Is it better to clone my hard drive or use time machine?

[DougieCooper95]

My internal hard drive seems to be failing and I have an SSD that I want to set up. I was wondering if it's better to use a clone software and clone my drive onto the new SSD, or use time machine (if using TM is possible) to copy everything onto the SSD? My issue with the cloning software is the payment with a lot of them, though I know there are free trials. If I can use time machine, I'd rather use that, since I already got that!

 

[MightyGem]

You can use TM and then use the SSD to transfer to the new internal drive when you fit it. If you clone, then you could fit the SSD as your new internal(assuming it's compatible) and your Mac would run on that.

 

[Rod]

When it comes to the question of TM Vs. Clone there is no simple answer, I use both.
I consider one backup is not sufficient. The two have different qualities, advantages and disadvantages.

In your case it depends a little on the Mac Operating System you are running. It would be good to know that? Older Mac OSX have different restore process' to newer macOS.

Most cloning software offer 30 day free, no obligation fully functional trials. If you have for example an operating system 10.14.0 or before you can create a bootable clone which makes transfer to and formatting of a new blank internal drive a breeze.

With later macOS the process is a little different and TM can boot your device into the Recovery Partition but you need to use Internet Recovery to instal the OS before restoring your data because TM does not copy your Operating System like a clone does, just your user data.

Lastly, I would be inclined to use a reliable HDD (spinner) external drive, if you have one, rather than your SSD for Time Machine. Something about twice the size of your internal drive. It's better to use a dedicated drive for TM. An SSD is better suited to a cloned backup or running applications.

Bottom line here is, no matter what you decide in the long run, definitely perform a full Time Machine backup NOW.

 

[DougieCooper95]

When it comes to the question of TM Vs. Clone there is no simple answer, I use both.
I consider one backup is not sufficient. The two have different qualities, advantages and disadvantages.

In your case it depends a little on the Mac Operating System you are running. It would be good to know that? Older Mac OSX have different restore process' to newer macOS.

Most cloning software offer 30 day free, no obligation fully functional trials. If you have for example an operating system 10.14.0 or before you can create a bootable clone which makes transfer to and formatting of a new blank internal drive a breeze.

With later macOS the process is a little different and TM can boot your device into the Recovery Partition but you need to use Internet Recovery to instal the OS before restoring your data because TM does not copy your Operating System like a clone does, just your user data.

Lastly, I would be inclined to use a reliable HDD (spinner) external drive, if you have one, rather than your SSD for Time Machine. Something about twice the size of your internal drive. It's better to use a dedicated drive for TM. An SSD is better suited to a cloned backup or running applications.

Bottom line here is, no matter what you decide in the long run, definitely perform a full Time Machine backup NOW.

Thanks for the reply.
I am intending to use the SSD as my main drive, taking everything from my HDD (Mac 2015 BigSur) and putting it on that. I have two backups on Seagate drives in case my HDD completely fails.

From what you're saying, sounds like it might make more sense to use a cloning software and Time Machine might just be a bit of a hassle. I have asked about that on here before (since I had no idea how to set up my SSD, which I believe is a Samsung T7). Any specific cloning software (with free trial, because I'm broke) you recommend?

 

[ferrarr]

Both CCC & SD! offer free 1 month trails. After the trial ends, both free versions will still be useable with limited options. I've used them both a few years ago, but now I only use TM. Of course, my Mac is not needed for work.

Also see this,

8 Best Disk Cloning App For Mac (2024) | TechPout

Are you looking for a disk cloning app for your Mac devices? If yes then, refer to this blog to know which are the best disk cloning apps for mac in 2024.

www.techpout.com

 

[Rod]

If you are going to use your T7 SSD as an external drive then yes, cloning is the only way. as Ferrari has said both Carbon Copy Cloner from Bombich and SuperDuper from Shirt Pocket both offer 30 day free trials. Once you have a Bootable Clone of your internal drive you can start running the device directly from it by choosing it as the default Startup Disk in system preferences.
You will no longer need the cloning software unless you decide to backup your Samsung to another drive, that would be a good idea. As good as Samsung SSD's are they are not as good as your internal drive was when new. They have no heat management and are only as fast as your cable connection will allow. USB-A will be slow so if you have a Thunderbolt-2 connection use that. See; Which Macs have Thunderbolt Ports? - Transcend Information, Inc.

 

[DougieCooper95]

If you are going to use your T7 SSD as an external drive then yes, cloning is the only way. as Ferrari has said both Carbon Copy Cloner from Bombich and SuperDuper from Shirt Pocket both offer 30 day free trials. Once you have a Bootable Clone of your internal drive you can start running the device directly from it by choosing it as the default Startup Disk in system preferences.
You will no longer need the cloning software unless you decide to backup your Samsung to another drive, that would be a good idea. As good as Samsung SSD's are they are not as good as your internal drive was when new. They have no heat management and are only as fast as your cable connection will allow. USB-A will be slow so if you have a Thunderbolt-2 connection use that. See; Which Macs have Thunderbolt Ports? - Transcend Information, Inc.

Thanks, Rod. I may go with either Carbon Copy Cloner or EaseUs Todo backup, the latter seems to have a free trial too. So if I want to back up my SSD to a seagate drive, I would need a cloner software for that?

 

[Rod]

I don't know EaseUs I prefer Carbon Copy Cloner personally, it's widely supported on these forums as is Super Duper they both have excellent developer support. It may be difficult for us to advise you if you use a different application. From what I can see EaseUs is a Chinese owned company that produces a host of data management tools primarily for Windows.
As far as backing up your SSD you could use Time Machine if you prefer.

 

[DougieCooper95]

I don't know EaseUs I prefer Carbon Copy Cloner personally, it's widely supported on these forums as is Super Duper they both have excellent developer support. It may be difficult for us to advise you if you use a different application. From what I can see EaseUs is a Chinese owned company that produces a host of data management tools primarily for Windows.
As far as backing up your SSD you could use Time Machine if you prefer.

Thank you. I used Carbon Copy and cloned my drive onto my SSD with no issue, it seems. But now on the startup disk options in System Preferences, I can't find my SSD?

EDIT - I just checked disk utility and the SSD's scheme is Master Boot Record? Will it only show up with GUID Partition?

 

[Rod]

I always erase and format my external drives in the same manner as my internal prior to use. In the case of my Samsung T5 SSD that meant losing the Samsung built in security software but I have never considered that an issue and my SSD works perfectly.
So I advise using Disk Utility to erase the SSD again, Naming and Formatting it as APFS or MacOS Extended (Journalled), whichever your internal drive is, and GUID mapping is standard for all.
Booting from the SSD may require holding the option key at startup then choosing your SSD dependent on your operating system. You can then make the external SSD the default Startup in System Preferences.

 

[jpdemers]

Carbon Copy Cloner has the ability to create a bootable clone, but it's something you have to select when you create the clone. If you don't, the drive won't show up as an option when you boot with the option key held down. The drive has to be "blessed" (old term for it) in order to be bootable. Once you've shown that the Mac can boot from it, you can install it inside the iMac in place of the existing HDD. The improvement in speeed on going to an SSD will knock your socks off.
Note that there may be a temperature sensor on the existing HDD, which won't be present when you swap in an SSD. The fans will go to full blast if that's the case, and you'll need Macs Fan Control (free download) to manually over-ride that fan setting.
I've replaced drives using CCC and also via Time Machine. The latter has the advantage of being based on a clean install of whatever version of MacOS you've chosen to use. (The installer asks, at the time of setup, if you want to import from a TM backup.) It would be a good idea if your OS is twitchy, or if it's an accumulation of version upon version upon version that's carrying along ancient bits and pieces of code. Cloning, on the other hand, is simpler and, I think, somewhat quicker overall.

 

[Rod]

Andy, I agree that TM is a valuable backup option but in this case the OP wishes to use this backup as a primary boot drive.

In addition to this TM currently appears to be "broken" for macOS Monterey on M1 Macs. See: Monterey Time Machine not working - Apple Community and Initial Time Machine Backup Failures Increasingly Being Reported by Mac Users

Despite the obvious TM problems of many users (the Apple Community post list 299 people with the same problem) I haven't had any problems performing a TM backup of Monterey on my Intel Mac.

 

[MacInWin]

In addition to this TM currently appears to be "broken" for macOS Monterey on M1 Macs. See: Monterey Time Machine not working - Apple Community and Initial Time Machine Backup Failures Increasingly Being Reported by Mac Users

It was fixed in 12.2. And there was a workaround for the files that TM could not get access to for the backup that was causing the problem.

 

[Rod]

Thats great news, thanks Jake for bringing me up to date. As stated it had not been a problem for me so I was not hanging out for a solution but good news obviously for those who were.

 

[DougieCooper95]

Carbon Copy Cloner has the ability to create a bootable clone, but it's something you have to select when you create the clone. If you don't, the drive won't show up as an option when you boot with the option key held down. The drive has to be "blessed" (old term for it) in order to be bootable. Once you've shown that the Mac can boot from it, you can install it inside the iMac in place of the existing HDD. The improvement in speeed on going to an SSD will knock your socks off.
Note that there may be a temperature sensor on the existing HDD, which won't be present when you swap in an SSD. The fans will go to full blast if that's the case, and you'll need Macs Fan Control (free download) to manually over-ride that fan setting.
I've replaced drives using CCC and also via Time Machine. The latter has the advantage of being based on a clean install of whatever version of MacOS you've chosen to use. (The installer asks, at the time of setup, if you want to import from a TM backup.) It would be a good idea if your OS is twitchy, or if it's an accumulation of version upon version upon version that's carrying along ancient bits and pieces of code. Cloning, on the other hand, is simpler and, I think, somewhat quicker overall.

Well, I've tried making the clone bootable - I created a separate volume specifically for the legacy assistant (overall, my SSD had 119GB left on it) so that I didn't have to get rid of the backup I made. But I've run into yet another problem, when I clicked on legacy assistant, it came up with "Destination is too small to accommodate a complete clone" and gave me the option of a standard backup, which I've already done. It's a little frustrating, I use my computer for work and need to find a solution fast - Is it because I needed to do legacy assistant first before cloning the drive? Is it because 119GB is too small and I need to invest in a 2TB SSD instead of 1TB? It's all very confusing to me.

 

[MacInWin]

I just checked disk utility and the SSD's scheme is Master Boot Record?

Did anybody tell you that is wrong? It needs to be GUID. MBR is for Windows.

 

[DougieCooper95]

Did anybody tell you that is wrong? It needs to be GUID. MBR is for Windows.

I fixed this already, about a week ago.

 

[Rod]

As I recall the Lagacy assistant asks for you to use Disk Utility to erase the disk (partition) prior to cloning even if its already done so I always did this because I could see no way around it. Doing that should enable you to format it correctly which I did not have to do because the whole SSD (two partitions) were already formatted APFS.
It is possible that the partition is too small I suppose, I have 1TB for a 500GB HD. I generally go for storage twice the size of the source, in my case I have a larger than default Safety Net,

 

[chscag]

No need to use Disk Utility, as the Legacy Assistant will erase and format the drive prior to doing the copying. As a matter of fact, if you look at the Legacy description it will tell you that.

 

[Rod]

Your probably right Chas I just recall it being done twice on a couple of occasions. Possibly I erased the SSD in preparation only to have it done again by the Legacy Assistant.
So the problem is most likely the size of the partition.