How one can use Apple Software program Restore to clone your Mac’s drive

Apple Software program Restore permits you to clone your Mac even with a Signed System Quantity. Here is the way to use it to repeat your Mac’s storage.

For quite a lot of causes, you might wish to make a clone of your Startup Disk in your Mac. This may embody software program testing, backups, configuration, or many different causes.

Previously on macOS this was comparatively straightforward, however that modified with macOS Large Sur as a result of Apple added what is called a Signed System Quantity to every macOS Startup Disk. Signed System Volumes are encoded with a particular cryptographic marker for that one set up.

For those who attempt to clone a Signed System Quantity or copy it, the copy will fail. Apple does this on function to stop theft of Startup Disk volumes – and to stop malicious software program (malware) from hacking the macOS put in on Startup Disks.

Ever since Apple added Signed System Volumes, most third-party clone software program additionally will not work. Or a minimum of they will not work when attempting to create a bootable clone of a macOS system quantity.

There may be, nevertheless, one solution to nonetheless clone macOS drives since macOS Large Sur that does work: Apple Software program Restore (ASR).

Utilizing ASR, you should use part of macOS to repeat a Startup Disk quantity, then set it as a certified (signed) quantity, which can boot efficiently.

It’s also possible to use ASR to revive disk picture (.dmg) recordsdata to bodily disk volumes. In truth, once you do a Restore from inside macOS’s Disk Utility, it makes use of ASR below the hood to carry out the Restore.

How one can clone your Startup Disk utilizing ASR

This information covers macOS Catalina or later. For earlier variations of macOS, the method is barely completely different.

To make a clone on an Apple Silicon Mac, it’s essential to have a replica of macOS put in on the goal. You may want it to make the clone bootable in your Mac, as this course of does not work in the event you attempt to clone onto an empty drive on a Mac.

For cloning on an Apple Silicon Mac, you should be utilizing macOS Monterey or later. macOS Large Sur or earlier will not work.

You can also’t cross-boot a cloned drive, i.e., you possibly can’t boot a clone made on an Intel Mac on an Apple Silicon Mac or vice versa.

Additionally, bear in mind that any FileVault encryption your supply drive makes use of is not going to be copied to the goal. If you wish to use FileVault on the goal after cloning, it’s essential to boot into the cloned drive, re-enable FileVault, and permit it to re-encrypt the drive.

You may additionally should be snug utilizing macOS’s Terminal app and in utilizing disk volumes and the macOS Finder. A system administrator password is required to carry out the cloning.

The Terminal app additionally must be granted Full Disk Entry in System Settings->Privateness & Safety->Full Disk Entry to ensure that the cloning course of to work. If Terminal does not seem within the record of apps to grant entry to, click on the + button and add it to the record from the /Purposes/Utilities folder in your Startup Disk.

Select supply and vacation spot volumes

The disk quantity you wish to clone is named the supply quantity, and the drive you wish to clone it to is named the vacation spot. The vacation spot ought to be an Apple File System (APFS) Container, nevertheless it will also be a single quantity.

The supply and vacation spot might be on the identical drive, nevertheless it’s not advisable in case one thing goes mistaken or in case errors happen throughout cloning.

Both or each the supply and vacation spot drives might be an inner drive inside your Mac or an exterior drive. It’s also possible to clone from a Disk Utility disk picture if it was additionally beforehand made utilizing ASR.

If you wish to arrange an unformatted exterior drive to make use of for the clone, first erase it utilizing macOS’s Disk Utility app positioned in your Startup Disk at /Purposes/Utilities.

Warning: Bear in mind that utilizing Disk Utility makes it straightforward to erase drives and destroy information. You could wish to unplug any extra exterior drives linked to your Mac first.

All the time again up your information earlier than erasing any drive.

After getting Disk Utility working in your Mac, choose View->Present All Gadgets within the menu bar, then click on the disk drive you wish to erase from the record on the left. Make sure you choose a top-level bodily drive from the record, and never a quantity or container on a drive.

Whenever you’ve confirmed that is the drive you wish to erase, click on the Erase button in Disk Utility’s foremost window. It will erase all volumes and software program on the disk, together with any different volumes current. You can not undo this motion, so you should definitely select the gadget to erase rigorously.

Within the Erase sheet, give the brand new quantity a reputation, and set the Format: pop-up menu to APFS. If there is a Scheme: pop-up menu current, set it to GUID Partition Map, and click on the Erase button. This Erases the disk.

As soon as the Erase course of completes, you will see a single new empty disk quantity mount on the Finder’s Desktop. Stop Disk Utility.

View disk and quantity information in Terminal

For this subsequent step, you might wish to first eject and unplug all storage gadgets out of your Mac apart from those containing the supply and vacation spot disks. Doing so makes this step simpler.

Subsequent, you will must view the specifics of your supply and vacation spot drives in macOS’s Terminal app to assemble some information wanted for ASR. To take action, open the Terminal app in your Startup Disk at /Purposes/Utilities.

Then, in Terminal sort:

diskutil record and press Return in your keyboard.

This shows information about all storage gadgets linked to your Mac, together with their BSD (UNIX) gadget entries. Every drive entry listed within the /dev listing consists of:

1. Drive partition or container scheme
2. An inventory of volumes on every gadget
3. The kind, title, ID, and measurement of every quantity on every gadget

For instance, the primary gadget might need a tool entry of /dev/disk0 and a number of sequentially numbered volumes (partitions) on it, beginning with a partition title resembling disk0s1. Further volumes may have comparable names with rising partition numbers.

You may additionally be aware that the final part of every gadget entry is the BSD disk title, and it all the time matches the disk title of the partition scheme listed below the IDENTIFIER column. For instance, /dev/disk0 all the time has a partition scheme with an ID of disk0. The identical is true for extra drives.

This helps you bear in mind which volumes belong to which gadgets.

Subsequent, be aware down the gadget entries and quantity (partition) names and identifiers of the supply and vacation spot volumes you wish to use for the cloning operation.

That is actually vital to do. For those who specify an incorrect quantity identifier because the vacation spot disk throughout cloning, all its information could also be destroyed, and there is no solution to undo it.

Take your time and watch out.

You may additionally discover within the disk record a number of partitions with names resembling Apple_APFS_ISC and Apple_APFS_Recovery. These are particular hidden volumes utilized by macOS, and also you should not contact them. Doing so could render your Mac unbootable.

Machine and quantity confusion

Apple File System (APFS) is usually a bit complicated typically.

That is due primarily to 2 ideas: container disks (normally of sort Apple_APFS) and synthesized or digital volumes. Container disks can include different volumes.

A container works as a type of wrapper round a number of different volumes, all of which might be of various sorts.

Containers are helpful as a result of they allow the manipulation of a number of volumes without delay, resembling copying, cloning, and repairing. Containers additionally present some extra inner info in case there’s an issue with a number of of the volumes they include.

Whenever you broaden a container, it could possibly then be handled as a tool and the volumes it incorporates might be manipulated individually.

Additionally bear in mind that partitions of sort Apple_APFS are completely different than partitions of sort APFS Quantity and APFS Snapshot. It is because in APFS, containers might be expanded as in the event that they have been bodily gadgets, and their wrapped volumes displayed as in the event that they have been volumes on an actual, bodily gadget.

In macOS, Apple_APFS nearly all the time represents a container, and APFS Quantity nearly all the time represents a single, particular person quantity.

When you perceive this, it is simple to see how a Container gadget entry within the diskutil record might be confused for an actual, bodily gadget. Once more – watch out.

Subsequent to every gadget entry, you will discover an outline in parentheses to point if the drive is an actual, bodily drive or a synthesized one. So, for instance, you would possibly see (inner, bodily) or (synthesized) subsequent to a tool entry.

All of this may be very complicated and result in potential errors when utilizing the diskutil command and Terminal. It is because, in some instances, it is attainable to have a digital gadget entry that’s truly a container on an actual, bodily gadget.

Such digital gadgets will normally someplace in their quantity record include the empty label Bodily Retailer adopted by the partition identifier of the partition on the true, bodily gadget they level again to.

For instance, you may even see a container scheme line in a digital gadget entry’s record, adopted by a clean line which incorporates solely the label “Bodily Retailer”, resembling:

Bodily Retailer disk0s2

Often, proper after that line might be listed the APFS volumes themselves, for instance:

APFS Quantity Untitled 460.0 KB disk3s1

This means that the container scheme itself factors again to an Apple_APFS Container on a bodily disk. And normally in these instances, a APFS Container Scheme‘s measurement might be an identical to the Apple_APFS Container it factors again to.

Tiny APFS Quantity entries listed within the KB measurement vary normally point out the disk was newly erased with a single empty quantity on it. To clone right into a container, you possibly can both take away all volumes inside it or merely add your clone as a brand new quantity into it.

Opposite to what you would possibly assume, it is solely attainable so as to add a clone into the container that incorporates the quantity macOS is at present booted into. We’ll get to this beneath.

Additionally, earlier than you begin the clone, be certain that the vacation spot has sufficient house to carry the total measurement of your complete clone. If it does not, the clone will fail.

This consists of any restoration and boot partitions marked with “Preboot” or “Restoration” in the event you’re cloning a whole gadget. It is best to in all probability enable for just a little additional house in case ASR wants to maneuver issues round. A couple of GB ought to be sufficient.

To summarize the above instance:

1. disk0 – an actual, bodily gadget entry with a GUID_partition_scheme on it
2. disk0s2 – an Apple_APFS container on bodily disk0
3. disk3s1 – an APFS Quantity on a synthesized gadget (disk3) with a APFS Container Scheme on it
4. Bodily Retailer disk0s2 – The identifier of the Apple_APFS on the bodily gadget from which disk3 was synthesized

Most likely the most important gotcha in attempting to know all that is that the IDENTIFIER of the mother or father Apple_APFS container seems within the textual content of the “Bodily Retailer” label within the NAME column on the synthesized youngster gadget entry (simply earlier than its quantity record).

When you grasp that relationship, understanding APFS turns into a lot simpler.

Don’t be concerned if all that is complicated. APFS takes fairly a while to get used to and perceive. You may get it will definitely.

The upshot of all that is that when working ASR to clone a quantity, it’s a must to watch out about which quantity you goal as your vacation spot. For those who make a mistake, it is very straightforward to wipe out a container, which additionally wipes out all of the volumes it references.

You’ll be able to goal a Container because the vacation spot, however it’s a must to watch out about the way you do it.

It is easy to find out the supply and vacation spot volumes within the diskutil record by in search of the Container or quantity names you need within the NAME column (resembling “Macintosh HD”, for instance). However bear in mind it is attainable in macOS to have two volumes with an identical names, however with a unique IDENTIFIER for every.

Put together for cloning

As soon as you’ve got accomplished the entire above and verified every thing, it is time to begin the clone operation. For this instance, we’ll assume you are working macOS Monterey or later.

If the vacation spot is an APFS Container and it incorporates the quantity macOS is at present booted into, it’s essential to restart your Mac into Restoration Mode.

The steps for doing this are completely different in the event you’re utilizing an Intel or Apple Silicon Mac. Apple additionally has a Intro to macOS Restoration web page.

That is essential to keep away from restrictions imposed by System Integrity Safety. If the vacation spot does not include the at present booted macOS quantity, you possibly can run ASR from Terminal with out restarting.

Oddly, subsequent it’s essential to be certain that both FileVault or Discover My Mac is enabled. This ensures Restoration Assistant will seem after a restart and ask you for an admin password.

With out this, ASR will fail.

Restart utilizing the directions from Apple above in addition into Restoration Mode. As soon as in Restoration Mode, choose Utilities->Terminal from the menu bar.

As soon as in Terminal, run diskutil record as you probably did above. Notice that the IDs for containers and volumes could have modified.

If the supply has FileVault enabled, you will must unlock its information quantity it with two instructions in Terminal:

diskutil apfs listvolumegroups

diskutil apfs unlock

For those who’re working ASR with out working in Restoration Mode, you will must as an alternative unlock utilizing the diskutil apfs unlock command adopted by the information quantity. For instance:

diskutil apfs unlock disk2s2

The info quantity is a separate quantity that resides subsequent to the precise bootable macOS quantity. So, for instance, in case your bootable Mac quantity is known as “Macintosh HD”, you will additionally see a second quantity subsequent to it named “Macintosh HD – Knowledge”.

Put together snapshots for cloning

Signed System Volumes include a sealed snapshot of the copy of macOS that’s on the Startup Disk. These snapshots are used to protect the safety of the put in OS to verify it hasn’t been tampered with.

So as to use these snapshots on the vacation spot, they should be copied over as-is. To ensure that ASR to make the snapshot copy, it has to know what the snapshot’s title or distinctive ID (UUID) is.

To get the snapshot UUID or title in Terminal, be aware the diskutil ID of the supply’s system quantity (for instance ‘disk2s1’) within the IDENTIFIER column with:

diskutil mount disk2s1

This forces the quantity to be mounted by macOS. Notice that is the quantity with macOS on it – not the Knowledge quantity.

Terminal will show the mounted quantity title and echo again the ID when it does.

Subsequent run:

diskutil apfs listsnapshots disk2s1

This shows the sealed snapshot’s title and UUID on this quantity. For those who get an error, return and ensure the quantity or Container ID you specified matches the one containing the macOS set up.

It is best to see one thing like:

i7@i7s-Mac-mini ~ % diskutil apfs listsnapshots disk2s1

Snapshot for disk2s1 (1 discovered)

|

+— E3D1AF2D-7182-3217-BC82-2874219DAB48

Title: com.apple.os.update-52F3A2F592F324F6AC5DE35D538FA237771DB7715C76582E51C5C432D80587DD

XID: 42

Purgeable: No

The brief string subsequent to the “+— ” is the snapshot UUID, and the longer string beneath it’s the title. You should utilize both, however the UUID is less complicated.

It’s also possible to view the snapshot title/UUID for the supply in Disk Utility from the menu bar by deciding on View->Present APFS Snapshots.

Notice, it’s essential to have an precise macOS quantity chosen within the sidebar in Disk Utility for this menu merchandise to be enabled. Deciding on the bodily gadget or the Container will not work.

Begin the cloning operation

The command for beginning the ASR cloning course of is straightforward, however your complete command line is sort of complicated.

The principle command is:

asr restore

There are a number of choices and parameters that go together with it. The three most vital attainable choices are:

1. — supply
2. — goal
3. — erase

It’s also possible to use the --file choice to focus on a file because the vacation spot. There are different choices for skipping verification and warnings and controlling output.

There’s additionally a cool server choice to multicast a clone over a community, nevertheless it requires the --erase flag. ASR may also learn multicast .dmg recordsdata over a community by utilizing the asr:// protocol. However generally, asr:// is not used a lot.

For an entire record of choices and utilization, in Terminal sort:

man asr and press Return in your keyboard. There’s additionally an on-line model at ss64.com.

The person web page has sections that debate restoring from filesystems, snapshots, and volumes. To exit the person system in Terminal, sort Management-Z or q in your keyboard.

You may get verbose output whereas cloning with the --verbose and --debug flags.

An instance of the only clone command line would possibly appear like this:

sudo asr restore --source /Volumes/supply --target /Volumes/dest

To do the identical as above but in addition erase and destroy all information (together with volumes) on the vacation spot when cloning, additionally add the --erase flag on the finish of the command line earlier than beginning.

The --erase flag destroys all current information on the goal, so use it rigorously. It is easy to wipe out a number of volumes without delay inadvertently in the event you’re not cautious.

To incorporate the above snapshot in the event you’re working in Restoration Mode, additionally add the --toSnapshot flag adopted by an area, then the snapshot title or UUID you obtained above. It will make the vacation spot clone look and behave precisely like your supply quantity.

Typically, in the event you goal a container and omit the --erase flag – and in case your supply is a single quantity, the quantity might be added to the container and the opposite volumes might be left alone.

However once more, use warning and all the time again up all of your volumes and information first, simply in case one thing goes mistaken.

When working in Restoration Mode, you possibly can normally omit the sudo firstly of the command since you entered an admin password when Restoration Mode began.

When ASR begins, it’ll immediate to ask in the event you’re certain except you used the --noprompt flag above. Press y in response and press Return.

ASR will run a number of steps to execute the clone, and if every thing labored, on the finish you will see the message “Restore accomplished efficiently.”. If a clone fails, you will must open Disk Utility and search for a quantity with “ASR” in its title after which Erase it from the toolbar.

Once more, proceed with warning. Do not unintentionally erase the mistaken quantity.

Make the clone bootable

When a clone operation succeeds, the vacation spot nonetheless is not bootable. You may must do a couple of extra steps to make it so.

After ASR runs, the vacation spot volumes all have the identical names because the originals (or one quantity in the event you did not clone a Container). You may must rename these volumes with distinctive names so they do not battle with the originals.

If a couple of quantity with an an identical title is mounted on the Finder’s Desktop, macOS will change one of many volumes’ names silently however solely within the background. The “actual” title the filesystem sees for every quantity might be completely different than the duplicate(s)’ names proven within the Finder, which might be complicated.

I’s finest to verify all volumes have distinctive names.

You’ll be able to rename unlocked quantity names within the Finder by clicking on their names and typing new ones. Alternately, you possibly can rename them in Disk Utility by deciding on them within the sidebar, then Management-clicking each and deciding on Rename from the popup menu.

At any fee, it is best to restart your Mac after renaming volumes to verify the system picks up all the brand new names and discards any ones it might have created within the background.

Notice that this renaming additionally needs to be accomplished for the vacation spot’s Knowledge quantity. For instance:

1. Macintosh HD
2. Macintosh HD – Knowledge

would possibly turn into:

1. NewExternal HD
2. NewExternal HD – Knowledge

Do not rename the particular volumes on the clone named:

1. Preboot
2. Restoration
3. VM
4. Replace

For those who do, the clone could not boot.

For those who’re nonetheless in Restoration Mode, you will must restart again into your regular set up of macOS to finish the following steps.

When you’re again in macOS, open System Settings, go to Common->Startup Disk and set your clone because the boot quantity. This causes macOS to bless the quantity for booting by setting some particular flags on it.

Now you can restart into the cloned quantity by clicking the Restart button.

For those who see the message “This quantity doesn’t have any approved customers for this laptop”, click on Authorize Customers and comply with the directions. You could must enter an admin password a number of instances.

You may additionally wish to run First Assist in Disk Utility on the clone or its Container first earlier than rebooting, simply to verify every thing is okay on the vacation spot.

If, for any motive after restarting, you possibly can’t boot from the clone and may’t get again to your authentic Startup Disk, you possibly can choose which quantity to begin from by resetting your Mac after which holding down a key:

1. Energy button (Apple Silicon)
2. Choice key (Intel Macs)

This preempts the boot course of and shows a display screen that offers you the choice to pick out which quantity in addition from.

Now you know the way to make clones of your Startup Disk in numerous methods. Watch out when making clones since it is very straightforward to destroy information.

Apple Software program Restore is not meant for mass deployment of macOS to a number of machines. It’s attainable to take action, nevertheless it’s not a good suggestion.

As an alternative, it’s best to use Apple’s MDM know-how to deploy to a number of gadgets without delay. See the macOS Deployment Information for more information.

ASR might be harmful if not used rigorously. For that reason, it’s best to solely use it once you’re certain you’ve sufficient time to do a restore with out dashing.

One single mistake can wipe out a number of drives without delay and destroy all the information on them immediately.

It may additionally be a good suggestion to arrange a take a look at Mac with some additional drives on it and observe earlier than utilizing ASR in a real-world setting. You should utilize cheap USB thumb drives as take a look at drives, though they are going to be a bit slower.

Additionally see Apple’s technote (102655) How one can reinstall macOS.