Disk Utility to clone bootable drive

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wsrphoto0 Author

Level 1

12 points

Disk Utility to clone bootable drive

I used Disk Utility to retore HD to another HD and a SSD but it didn't work. The log shows:

Restoring “Mac HD6” from “Mac HD”

Validating target...

Validating source...

Validating sizes...

Restoring

Verifying

Inverting target volume...

APFS inverter failed to invert the volume - Invalid argument

The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSStatus error 22.)

Operation failed…

Is there something I can do to fix it into a bootable clone or is this a bug in the app? I tried it with both Mac OS 10.14.4 and 10.14.5. Seems odd Apple creates a tool that doesn't work.

Mac Pro, macOS 10.14

Posted on May 18, 2019 5:58 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

leroydouglas

Community+ 2024

Level 10

183,858 points

May 18, 2019 9:32 AM in response to wsrphoto0

3-2-1 Backup Strategy: three copies of your data, two different methods, and one offsite.

Boot clone https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-10081

How to use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201250

Use DiskUtility Restore feature https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/restore-a-disk-dskutl14062/mac

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Answer 2

fuzzymo

Level 4

2,030 points

May 18, 2019 6:13 AM in response to wsrphoto0

I have had this happen many times in the past. There seems to be some issues with Disk Utility and restoring APFS volumes. I have had it actually work on several occasions but fail more times then it succeeds. Try restoring to a destination volume with more capacity than the source volume.

Many people use Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to create clones. They are reliable.

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Answer 3

wsrphoto0 Author

Level 1

12 points

May 18, 2019 8:46 AM in response to fuzzymo

The source is an 8+ year old (original) 1 TB HD and the destination is a new 2 TB HD. I've tried to clone it to a 1 TB SSD, which are really 960 GB drives but Disk Utility won't clone to any 1 TB HD I have since they're all just a few GB's smaller for disk management. Disk Utility doesn't have file clone option which would make it easier to clone to any HD.

I've been working with Micromat to get Tech Tool 11 to clone but while it works on their Mac's, it doesn't work on mine. I've heard good words about the two apps you mentioned but neither have responded they work on 10.14.x or clone HD to SSD, and I don't want to spend $40 without assurances.

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Answer 4

fuzzymo

Level 4

2,030 points

May 18, 2019 9:10 AM in response to wsrphoto0

I know for sure that Carbon Copy Cloner works for all versions of macOS 10.14. I use it regularly. They also have a free 30 day trail. I believe SuperDuper is also compatible, but I don't use it, so I can't comment on it. Read their support literature.

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Answer 5

wsrphoto0 Author

Level 1

12 points

May 18, 2019 1:33 PM in response to leroydouglas

I used the Disk Utility (in orignal post). It doesn't work. I've read about downloading Mac OS and Migration Assistant. It's lengthy and first two attempts to download and install Mac OS on SSD didn't work because it wanted to install firmware update that hung the Mac. I've used Time Machine but it's not a way to build a bootable clone drive. Only real options are third party software.

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Answer 6

Algr

Level 1

20 points

May 18, 2019 6:13 PM in response to wsrphoto0

I've discovered after much grief that USB drives often can't boot if they are connected through a hub. You must connect them directly to the computer in order to boot. Nothing in the startup disk control panel will warn you of this.

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Answer 7

wsrphoto0 Author

Level 1

12 points

May 19, 2019 11:56 AM in response to Algr

Nice to know except I don't use USB connected drives. They're all (external box and LaCie) firewire connected to the back of the Mac, and the startup panel recognizes them. Now Disk Utility doesn't work and startup panel says it can't install bless files. They were bootable before Mojave, but now I'm looking at third party apps since the two I have don't work to create bootable clones under Mojave.

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Answer 8

HWTech

Level 9

55,874 points

May 19, 2019 3:40 PM in response to wsrphoto0

As mentioned by others in this thread Carbon Copy Cloner is highly recommended and will recreate the Recovery Partition as well.

In order to install macOS to an external drive you need to make sure the internal drive has a valid EFI partition or you will receive the firmware error message. CCC is a much easier option if your original drive doesn't have any errors/issues.

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Answer 9

wsrphoto0 Author

Level 1

12 points

May 20, 2019 5:32 PM in response to HWTech

I did purchase Carbon Copy Cloner. It created the boot drive on the SSD (currently using it) and it's installing boot clone on an external new HD as a backup boot drive. The original boot HD will be replaced with the SSD. Three of the four original 2010 Mac Pro HD's still work, but they'll be erased and boxed. The Mac Pro will have three new HD's and a new SSD. With the new graphics card (to be Mojave complaint), the only original parts are the motherboard and case. And yes, the SSD is blindingly fast compared to a 2010 HD.

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Answer 10

babowa

Level 9

78,109 points

May 20, 2019 6:35 PM in response to wsrphoto0

Disk Utility does a block by block cloning only - that means your destination must be as large or larger than the source (makes no difference that you've only used 200 GB of 1 TB....). CCC will do a regular clone so your destination only needs to be as large as the 200 GB used on your drive (of course, you would want to make it larger for future updates when you're taking up more room on the drive).

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Disk Utility to clone bootable drive

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