Cloning a hard drive is easier than you might expect. Follow to see how to easily clone a hard drive and transfer everything to a new hard drive or SSD with ease.
How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version? “The full version will include single player and multiplayer modes, multiple planetary maps, multiple character classes, proficiency based skill tree, deep and customizable structure and utility building, pilotable vehicles, remote driven drones, full melee and ranged. Mac OS X was originally presented as the tenth major version of Apple's operating system for Macintosh computers; until 2020, versions of macOS retained the major version number '10'. Previous Macintosh operating systems (versions of the classic Mac OS ) were named using Arabic numerals, as with Mac OS 8 and Mac OS 9. Jul 10, 2020 Exanima is the official title of the prelude, a scope-limited game that takes place about 20 years before the events of Sui Generis.1 This is an intermediate goal before the full game, although all work currently being done for the prelude will carry over to the full game. Although not fond of the term, Madoc has likened the experience to a dungeon crawler. The prelude's first alpha build has.
'Does cloning a hard drive copy the OS? My computer hard disk is nearly full and one of my friends told me that I can upgrade the old disk to a new drive by using reliable hard disk cloning software.
I plan to buy a new hard drive so as to clone the old disk to the new drive. But can I clone my hard drive including the operating system?'
According to most normal Windows and Mac users, they don't know that they can upgrade their computer hard drive when it grows old or out of disk space to a bigger one. Some of you may have heard of this but don't know how to execute the disk cloning operation on your own without losing data and OS, right?
In the following, we'll show you the whole process of how to clone a hard drive to a new or a bigger hard drive/SSD with step by step guide. Check out and learn how to upgrade your computer disk on Windows and Mac with ease now.
In this part, you will learn:
Cloning a hard drive is a process that allows you to copy all the content on a disk, including original data, operating system, and all boot files that the OS needs to boot up and run, to another equal-sized or bigger hard drive or SSD. Unlike backing up files, cloning a drive is to create an exact copy of your entire disk with the OS included.
So when do you consider to or when should you clone a hard drive to a new one? You may need to clone hard drive in many situations as listed below:
So how to clone or upgrade hard drive safely and successfully? Follow the introductions as shown below, you'll get reliable disk clone software and a complete guide to clone one hard drive to another disk on your own.
Before you start cloning hard disk, here are some preparation jobs that need to be done in advance:
As the tools for disk cloning on Windows and Mac computers are different, you should also download and install the right disk cloning software based on your operating system.
- Best Windows Disk Cloning software, free download
As Windows doesn't have a built-in disk cloning tool, downloading a third-party disk clone software is necessary. Here, EaseUS Windows backup software with a powerful disk clone feature is recommended.
It supports to clone and copy your entire hard drive to another disk in two levels: file-by-file copy & sector-by-sector copy.
- Best Mac Disk Copy Software Recommend
Unlike Windows, macOS contains a built-in tool - Disk Utility that works to 'clone' mac disk to a new hard drive for free. Besides, you can also try the Mac version of EaseUS backup software - EaseUS Todo Backup for Mac with its clone feature to help you upgrade a Mac disk with ease.
Applies to: Clone hard drive to HDD/SSD in Windows 10/8/7/XP, and even Windows Server machines.
So how to clone your current computer hard drive to another disk using EaseUS Todo backup? It offers safe hard drive disk copy/clone solution to transfer your data on the old disk to a new one.
With it, you can back up the system such as clone system disk Windows 10 or image hard drive in case of computer crash or system failure. The whole process goes through two phrases:
Video Tutorial: How to Clone and Upgrade Hard Drive on Windows 10/8/7
Detailed Steps to Clone a Hard Drive
If you prefer a step-by-step guide, refer to the steps below and learn how to clone hard drive with this hard drive clone software:
1. Launch EaseUS disk cloning software and click Clone. And then select the source hard disk you want to clone.
2. Select the destination disk.
Tips:
3. Preview the disk layout after cloning. Finally, you can click Proceed to clone one hard drive to another with one click.
When you finish the disk cloning process, remember to install your new hard drive to your computer. Then set computer to boot up from the new disk.
Here are the steps to make your cloned HDD/SSD bootable:
Step 1. Restart PC and press F2/F12/Del to enter BIOS.
Step 2. Go to the Boot menu, set the new disk as the first boot drive at the Boot Priority section.
Step 3. Save all the changes and restart PC.
Your computer will automatically boot up from the newly cloned disk.
Applies to: Clone and upgrade Mac hard drive without bootable issue.
As we recommended above, you have two options to clone a Mac hard drive: 1. Using macOS Builit-in Tool - Disk Utility; 2. Turn to Mac Disk Cloning Software - EaseUS Todo Backup for Mac help.
Let's see how to clone your Mac hard drive to another hard drive or SSD now.
To avoid cloning unnecessary gigabytes of junk files, duplicate data, broken items, useless programs to the new Mac drive, it's necessary that you clean the Mac disk in advance.
You can either manually delete files and uninstall useless applications on your Mac or turn to reliable Mac cleaning tools for help. You may refer to How to clean up Mac hard drive for a detailed guide.
Using Mac Disk Utility to Clone a Hard Drive:
Step 1. Connect your new hard drive or SSD to your computer as an external disk.
Step 2. Go to Applications > Utilities > Select 'Disk Utilities'.
Step 3. Click 'View' on Disk Utility and select 'Show All Devices' from the menu bar.
Step 4. On the left pane, select your target drive (the HDD displaying as 'external' currently) and click 'Restore'.
Note that Disk Utility refers to cloning as a 'restoring' action over a hard drive, which is actually the same thing.
Step 5. Click 'Restore' to confirm the cloning operation.
Step 6. Wait for the cloning process to complete and click 'Done' to finish the operation.
Using EaseUS Todo Backup for Mac to Clone Mac Hard Drive
Step 1. Connect the new hard drives to Mac and launch EaseUS Mac cloning software.
Step 2. In the From drop-down list, select the source disk you want to clone.
Step 3. In the To drop-down list, select the other hard drive as the destination disk.
Step 4. Set up the disk cloning properties. Here, you are allowed to exclude files or folders if necessary.
Step 5. Finally, click the Start button to execute the cloning operation.
Wait for the cloning process to finish.
When you finish cloning the Mac hard drive, you are now at the last step which is to set Mac to boot from the new hard drive.
Step 1. Move the old hard drive out of your Mac computer.
Step 2. Put the newly cloned hard drive or SSD to your Mac and install it correctly.
Step 3. Reboot Mac by holding the Option key, go to System Preference.
Step 4. In the Startup Disk section, set the new disk as the boot volume.
After this, you can restart Mac and the computer will successfully boot up from the new disk by then.
This page explained what is a disk cloning process and tells when you should consider cloning a hard drive. Besides, we also offered a comprehensive solution to help you successfully clone a hard drive in Windows and Mac with reliable disk cloning hard drives.
In order to guarantee a smooth disk cloning and upgrading process, it's also important for you to make the new hard drive or SSD ready in advance. Also, a reliable disk cloning tool like EaseUS Todo Backup also plays a vital role.
If you still have some questions on this issue, check answers in the FAQs section as listed below.
1. How Long Does It Take to Clone a Hard Drive
The time of cloning a hard drive highly depends on the used space of your original disk. Let's take a 500GB hard drive as an example.
Normally, it would take one and half an hour to complete with a steady cloning speed at 100Mb/s. And if the speed is 50Mb/s. it would take about 3-4 hours.
If you turn to EaseUS Todo Backup for the disk cloning and upgrading operation, it would complete the operation within 1 hour.
2. Any Risks While Cloning a Hard Drive
Usually, cloning a hard drive doesn't contain many risks. It's highly secure and safe for both data and OS on your computer hard drive.
The only risk that you should be aware of is to let the cloning process complete. In a word, don't disturb the cloning once you start it.
Also, you should guarantee stable power supply to your computer and the hard drive.
3. How to Deal with the Old Disk after Cloning a Hard Drive
If you don't know how to deal with your old hard drive after replacing it with the new disk, here are some tips that you can follow:
Which Mac operating system is the best is a topic of numerous debates among Apple fans.
Since the mission of this blog is to refute myths and legends around Macs, it’s time for me to provide my 2 cents about the issue on hand. While everything below is just my opinion, as a long-time Mac user and veteran software engineer, I hope my opinion worth something.
The best Mac OS version is the one that your Mac is eligible to upgrade to. In 2021 it is macOS Big Sur. However, for users that need to run 32-bit apps on Mac, the best macOS is Mojave. Also, older Macs would benefit if upgraded at least to macOS Sierra for which Apple still releases security patches.
To find out which macOS is currently running on your Mac, follow these steps:
Not all Macs can be upgraded to the latest OS version. For instance, old Macs powered by PowerPC CPUs cannot run OS intended for Intel-based computers. Also, some versions have hardware limitations.
For instance, Mojave cannot be installed on MacBook Pro earlier than Mid 2012 model.
Check below to know exactly what version of OS your Mac can run.
Anytime someone asks me which OS is best for them I always suggested going with the latest. Things have changed recently, however.
While personally I like macOS Big Sur and have it installed on my MacBook Pro, it comes with serious breaking changes.
The first issue is compatibility.
Big Sur is a transition OS which is designed to help Apple to move from Intel processors to their own chips on ARM.
After I installed Big Sur on my MacBook Pro mid 2020 (pre-Silicon), most of my apps, including Microsoft Office, were working as expected.
However, my VMWare Fusion 11 does not start anymore, so I have to purchase a new license if I want to keep using it (or roll back to Catalina). Luckily, I took a full backup before the upgrade.
The second breaking issue is the lack of 32-bit app support.
macOS Catalina and Big Sur can only run 64-bit apps.
If you wondering whether you should upgrade to macOS Catalina or Big Sur, first verify that you don’t have any 32-bit apps. But first, take a back up, so you can go back in case something breaks after the upgrade.
For instance, I had to remove uTorrent after upgrade. And I didn’t know that uTorrent is 32-bit!
To find out whether the app on your Mac is 32-bit or 64-bit follow these steps:
If you have an older Mac which is not eligible to upgrade with some latest software or hardware, I’d suggest upgrading at least to Sierra (or better High Sierra) for the following reasons:
The most important point when choosing the best OS is the ability to get security updates. While Apple generally does not announce the OS end of life dates, it is possible to know when they stop releasing security updates from this page.
For instance, according to the page, the last security update for OS X Yosemite was released on September 12, 2017. The last update for OS X El Capitan was in July 2018, and Carnegie Mellon University confirmed that El Capitan’s end of life date was August 2018.
I know that some users on forums believe that the best OS version for Macs was Snow Leopard. But that is a myth. And I know how such myths get created.
Once I worked in the company, which was selling a 20-year old product. And customers were still using and didn’t want to switch to new versions, because the old one was rock solid.
I then talked to the engineer who worked on the project, and he revealed that the product was a total disaster when it was first deployed. Engineers had to work on-site for almost a year in order to fix all bugs.
After five or so years of polishing the product, it becomes virtually bug-free, and nobody now remembers how bad it was when it was first rolled out. A similar thing happened Snow Leopard, and it was recognized as best mac os version after some time.
There are two ways to update to the latest OS version on Mac:
This is by far the best option, but it only available if you have Yosemite, or later OS installed already. If you enabled automatic updates, then Mac will inform you that the next macOS is available.
Just open System Preferences, go to Software Update and click on the Upgrade Now button.
This method is also best if wondering how to check if you have the latest version of OS installed on your Mac. Only the version compatible with your hardware will appear here.
For instance, my the latest version for Mac Mini 2012 is Mojave, I can’t install anything newer than that.
If you are having problems with updates or having issues post-upgrade check my post about troubleshooting macOS.
For older systems or in case you need to downgrade, you have to download a standalone installer in DMG format. DMG stands for disk image, similar to ISO, just different formats.
After downloading the installer, just double click on it and follow instructions. Again, do not forget to take a backup before the upgrade.
Following is a high-level description of all Mac operating systems as early as Mountain Lion.
You can refer to those descriptions when deciding which operating system is best for your iMac, Mac Pro, Mac mini, or MacBook.
With each OS description, I included a list of Macs supported. However, you can use Mac OS compatibility checker for more detailed information.
macOS v11 (codename Big Sur) is the latest version of the operating system for Apple computers.
Release date: October 13, 2020
Hardware Requirements: RAM requirement 4GB. Big Sur is the first OS to support new Macs using ARM technology (in the future).
Software Compatibility Issues
Only 64-bit apps are allowed to run on Big Sur.
There are two ways to install Big Sur: enable automatic updates in System Preferences or download by using the following link.
Or check my post with tips on installing macOS on unsupported devices.
Release date: October 7, 2019
Hardware Requirements: RAM requirement increased from 2GB to 4GB.
Software Compatibility Issues
macOS Catalina is the first Mac operating system that does not support 32-bit applications. Only 64-bit apps are allowed to run on Catalina.
There are two ways to install Catalina: enable automatic updates in System Preferences or download by using the following link.
Release date: September 24, 2018
Hardware Requirements: 2GB RAM and 18.5GB free space on disk
If your Mac is eligible to update to Mojave, then the easiest way to install it is by enabling automatic updates. Downloading a standalone Mojave installer could be a little tricky.
Release date: September 25, 2017
Hardware Requirements: 2GB RAM and 14.3GB free space on disk
Here is a High Sierra download link.
This is the first macOS version. Previous OS versions for Macs were called OS X (X stands for 10).
Release date: September 20, 2016
Hardware Requirements: 2GB RAM and 8GB free space on disk
Here is a Sierra download link.
Last OS X version.
Release date: September 30, 2015
Hardware Requirements: 2GB RAM and 8GB free space on disk
same as OS Mountain Lion.
Here is El Capitan download link.
Release date: October 16, 2014
Hardware Requirements: 2GB RAM and 8GB free space on disk
Same as OS Mountain Lion.
Here is Yosemite download link.
First free Mac OS. Previous OS versions vary from $19.99 to $129.
Release date: October 22, 2013
Hardware Requirements: 2GB RAM and 8GB free space on disk
Same as OS Mountain Lion.
OS X Mavericks installer is not available on Apple Site. Follow instructions here to install Mavericks.
Must be purchased. Fixed many bugs introduced in OS X Lion.
Release date: July 25, 2012
System Requirements: 2GB RAM and 8GB free space on disk
Mountain Lion installer is not available on Apple Site. Follow instructions here to install OS X Mountain Lion.
Following Mac OS versions are still running on older Macs, but Apple does not support them anymore, and there is no point to upgrade (or downgrade) to them: