Drive Copy For Mac Os X



It is very easy to clone hard drive on Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite). This disk clone software also can clone hard drive on macOS Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, EI Capitan, etc. If you want to make a backup of your Mac data, clone a hard drive from one to another, just free download DoYourClone for Mac. AweClone for Mac. Magoshare offers excellent data recovery and data erasure applications for Mac.

Just follow the steps below to copy hard drive in Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite. Step 1: Choose the source drive and the destination drive. Run AweClone for Mac on your OS X 10.10 Yosemite Mac computer, then choose the source drive and the destination drive. This software will copy the source drive to the destination drive. With Mac OS X Lion and a new piece of free software, it’s easier than ever to create a USB keychain that you can boot from. All you need is a few minutes, a copy of Lion, and a USB flash drive with at least 4GB of storage (though more is preferable).

Transferring Mac OS X between Computers or Hard Drives

In my experience with users and participating in online forums and mailing lists, one of the most common questions that users of Mac OS X seem to have is 'How do I copy my Mac OS X installation from one hard drive/computer to another?' Users generally fall into one of two categories: (1) people who have bought a new (larger) hard drive and installed it in their Mac, and want to move everything over from their old hard drive to the new one; or (2) people who have bought a new Mac and want to copy Mac OS X and all their files and software over from their old Mac to the new one.

The good news is that Mac OS X is, for the most part, hardware independent. That is, the same OS X that runs on a PowerBook also runs on an iBook and a G4 tower. That means that you can copy Mac OS X, and all installed software and files, directly from one computer to another, and it should boot up and function properly.

The bad news is that unlike Mac OS 9, where you could simply connect a drive or another computer, select all your files, and copy them over using drag-and-drop, Mac OS X requires some special tools. The Finder doesn't always copy invisible files properly (and there are lots of them in OS X), and because of permissions issues, it's difficult to make sure that all files are being copied.

This is one of those situations where Terminal can do something you can't do in the Finder. Terminal provides you with all the tools you need—specifically, commands that copy every single file, preserving permissions and file properties—to successfully copy an entire Mac OS X volume. However, most users don't want to learn the list of commands that it takes to do such a copy. Once again, a third-party developer has come to the rescue; in this case, Mike Bombich, whose Carbon Copy Cloner utility (http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html) puts a friendly face on the process. Here's how you use Carbon Copy Cloner to transfer your hard drive's contents to another hard drive, or to another computer.

Transferring Mac OS X between Hard Drives

Drive Copy For Mac Os X

I recently got a new hard drive (a nice 80GB one), and installed it in my G4 tower; the original hard drive (a 20GB model) was getting a bit cramped. I wanted to transfer the contents of my original drive (Mac OS X, applications, documents, the works) to the new drive, and then use the new drive as my main drive. Using Carbon Copy Cloner, the process was a snap. Here's how to do it:

  1. Make sure your destination volume has enough space for the contents of the source volume. If the destination volume already has an operating system on it, you should probably delete it before copying the source volume onto it. If you have valuable files on the destination volume, you should place them in a folder, named Saved Documents or something similar, until the copy is completed.

  2. Launch Carbon Copy Cloner.

  3. In the Source Disk box, select the source volume (the one you want to copy from) from the pop-up menu.

  4. In the Target Disk box, select the destination volume (the one you want to copy to) from the pop-up menu. (Figure 4.11) If you want Carbon Copy Cloner to only replace files that exist on the target disk with identical names and paths, select the 'Don't remove files from target' (yes, the description is a bit confusing); if you want it to delete any item on the destination volume that has a similar name to an item on the source disk, select 'Remove like-named items.' If you're installing onto an empty volume, you don't need to worry about these two settings.

    Figure 4.11: Using Carbon Copy Cloner to copy a Mac OS X volume

  5. In order to make your new drive a fully functional (bootable) copy, check both boxes in the Bootability options section.

  6. If you don't want particular items to be copied (e.g., old folders you no longer care about), you can select them in the Items to be copied window and then click the Delete button.

  7. When you're ready to copy, click the Clone button. You'll be asked to authenticate using an admin username and password, after which Carbon Copy Cloner will proceed to copy the entire volume, re-create all necessary links, and 'bless' the volume so that it can function as a bootable volume. Carbon Copy Cloner will notify you when the copy is done.

  8. Open System Preferences, click the Startup Disk icon, and select the new volume as your startup disk. The next time you restart, the new drive will be the boot volume. You can then erase or remove the original drive.

Transferring Mac OS X between Computers

Similar to installing a new hard drive, many users who buy a new Mac want to transfer their existing Mac OS X installation to the new computer so that they can pick up right where they left off using their new hardware. You can use Carbon Copy Cloner in exactly the same manner to do this, but first you have to connect the new computer to the old one. Given that most computers supported by OS X have a FireWire port, the easiest way to do this is to use FireWire Target Disk Mode. You'll need a FireWire cable to do this, which should be available at any computer or electronics store.

Drive Copy For Mac Os X
  1. With the new computer turned off, connect the FireWire cable to a FireWire port on each computer.

  2. Boot up your old computer normally if it's not already running. Login to an admin account.

  3. On the new computer, hold down the T key on the keyboard, and press the power button to start it up. Keep holding the T key down until you see a FireWire symbol on the screen. At this point your new computer's hard drive will be mounted on your old computer's Desktop as a FireWire hard drive.

  4. If you don't need any of the files on the new computer's hard drive, you can actually erase it using the Disk Utility application.

  5. Launch Carbon Copy Cloner on your old computer, and follow the instructions in the previous section, 'Transferring Mac OS X between Hard Drives.' (Select your old computer's hard drive in the Source Disk box, and your new computer's hard drive in the Target Disk box. If you chose not to erase the new computer's hard drive because you wanted files that came installed on it, click the 'Don't remove files from target' option in the Target Disk box.)

    Note

    In this example, I'm assuming that your old computer has a recent version of OS X installed, and you're simply moving your OS X installation to your new computer. If your older computer has an older version of Mac OS X installed, you'll probably be better off to simply copy over your user files and use the copy of OS X that is already installed on your new computer.

  6. When the clone operation is complete, drag your new Mac's hard drive to the Trash to unmount it from your old Mac's Desktop, unplug the FireWire cable, and then press the power button on the new Mac to turn it off.

  7. Press the power button on the new Mac again to boot it up normally (using the installation of OS X you just copied over, including all accounts and settings). It should boot up and behave exactly like your old computer.

  8. Give your old Mac to a needy school :)

So, you’ve decided to download an older version of Mac OS X. There are many reasons that could point you to this radical decision. To begin with, some of your apps may not be working properly (or simply crash) on newer operating systems. Also, you may have noticed your Mac’s performance went down right after the last update. Finally, if you want to run a parallel copy of Mac OS X on a virtual machine, you too will need a working installation file of an older Mac OS X. Further down we’ll explain where to get one and what problems you may face down the road.

A list of all Mac OS X versions

We’ll be repeatedly referring to these Apple OS versions below, so it’s good to know the basic macOS timeline.

Cheetah 10.0Puma 10.1Jaguar 10.2
Panther 10.3Tiger 10.4Leopard 10.5
Snow Leopard 10.6Lion 10.7Mountain Lion 10.8
Mavericks 10.9Yosemite 10.10El Capitan 10.11
Sierra 10.12High Sierra 10.13Mojave 10.14
Catalina 10.15

STEP 1. Prepare your Mac for installation

Given your Mac isn’t new and is filled with data, you will probably need enough free space on your Mac. This includes not just space for the OS itself but also space for other applications and your user data. One more argument is that the free space on your disk translates into virtual memory so your apps have “fuel” to operate on. The chart below tells you how much free space is needed.

Note, that it is recommended that you install OS on a clean drive. Next, you will need enough disk space available, for example, to create Recovery Partition. Here are some ideas to free up space on your drive:

  • Uninstall large unused apps
  • Empty Trash Bin and Downloads
  • Locate the biggest files on your computer:

Go to Finder > All My Files > Arrange by size
Then you can move your space hoggers onto an external drive or a cloud storage.
If you aren’t comfortable with cleaning the Mac manually, there are some nice automatic “room cleaners”. Our favorite is CleanMyMac as it’s most simple to use of all. It deletes system junk, old broken apps, and the rest of hidden junk on your drive.

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.4 - 10.8 (free version)

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.9 (free version)

Mac Os X Iso

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.10 - 10.14 (free version)

STEP 2. Get a copy of Mac OS X download

Normally, it is assumed that updating OS is a one-way road. That’s why going back to a past Apple OS version is problematic. The main challenge is to download the OS installation file itself, because your Mac may already be running a newer version. If you succeed in downloading the OS installation, your next step is to create a bootable USB or DVD and then reinstall the OS on your computer.

How to download older Mac OS X versions via the App Store


If you once had purchased an old version of Mac OS X from the App Store, open it and go to the Purchased tab. There you’ll find all the installers you can download. However, it doesn’t always work that way. The purchased section lists only those operating systems that you had downloaded in the past. But here is the path to check it:

  1. Click the App Store icon.
  2. Click Purchases in the top menu.
  3. Scroll down to find the preferred OS X version.
  4. Click Download.

This method allows you to download Mavericks and Yosemite by logging with your Apple ID — only if you previously downloaded them from the Mac App Store.

Without App Store: Download Mac OS version as Apple Developer

If you are signed with an Apple Developer account, you can get access to products that are no longer listed on the App Store. If you desperately need a lower OS X version build, consider creating a new Developer account among other options. The membership cost is $99/year and provides a bunch of perks unavailable to ordinary users.

Nevertheless, keep in mind that if you visit developer.apple.com/downloads, you can only find 10.3-10.6 OS X operating systems there. Newer versions are not available because starting Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.7, the App Store has become the only source of updating Apple OS versions.

Purchase an older version of Mac operating system

You can purchase a boxed or email version of past Mac OS X directly from Apple. Both will cost you around $20. For the reason of being rather antiquated, Snow Leopard and earlier Apple versions can only be installed from DVD.

Buy a boxed edition of Snow Leopard 10.6
Get an email copy of Lion 10.7
Get an email copy of Mountain Lion 10.8

The email edition comes with a special download code you can use for the Mac App Store. Note, that to install the Lion or Mountain Lion, your Mac needs to be running Snow Leopard so you can install the newer OS on top of it.

How to get macOS El Capitan download

If you are wondering if you can run El Capitan on an older Mac, rejoice as it’s possible too. But before your Mac can run El Capitan it has to be updated to OS X 10.6.8. So, here are main steps you should take:

1. Install Snow Leopard from install DVD.
2. Update to 10.6.8 using Software Update.
3. Download El Capitan here.

“I can’t download an old version of Mac OS X”

If you have a newer Mac, there is no physical option to install Mac OS versions older than your current Mac model. For instance, if your MacBook was released in 2014, don’t expect it to run any OS released prior of that time, because older Apple OS versions simply do not include hardware drivers for your Mac.

But as it often happens, workarounds are possible. There is still a chance to download the installation file if you have an access to a Mac (or virtual machine) running that operating system. For example, to get an installer for Lion, you may ask a friend who has Lion-operated Mac or, once again, set up a virtual machine running Lion. Then you will need to prepare an external drive to download the installation file using OS X Utilities.

After you’ve completed the download, the installer should launch automatically, but you can click Cancel and copy the file you need. Below is the detailed instruction how to do it.

Copy

STEP 3. Install older OS X onto an external drive

The following method allows you to download Mac OS X Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks.

  1. Start your Mac holding down Command + R.
  2. Prepare a clean external drive (at least 10 GB of storage).
  3. Within OS X Utilities, choose Reinstall OS X.
  4. Select external drive as a source.
  5. Enter your Apple ID.
Drive copy for mac os x 10.8

Now the OS should start downloading automatically onto the external drive. After the download is complete, your Mac will prompt you to do a restart, but at this point, you should completely shut it down. Now that the installation file is “captured” onto your external drive, you can reinstall the OS, this time running the file on your Mac.

  1. Boot your Mac from your standard drive.
  2. Connect the external drive.
  3. Go to external drive > OS X Install Data.

Locate InstallESD.dmg disk image file — this is the file you need to reinstall Lion OS X. The same steps are valid for Mountain Lion and Mavericks.

How to downgrade a Mac running later macOS versions

If your Mac runs macOS Sierra 10.12 or macOS High Sierra 10.13, it is possible to revert it to the previous system if you are not satisfied with the experience. You can do it either with Time Machine or by creating a bootable USB or external drive.
Instruction to downgrade from macOS Sierra

Instruction to downgrade from macOS High Sierra

Drive Copy For Mac Os X 10.10

Instruction to downgrade from macOS Mojave

Instruction to downgrade from macOS Catalina

Before you do it, the best advice is to back your Mac up so your most important files stay intact. In addition to that, it makes sense to clean up your Mac from old system junk files and application leftovers. The easiest way to do it is to run CleanMyMac X on your machine (download it for free here).

Visit your local Apple Store to download older OS X version

If none of the options to get older OS X worked, pay a visit to nearest local Apple Store. They should have image installations going back to OS Leopard and earlier. You can also ask their assistance to create a bootable USB drive with the installation file. So here you are. We hope this article has helped you to download an old version of Mac OS X. Below are a few more links you may find interesting.

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