSD replacements several times, and use CCC as my all-around backup tool. Never gone to a CCC backup and found it to be unusable (unlike TM).
I did exactly what you're contemplating last weekend. I used CCC to clone my iMac's Fusion Drive onto an SSD I'd bought (mounted temporarily in a USB enclosure) and then installed that SSD right into the iMac. Worked perfectly. As soon as I was done, the SSD booted up and all is exactly as it was before the clone -- except for some reason Dropbox got cranky about it. Been using CCC for years and it's never let me down.
That iMac screen adhesive is no joke, though.
That iMac screen adhesive is no joke, though.
Restore a disk using Disk Utility on Mac
In Disk Utility on your Mac, make an exact copy of one volume on another volume.
support.apple.com
If you want to buy CCC just to have around for later, I get that, but if you just need to do a one time clone, that can be done with the Disk Utility Restore feature.
Are you referring to your iMac or the OP's? The OP's Mid 2011 doesn't have adhesive like the Late 2012+ iMacs, but magnets hold the glass on.
I am thinking of doing the same with my Late 2012 iMac with a 1TB Fusion Drive, but I was thinking of setting up a three-drive SW RAID0 using SSDs connected via USB3 to SATA cables and use a TB dock that I have with three USB 3 ports on it. I should get read speeds over 1000MBps.
I would then use my internal Fusion Drive as a bootable backup that I would update everyday with CCC.
I think it might be kind of cool to try just for the fun of it, as I doubt there is too many people with that set up.
Or, maybe I might just do an internal drive swap. I haven't decided yet....
You get a fully functional trial copy when downloading it, no need to purchase. And unlike disk utility no need to boot the recovery mode to do the cloning. I used to use it to do the same job until apple helpfully took away that option from it and forced you to do it from a non-running system.
I use CCC as my regular backup program. When I've transitioned to a new machine, I've used Migration Assistant to bring over the information to the new machine, so that is a path available to you if you prefer.
Oh nice. In that case, this would be so much easier.
[automerge]1587651927[/automerge]
The way a FD works puts a LOT of stress and wear on the SSD portion. That’s why I did surgery on mine — a couple of utilities were tellling me it was down to 15% of its lifetime left.
If you feel up to the internal drive swap (hard but do-able if you’re very careful), I highly recommend this thread:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/a-list-of-successful-imac-27-2012-2019-ssd-upgrades.2162435/
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It was so easy, I can't believe it. This is the first time I have cloned a drive, and CCC made it super easy. Was able to remove that giant HDD and replace it with a nice little SSD (I put it in a 3.5 to 2.5 housing to keep it clean). First stop after firing up the machine was right here to type this reply. Thanks for all the info!