Budkor

Q: Copying OSX 10.7.5 bootable drive to SSD drive

Hi All

 

I just got an SSD of 64GB. As my OSX 10.7.5 on boot drive is 45GB, I thought I could back it up to the SSD, and use it as emergency boot drive.

 

For this, I just opened the OSX drive, and there are 5 folders there - Applications, Downloads, Library, System, Users.

 

I selected them all in Edit menu, and Pasted them into the blank 64GB SSD.

 

It is copying now, and progress is about 8GB copied, so still a couple of hours to go.

 

Would this make the SSD as a bootable drive? Or if not, what would be the proper way to do it?

 

Thanks in advance.

iPhone 4, iOS 5.1, MacPro, Power Mac G5

Posted on Sep 1, 2016 9:33 AM

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Q: Copying OSX 10.7.5 bootable drive to SSD drive

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  • Helpful answers

  • by ServiceEngineer78,Apple recommended

    ServiceEngineer78 ServiceEngineer78 Sep 1, 2016 9:39 AM in response to Budkor
    Level 1 (115 points)
    iPhone
    Sep 1, 2016 9:39 AM in response to Budkor

    Hi,

     

    Just copying folders will not make the drive bootable into OSX. Take a look at these support articles...

     

    Create a bootable installer for OS X - Apple Support

     

    How to install OS X on an external drive connected to your Mac - Apple Support

  • by Budkor,

    Budkor Budkor Sep 1, 2016 9:51 AM in response to ServiceEngineer78
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 1, 2016 9:51 AM in response to ServiceEngineer78

    What about setting up a back up of the whole boot drive only (45Gb) to  the SSD (64Gb) using the Time Machine Program?

  • by FatMac>MacPro,

    FatMac>MacPro FatMac>MacPro Sep 1, 2016 11:48 AM in response to Budkor
    Level 5 (4,805 points)
    Sep 1, 2016 11:48 AM in response to Budkor

    It's likely that the SSD did not come partitioned and formatted for use on a Mac though files could be written to it. So the first step would be to select it in Disk Utility and create one new partition with a GUID partition table and formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

     

    Then, download SuperDuper, to do the actual job of cloning your internal to the SSD. Note that SuperDuper has just been updated to v2.9 to support El Capitan but has dropped support for OS X 10.7. Look down the webpage for the older version (2.8) which still supports Lion.

     

    An alternative is to open Disk Utility, select your internal drive and then select Restore. The source will be your boot drive and you can select the SSD as the destination. That should also create a bootable external though it will take a longer time. Note that if all you want is an emergency boot drive, you can also use a USB Flash drive. I've seen 256GB flash drives for under $50 so smaller drives can get pretty cheap.

     

    Finally, if you really have a Mac Pro, you can easily install your SSD clone in one of the drive bays with an adapter and be amazed at the increased speed.