Disk Utility Mac High Sierra

Oct 16, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions

Apple claims that its Mac OS is fully equipped to assist its users for day-to-day PC activities, and they seem to have proven the same over the years. Since Mac users save a lot of important data on it, it is necessary to keep all such information secure. Mac Disk Utility does exactly that with the help of its 'Restore' option. This function teaches you how to Clone a Mac's Drive with Disk Utility.

In this article, learn how to copy all the data and clone a Mac's Drive (internal/external) easily. Read and know more about Mac Disk Utility, its 'Restore' function, how to clone a Mac's Drive with Disk Utility, and a simple way torecover your Mac's Drive.

Mac Disk Utility is a powerful built-in application in Mac OS that has undergone a series of changes with every major OS update. Many Mac users have complained that using Mac Disk Utility to resize a Mac Volume is no longer easy. However, being an experienced Mac expert, we feel its interface is user-friendly and easy to use. To fix the macOS High Sierra problem where the installation fails due to low disk space, restart your Mac and press CTL + R while it's booting to enter the Recover menu. Select ‘Disk boot' to boot.

Then I use Disk utility and backup the main system using image function (until macOS sierra). But in case of High sierra, the above way became unavailable. As the previous system, I made the external High sierra (disk, USB), and switched to the external system. But by the Disk utility, the main High sierra (APFS) disk looks like as follows. The Disk Utility app Version 17.0 (1635) was installed as part of MacOs 10.13.2 - High Sierra. Disk Utility correctly shows that my MacBook Pro internal (boot) SSD is formatted APFS. My new Seagate 2TB-USB 3.0 (as-received) is formatted NTFS. Only the 'Erase' button in the top menu is active (not grey). One of the old Mac OS X utilities, Disk Utility, has received a makeover in macOS Sierra. The updated app now presents a streamlined appearance while retaining all of its former functionality, and it's still useful for verifying or repairing disks.

Part 1: Why You Need to Clone a Mac's Drive?

'What is the need to clone a Mac's Drive?' This thought must have crossed your mind atlas once while using Mac. To be precise, cloning of hard drives protects your important data which is under possible risk of physical destruction, loss, etc. Ios mac app.

No matter how new or of what quality your hard drive is, you cannot say for sure that it will last forever and never crash or suffer from a system failure. Old hard drive or one suffering from mechanical, firmware, or electrical error can permanently destroy your data, such as photos, documents, videos, music, and other files. Also, if important personal documents and business files are misplaced in the process, retrieving them is next to impossible.

Therefore, to prevent these and many more situations that may arise due to data loss, we recommend that you always know how to Clone a Mac's Drive using Disk Utility. Mac Disk Utility and its 'Restore' functions can keep your data, important information, and files secure by literally copying it from your Mac Drive.

Difference Between Time Machine Backup and Cloning Hard Drive

If you're wondering whether to use Time Machine or Mac Disk Utility to clone a Mac's Drive, let us clear the confusion for you. Time Machine is a built-in application to back up and make an up-to-date copy of the data you save on the Mac. Its unique feature is that it makes real-time backups to recover files easily whenever needed. When set-up for the first time, Time Machine performs a full backup of the Mac and its contents. Time Machine keeps, hourly, daily and monthly backups all categorized separately.

If Time Machine can do so much, then why consider using Mac Disk Utility?

To start the discussion, Mac Disk Utility is free and also comes built-in with every Mac OS version. It has various new features that make it more suitable than the Time Machine. Say, for example, its 'Restore' option does something what is called block copy and make the entire cloning process swifter. It is also capable of making an almost cut to cut an exact copy of the contents of the Drive. No important files, documents, or data are left behind using Mac Disk Utility. It works in blocks and does not involve file to file transfer.

Some changes have been introduced in the Mac Disk Utility toolkit which makes more accurate cloning and copying data from the Drive.

Part 2: How to Clone Mac's Drive using Disk Utility?

Curious to know how to clone a Mac's Drive with Disk Utility? Follow these simple steps and you're good to go:

1. Open Mac Disk Utility on your Mac from Utilities or Applications.

1. Click 'Erase' from the top of the Disk Utility interface.
2. Now chose a media on the left panel to make it your backup drive.
3. At the drop-down list which has 'Format' options, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Then hit 'Erase' again and wait for the drive to remount on Mac.
4. Then at the Mac Disk Utility interface, click 'Restore'.
5. Now comes the tricky bit. Select the target drive, drag it and drop it at the 'Source' field.
6. Now drag and drop the destination Disk/Drive and leave it at the 'Destination' field.
7. Hit 'Restore' once and for all. The contents of the drive will be copied and saved on the destination drive.

Part 3: How to Recover Mac's Drive Data?

What does one do if some data is lost during cloning the mac's Drive? Don't worry. The loss isn't permanent and the destroyed data can be recovered with the help ofRecoverit for Mac. It is a recovery tool for MacBook, iMac, Hard Drives, Flash Drives, Memory Cards, phones, cameras, and camcorders. It can instantly retrieve the lost contents from the Mac Drive and provide reliable data recovery solutions. It can recover documents, images, videos, audio files, emails and archives files.

The steps given below will help you use Recoverit for Mac to recover Mac's Drive:

1. Download, install and launch Recoverit hard drive recovery software. Now choose the target drive where the data gets lost, and click 'Start' to recover lost data.

1. And then the data recovery tool will set in motion an all-around scan to search the lost files.

Difference Between Time Machine Backup and Cloning Hard Drive

If you're wondering whether to use Time Machine or Mac Disk Utility to clone a Mac's Drive, let us clear the confusion for you. Time Machine is a built-in application to back up and make an up-to-date copy of the data you save on the Mac. Its unique feature is that it makes real-time backups to recover files easily whenever needed. When set-up for the first time, Time Machine performs a full backup of the Mac and its contents. Time Machine keeps, hourly, daily and monthly backups all categorized separately.

If Time Machine can do so much, then why consider using Mac Disk Utility?

To start the discussion, Mac Disk Utility is free and also comes built-in with every Mac OS version. It has various new features that make it more suitable than the Time Machine. Say, for example, its 'Restore' option does something what is called block copy and make the entire cloning process swifter. It is also capable of making an almost cut to cut an exact copy of the contents of the Drive. No important files, documents, or data are left behind using Mac Disk Utility. It works in blocks and does not involve file to file transfer.

Some changes have been introduced in the Mac Disk Utility toolkit which makes more accurate cloning and copying data from the Drive.

Part 2: How to Clone Mac's Drive using Disk Utility?

Curious to know how to clone a Mac's Drive with Disk Utility? Follow these simple steps and you're good to go:

1. Open Mac Disk Utility on your Mac from Utilities or Applications.

1. Click 'Erase' from the top of the Disk Utility interface.
2. Now chose a media on the left panel to make it your backup drive.
3. At the drop-down list which has 'Format' options, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Then hit 'Erase' again and wait for the drive to remount on Mac.
4. Then at the Mac Disk Utility interface, click 'Restore'.
5. Now comes the tricky bit. Select the target drive, drag it and drop it at the 'Source' field.
6. Now drag and drop the destination Disk/Drive and leave it at the 'Destination' field.
7. Hit 'Restore' once and for all. The contents of the drive will be copied and saved on the destination drive.

Part 3: How to Recover Mac's Drive Data?

What does one do if some data is lost during cloning the mac's Drive? Don't worry. The loss isn't permanent and the destroyed data can be recovered with the help ofRecoverit for Mac. It is a recovery tool for MacBook, iMac, Hard Drives, Flash Drives, Memory Cards, phones, cameras, and camcorders. It can instantly retrieve the lost contents from the Mac Drive and provide reliable data recovery solutions. It can recover documents, images, videos, audio files, emails and archives files.

The steps given below will help you use Recoverit for Mac to recover Mac's Drive:

1. Download, install and launch Recoverit hard drive recovery software. Now choose the target drive where the data gets lost, and click 'Start' to recover lost data.

1. And then the data recovery tool will set in motion an all-around scan to search the lost files.

1. Finally, you can preview the whole scanned results, select the ones which need to be restored, click 'Recover' as shown below, and save the recovered data in another drive/disk to keep it secure for future.

Conclusion

The bottom line, we have attempted to answer a commonly asked question on online forums, i.e., how to clone a Mac's Drive with Disk Utility. We hope you will find this red useful and now be able to clone your Mac's drive and keeps its contents safe.

Also, the Recoverit drive data recovery toolkit is a safe, effective, and trustworthy medium to retrieve your lost documents and file. So go ahead and follow the instructions in this guide to clone Mac's drive orrecover hard drive datadeleted accidentally during its process.

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Disk Utility User Guide

Partitioning a disk divides it into individual sections known as containers.

Disk Utility Mac High Sierra Mac

However, with APFS, you shouldn't partition your disk in most cases. Instead, create multiple APFS volumes within a single partition. With the flexible space management provided by APFS, you can even install another version of macOS on an APFS volume.

Important: If you're partitioning your internal physical disk because you want to install Windows, use Boot Camp Assistant instead. Do not use Disk Utility to remove a partition that was created using Boot Camp Assistant. Instead, use Boot Camp Assistant to remove the partition from your Mac.

Add a partition

Important: As a precaution, it's best to back up your data before creating new partitions on your device.

1. In the Disk Utility app on your Mac, select a volume in the sidebar, then click the Partition button in the toolbar.

   If Disk Utility isn't open, click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, type Disk Utility in the Search field, then click the Disk Utility icon .

   If you have multiple storage devices connected to your Mac, make sure you select a volume that's on the device you want to partition.

   When you select a volume that already has data on it, the pie chart shows a shaded area representing the amount of data on the volume and an unshaded area representing the amount of free space available for another volume. Disk Utility also shows whether the volume can be removed or resized.

   Note: If you see a small volume with an asterisk, the partition is smaller than can be represented at the correct scale in the chart.

2. Read the information in the Apple File System Space Sharing dialog, then click Partition.

3. Click the Add button below the pie chart.

4. Type a name for the volume in the Name field.

   For MS-DOS (FAT) and ExFAT volumes, the maximum length for the volume name is 11 characters.

5. Click the Format pop-up menu, then choose a file system format.

6. Enter the size or drag the resize control to increase or decrease the size of the volume.

7. Click Apply.

8. Read the information in the Partition Device dialog, then click Partition.

9. After the operation finishes, click Done.

After you partition a storage device, an icon for each volume appears in both the Disk Utility sidebar and the Finder sidebar.

High Sierra Os Mac

Delete a partition

WARNING: When you delete a partition, all the data on it is erased. Be sure to back up your data before you begin.

1. In the Disk Utility app on your Mac, select a volume in the sidebar, then click the Partition button in the toolbar.

   If Disk Utility isn't open, click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, type Disk Utility in the Search field, then click the Disk Utility icon .

2. In the Apple File System Space Sharing dialog, click Partition.

3. In the pie chart, click the partition you want to delete, then click the Delete button .

   If the Delete button is dimmed, you can't delete the selected partition.

4. Click Apply.

5. Read the information in the Partition Device dialog, then click Partition.

6. After the operation finishes, click Done.

Erase a partition

1. In the Disk Utility app on your Mac, choose View > Show All Devices, then select the container you want to erase in the sidebar.

   If Disk Utility isn't open, click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, type Disk Utility in the Search field, then click the Disk Utility icon .

2. Click the Erase button in the toolbar.

   If the Erase button is dimmed, you can't erase the selected container.

3. Type a name for the volume in the Name field.

4. Click the Format pop-up menu, then choose a file system format.

5. After the operation finishes, click Done.

Enlarge a partition on a storage device

If you have multiple partitions on a device and one of them is running out of space, you may be able to enlarge it without losing any of the files on it.

To enlarge a volume, you must delete the volume that comes after it on the device, then move the end point of the volume you want to enlarge into the freed space. You can't enlarge the last volume on a device.

WARNING: When you delete a volume or partition, all the data on it is erased. Be sure to back up your data before you begin.

1. In the Disk Utility app on your Mac, select a volume in the sidebar, then click the Partition button .

   If Disk Utility isn't open, click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, type Disk Utility in the Search field, then click the Disk Utility icon .

2. In the Apple File System Space Sharing dialog, click Partition.

3. In the pie chart, select the partition you want to delete, then click the Delete button .

   If the Delete button is dimmed, you can't delete the selected partition.

4. Click Apply.

5. Read the information in the Partition Device dialog, then click Partition.

6. After the operation finishes, click Done.