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How do I move my operating system from one internal hard drive to another on the same Mac?

My question is pretty straightforward: How do I—or can I—move my operating system from one internal hard drive to another on the same Mac Pro desktop?

2.0 GHz G5, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Nov 13, 2012 2:19 PM

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8 replies

Nov 14, 2012 6:32 AM in response to bagpipeguy

You can download and use the Apple "Recovery Disk Assistant" to add a recovery partition to your other disk (search for it on the Apple site).

Then you can use SuperDuper to clone the drive.


SuperDuper is an execllent cloning utility, as is Carbon Copy Cloner (I own and use both).


With respect to CCC and recovery partition. It was my understanding that CCC just made a container file copy of the recovery partition, that could then be restored using a special CCC menu entry. I did not think CCC actually created a working recovery parttion on the clone drive. Did I understand this wrong?

Nov 14, 2012 8:30 AM in response to BobHarris

BobHarris wrote:


You can download and use the Apple "Recovery Disk Assistant" to add a recovery partition to your other disk (search for it on the Apple site).

Then you can use SuperDuper to clone the drive.


SuperDuper is an execllent cloning utility, as is Carbon Copy Cloner (I own and use both).


With respect to CCC and recovery partition. It was my understanding that CCC just made a container file copy of the recovery partition, that could then be restored using a special CCC menu entry. I did not think CCC actually created a working recovery parttion on the clone drive. Did I understand this wrong?

I use CCC and you are correct, if a recovery partition is needed it can be created using the 'Window>Disk Center menu.

Nov 14, 2012 10:55 AM in response to babowa

Thank you.


I was ONLY right about it being an extra Carbon Copy Cloner step, but I was WRONG about everything else.


I really like that CCC warns the user, instructs the user how to create a recovery partition, and manages the process for the user. All very good features.


So I stand corrected, and I'm thankful for the images to reinforce my memory.

How do I move my operating system from one internal hard drive to another on the same Mac?

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