In cases of data recovery and drive failure, a clone is used to copy a drive or volume to another drive or volume, so that the copy may be scanned with data recovery software. Strange noises coming from the hard drive when running Startup problems, such as slow boot up or not booting up at allĮrror messages that display during normal usage Some of the signs of impending drive failure are:

This will free the original problem drive from continued use, which would result in more damage and data loss. If you notice that your hard drive is showing signs of failure or inconsistency, you will want to move the data to a healthy hard drive by cloning it. Since the clone will copy the same macOS version I was using, I can simply swap the old drive out for the new one like nothing changed.

To make the replacement, Data Backup’s cloning feature was the easiest option for me, since it can make a bootable clone of your startup drive. For those that are curious about the benefits of using an SSD, you can look at another blog I wrote explaining the difference between HDD and SSD drives. Since my Macbook had a rotational hard drive, I ended up switching to a solid state drive for the speed and quality compared to the rotational drive. At the time of writing this, I replaced my 2013 Macbook Pro’s hard drive because it still contained the original hard drive and the performance was decreasing. Most often, users need to copy all of their information to another drive for a backup or to replace a startup drive. However, the purpose of cloning a hard drive depends on what the user wants to accomplish and can be used for a couple different reasons. The term clone refers to making an exact copy that is identical to the original. The steps for cloning a hard drive will be the same whether you are cloning a failing hard drive or if you want to make a copy of your startup drive to keep as a backup. For this guide, I will be referring to the use of Prosoft Engineering’s Data Backup software for its cloning feature and other beneficial utilities that help with the process. There are a few different backup types available, but I will explain the benefits from backing up your data by making a clone. This article will describe how to clone a Mac hard drive to another external drive.

Clone a mac drive to another in windows