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Using a bootable clone while MacBook Pro is being repaired

D

dsburdette

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 9, 2010
71
66
Alpharetta, GA
Found out today I will need to ship my MacBook Pro (Late 2013) back to Apple to repair a bulging battery. I have a friend who loaned me an extra MacBook Air (Early 2015) that he allowed me to wipe clean and install OS X Sierra (same as my MacBook Pro). I have Time Machine backups of my machine so I was originally thinking I'd use Setup Assistant to temporarily move to the Air but now I'm thinking of using Carbon Copy Cloner to simply create a bootable clone to use over the next 5 days or so. Then I can clone that back to my MacBook Pro when I receive it back.

Thoughts? Would this be the best and simplest course of action to get through this small amount of time?
 
dsburdette said:
Found out today I will need to ship my MacBook Pro (Late 2013) back to Apple to repair a bulging battery. I have a friend who loaned me an extra MacBook Air (Early 2015) that he allowed me to wipe clean and install OS X Sierra (same as my MacBook Pro). I have Time Machine backups of my machine so I was originally thinking I'd use Setup Assistant to temporarily move to the Air but now I'm thinking of using Carbon Copy Cloner to simply create a bootable clone to use over the next 5 days or so. Then I can clone that back to my MacBook Pro when I receive it back.

Thoughts? Would this be the best and simplest course of action to get through this small amount of time?
Click to expand...

Use Time Machine.
 
If you haven't shipped your mac to apple yet, just connect two machines via cable (thunderbolt definitely does the job but since both don't have thunderbolt I dont know if an ethernet could do). Then use Migration assisstant to transfer the data to macbook air.
I think Carbon Copy Cloner is not so reliable since it's not made by apple and creating a bootable drive involves too many system grade stuffs. But if you do want to use it, keep in mind that dont overwrite the timemachine backup with a CCC copy.
 
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dsburdette said:
Found out today I will need to ship my MacBook Pro (Late 2013) back to Apple to repair a bulging battery. I have a friend who loaned me an extra MacBook Air (Early 2015) that he allowed me to wipe clean and install OS X Sierra (same as my MacBook Pro). I have Time Machine backups of my machine so I was originally thinking I'd use Setup Assistant to temporarily move to the Air but now I'm thinking of using Carbon Copy Cloner to simply create a bootable clone to use over the next 5 days or so. Then I can clone that back to my MacBook Pro when I receive it back.

Thoughts? Would this be the best and simplest course of action to get through this small amount of time?
Click to expand...
What exactly are you looking to get access to?

All of your documents are stored in the cloud. You can even use any computer to log in to iCloud.com and edit your Pages, keynote, numbers or photos, even a raspberry pi.
 
960design said:
What exactly are you looking to get access to?

All of your documents are stored in the cloud. You can even use any computer to log in to iCloud.com and edit your Pages, keynote, numbers or photos, even a raspberry pi.
Click to expand...

I think 960designis right.

Since you just use the backup for few days, just login to iCloud to get all your files, and install necessary apps. If you are gonna use macbook air for more than one month thats another story tho.
 
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I think I would use CCC to make a bootable clone, then use it as the startup disk. Would reduce complications in copying/installing back and forth, and will probably get you going on both ends the fastest. Ideally save your Time Machine backup as, well, a backup. :)

Might want to check out CCC’s support pages.... they have an excellent knowledge base that probably has an article for your scenario, and might point out any potential complications.
 
960design said:
What exactly are you looking to get access to?

All of your documents are stored in the cloud. You can even use any computer to log in to iCloud.com and edit your Pages, keynote, numbers or photos, even a raspberry pi.
Click to expand...

I need access to a fully functioning computer with major applications – InDesign, Affinity Photo & Designer, PowerPoint, local MySQL databases w/ PHP configured, etc. This is not a case of accessing a Pages document. iCloud would be woefully inadequate for my needs which is why I was thinking working from a bootable clone would be best.
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airlied said:
If you haven't shipped your mac to apple yet, just connect two machines via cable (thunderbolt definitely does the job but since both don't have thunderbolt I dont know if an ethernet could do). Then use Migration assisstant to transfer the data to macbook air.
I think Carbon Copy Cloner is not so reliable since it's not made by apple and creating a bootable drive involves too many system grade stuffs. But if you do want to use it, keep in mind that dont overwrite the timemachine backup with a CCC copy.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Hadn't considered this option but I'd need to procure that cable as I don't have a thunderbolt to thunderbolt cable handy.
[doublepost=1536290270][/doublepost]
poorcody said:
I think I would use CCC to make a bootable clone, then use it as the startup disk. Would reduce complications in copying/installing back and forth, and will probably get you going on both ends the fastest. Ideally save your Time Machine backup as, well, a backup. :)

Might want to check out CCC’s support pages.... they have an excellent knowledge base that probably has an article for your scenario, and might point out any potential complications.
Click to expand...

I think the only issue might be with the licensing of apps. I may have to reenter some codes. I'm hoping to minimize the amount of things I do during the repair time but I have to earn money too.
 
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Time Machine, definitely. Cloning should only be used as an emergency measure, and then only on external drives. You risk long-term stability by using clones like you intend to.
 
I vote for Carbon Copy Cloner. Its faster then Time Machine and you have an exact copy of your drive. I'm not against Time Machine, I back up my Macs with that as well. I take a multi pronged attack on backing up my computer. I clone it for complete system restore, and use Time Machine for file/document versioning, i.e., if I mess something up I can restore a single file.
 
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Use CarbonCopyCloner (or SuperDuper).

BOTH are FREE to download and use for 30 days.

Both will create BOOTABLE clones of the internal drive on an external drive.
The clone will be an EXACT COPY that you can boot and run from just "as if it were" your internal drive. It will "look exactly the same" (because it's "a clone"!).

When the repaired MBP comes back, you can go either of 2 ways:
ONE WAY:
Boot up the MBP. If it has a "brand-new" copy of the OS on it (as in, "this has never been run before and here's the setup assistant"), run through the setup.
At the moment setup assistant asks if you wish to migrate from another drive, connect the cloned backup, and "let 'er go".

THE OTHER WAY:
Boot from the cloned backup, and RE-clone it BACK TO the internal drive.

Either way should do fine.
 
So I cloned my drive last night with CCC and have successfully booted to this external drive on the borrowed MacBook Air but am finding that it is DOG slow. Unusable really.

I think my only option at this point is to transfer all of my data to the temp computer via Time Machine or CCC and work directly from there.

Thanks to everyone for your input.
 
"So I cloned my drive last night with CCC and have successfully booted to this external drive on the borrowed MacBook Air but am finding that it is DOG slow. Unusable really.
I think my only option at this point is to transfer all of my data to the temp computer via Time Machine or CCC and work directly from there."

Then the solution is:
1. Boot from the cloned backup
2. Open Disk Utility and ERASE the INTERNAL drive to Mac OS extended with journaling enabled
3. Open CCC
4. Clone the contents of the backup drive over to the MacBook Air
5. Before rebooting, go the startup disk pref pane and designate the internal drive to be the boot drive
6. Power down and disconnect the backup
7. Press the power on button and see if you get a good boot.

From "Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid":
"That oughta do it..." ;)
 
I routinely use CCC and also TimeMachine. But for moving volumes CCC is much faster and I have never had a problem with it for migration until the MacBook Pro 2018 with T2 chip. Things get more complicated there...
 
dsburdette said:
So I cloned my drive last night with CCC and have successfully booted to this external drive on the borrowed MacBook Air but am finding that it is DOG slow. Unusable really.
Click to expand...
What are you using for an external drive and if its a MBA, then the odds of you using an older (slow) USB interface will have significant performance implications.

I ran my iMac on a USB-3 interface for quite a while and it was very fast, but the external drive was an SSD and its USB is fast. I've also booted up my iMac on a spinning disk, and that can be slow, just because external spinning disks are slow.
 
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