If I back this up to a USB/hard drive, will I be able to boot up with it from a new Macbook? I'm interested in keeping the same settings I have currently and just putting them all on a new Macbook. I know about the utility to use this but I also want to have a back up of my current laptop set up.
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.13
You can use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the entire drive, but it may not boot the other computer if the OS isn't compatible with the hardware.
Without knowing the details of what OS you are currently using it is unlikely to boot your new laptop. Macs cannot boot an older OS than that which shipped with the computer.
Instead you should use Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant to transfer your user account & data to the new Mac.
Setup Assistant:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205749
Migration Assistant:
Migration assistant can somewhat selectively Migrate All the settings form the old computer, or a Time machine backup of the old computer.
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Right so I was more interested in having a back-up on a USB that mimicked what the migration assistant does. The operating system is not important so much as keeping most of the system settings and apppications that I currently have. Is that possible?
Does this backup allow for booting from USB/hard drive with the same settings?
