Mac OS X on x86 Hardware 2008–2024 Technical Archive
InfiniteMac OSx86 › Software, Drivers & Kexts › Best way to clone a working boot volume
6,629 reads · 2009-05-28 – 2009-06-22

Best way to clone a working boot volume

So now that I have a mostly working boot volume, can someone suggest the best way to clone it to a different drive so I can experiment but have a bootable backup quickly available? I considered using Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper, but…

Primary Author
@TechSgtChen Published 2009-05-28
Collection
Software, Drivers & Kexts
Archival Footprint
6,629 historical reads · 7 curated field notes (from 9 dispatches) · 2009-05-28 – 2009-06-22
Credited Voices (6)
@TechSgtChen (2)@thorazine74 (2)@zuz242 (2)@Ali C.@RetroRen@lv99

So now that I have a mostly working boot volume, can someone suggest the best way to clone it to a different drive so I can experiment but have a bootable backup quickly available? I considered using Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper, but I'm not sure if they will copy the non-OS stuff, specifically things like the bootloader.

Author Updates & Technical Revisions

Follow-up dispatches by @TechSgtChen

Author Update #1 @TechSgtChen 2009-05-28

That's a bummer. Guess I'll have to install iPC again on the other disk and use Migration Assistant. Or, wait, if CCC doesn't affect the bootloader, can I install a basic iPC and use CCC to clone all user accounts plus kexts and plist over?

Synthesized Community Field Notes

7 technical responses curated from 9 original dispatches

Field Note #1 @thorazine74 2009-05-28

I dont know about SuperDuper but CCC image doesnt seem to contain the chameleon bootloader, I supposed the mbr or the partition boot sector are left out, not sure (at least when I tried it didnt work for me). You can reinstall the bootloader manually and it should boot after the image is restored.

Field Note #2 @zuz242 2009-05-28

jup, the problem is the bootloader.
right now im happy with the disktool / dmg images.
but i need a second osx system to reinstall the bootloader (got one on a 16gb usb memory stick

is there an easy way to install the bootloader without a running system?

zuz

Field Note #3 @thorazine74 2009-05-29

You can make a bootable USB Drive with Chameleon2, boot the restored partition from there, and then install it on the HD.
I think you should also be able to install it booting from an Install DVD, using Terminal (I havent tried it) and manual installation; chameleon files would have to be uncompressed to an accesible location beforehand.

Field Note #4 @Ali C. 2009-06-01

Excuse me *knock knock*
You can clone from drive-to-drive using CCC. Just clone to the other drive, then go into System Preferences and select the other drive as the startup disk. Then when Chameleon comes up from the old drive, simply select the new drive as the boot disk instead of letting it start the old one, and reinstall Chameleon once it's booted.
This was how I migrated my install to a new, faster hard drive. Everything works just like before, but faster since the new drive is a SATA. And I keep the old one for emergency.

Field Note #5 @RetroRen 2009-06-01 ↳ Re: @zuz242
@zuz242is there an easy way to install the bootloader without a running system? zuz

You can boot from DVD disc. Put your hackintosh dvd in drive, pres f8 on boot manager and type:
rd=diskxsy
then hit Enter
x is the hdd number, y is the partition number of your osx installation. You can find that data in disk utility on your hackintosh dvd. When you get into osx just install chameleon and it will boot just fine next time

Field Note #6 @zuz242 2009-06-01 ↳ Re: @RetroRen
@RetroRenYou can boot from DVD disc. Put your hackintosh dvd in drive, pres f8 on boot manager and type: rd=diskxsy then hit Enter x is the hdd number, y is the partition number of your osx installation. You can find that data in disk utility on your hackintosh dvd. When you get into osx just install chameleon and it will boot just fine next time

you are right!
i forgot you could use the dvd bootloader to boot seperate partitions.
it is good to remember this in case my backup system screws up

Field Note #7 @lv99 2009-06-22

Paragon backup/restore

i used software called Paragon to backup a HD partition. it doesn't care the partition had windows/unix/mac

Sources & Contributor Provenance (6 credited usernames · Thread #3003)
UsernameDossier ContributionDispatchesActive Window
@TechSgtChenPrimary Author22009-05-28
@thorazine74Contributor22009-05-28 → 2009-05-29
@zuz242Contributor22009-05-28 → 2009-06-01
@Ali C.Contributor12009-06-01
@RetroRenContributor12009-06-01
@lv99Contributor12009-06-22