Clone Mac Hard Drive Using Disk Utility

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Disk Utility is an all-in-one disk management tool for macOS. Like Windows disk management program, this built-in application can help in creating clone backups. The Mac Disk Utility clone function can help you to create a exact copy of any local disk or external storage device such as external hard drive, USB flash drive, memory card which can mount on your Mac.

The cloning operation is pretty simple with Disk Utility. Also, we will introduce another reliable disk cloning software for Mac. The software is professional at creating bootable clone for macOS. Let's see how to clone Mac hard drive in different ways.

Clone Mac Hard Drive Using Disk Utility

Using Disk Utility to create a clone backup is much easier than making regular backups using Time Machine. With Restore function, you can easily restore your Mac SSD to an external hard drive or restore any external device to your Mac. Follow the guide below to securely clone your Mac hard drive to an external hard drive using Disk Utility.

#1. Prepare an external hard drive for disk cloning

To make a clone backup for your Mac, you need an external storage device to store the cloned data. An external hard drive is a good choice for Mac clone. When you get an external hard drive, it may not be used as a writable drive on your Mac. Don't worry, you can use Disk Utility to quickly format it as a standard disk for your Mac. Follow the steps below:

Step 1. Open Applications folder in Finder, and then open Utilities folder, find and open Disk Utility. And connect the external hard drive to your Mac. Select the external hard drive and click Erase.

Step 2. Edit the disk name and select a file system, just choose APFS.

Step 3. Click Erase again. Then it will securely format the external hard drive to APFS. Click the Done button to complete the operation.

#2. Clone Mac hard drive to the external hard drive

After getting the external hard drive ready, you can then start to clone Mac hard drive to external disk using Disk Utility. Here is how:

Step 1. Select the external hard drive and click Restore.

Step 2. You will see Restore From, just select restore from your Mac disk such as "Macintosh HD" or "Apple SSD XXX."

Step 3. Click Restore. It will securely and completely clone Mac startup disk to the external hard drive.

With Disk Utility, you can easily clone your Mac hard drive to an external hard drive. You can also make clones between two external disks or storage devices.

📍 Note: Disk Utility can clone a Mac hard drive, but it doesn't always create a bootable clone by default. While Disk Utility's "Restore" function can copy all the data, including the operating system, it may not set up the necessary boot information to make the clone bootable on its own. For a guaranteed bootable clone, third-party disk cloning software like Donemax Disk Clone for Mac or others is generally recommended.

Make a Bootable Mac Backup Using Disk Clone Utility

Another way to clone Mac hard drive is to use a third-party disk cloning utility. Donemax Disk Clone for Mac offers comprehensive cloning solutions to help in cloning disk or creating bootable copy on Mac. It can clone everything from Mac startup disk to external disk, including macOS data, installed programs, system settings and user data.

Donemax disk clone utility works well on both Intel Mac and Apple silicon Mac. The OS clone mode can help you securely make a full backup of your Mac startup drive and make it be bootable. Follow the guide below to create a bootable clone backup for your Mac using the Mac disk cloning software.

Step 1. Download and install Donemax Disk Clone for Mac on your Mac. Then open it from Launchpad (Apps in new macOS Tahoe 26) or Applications. Connect an external hard drive to your Mac so that you can clone your Mac drive to it.

🪧 Tips: Check and ensure to use an external with enough space, at least equal to the Mac hard drive. Also, use an empty external drive as the cloning process will overwrite the target hard drive.

Step 2. Choose disk cloning mode - OS Clone. This mode is designed for creating bootable clone for Macs. Then select the external hard drive as the destination drive.

Step 3. Click on Clone Now button to securely clone Mac startup disk to the destination drive and make it be bootable.

Step 4. Once the process gets finished, click Done button. Then you can check the cloned data on the external hard drive.

The drive cloned with Donemax Disk Clone for Mac is bootable directly. You can change the cloned disk as startup disk to boot Mac without a problem.

📖 Learn More: If you want to use the external hard drive as the bootable hard drive on your Mac, you have to set it as the bootable disk first. Check full guide: how to change Mac's startup disk >>

Mac Disk Cloning FAQs:

Final words:

The two ways above can help you securely make a clone on your Mac. The disk utility is a easy-to-use tool which can help you quickly restore Mac data to an external hard drive. The Donemax disk clone utility - Donemax Disk Clone for Mac has more cloning features and is able to securely create a bootable clone backup for your Intel Mac or Apple silicon Mac.