Hello
I am new to this support forum, so I apologize in advance if this has been asked and answered, but I did not see a clear path for this with the searching I did.
I have Winclone v7.3.4 and wish to create a backup clones of my MacBook pro (Mid-2012) onto other virtually identical computers, to ensure I am ready to run in the case of a hardware or software problem on my main machine and to facilitate certain testing and special projects. I generally run my Bootcamp partition with Parallels, running under Mojave. However there are a couple Windows programs that I need, which do not operate properly under Parallels, so I also boot in BootCamp directly when I run those programs.
I would also like to migrate to APFS because of the flexibility of the MS OS volumes under APFS. I wish to have 2 or 3 different bootable Mac OS partitions to support proven and test configurations of various versions of Mac OS I need for Music software and testing of migration paths, and those Mac OS volumes grow/shrink in size depending on the task at hand.
I will have one physical drive in the target MacBook Pro computers (SSD, 1 or 2TB).
It is generally pretty easy to create Mac OS volumes, and copy over bootable Mac, just by mounting the target computer using Target Disk mode, creating the desired scheme on the target disk and using CCC, or others, to copy over the Mac OS volumes, however Windows is unclear.
-
What are the rights steps to properly create a Target SSD drive, using APFS scheme, to aid in successfully cloning over my Bootcamp to meet my above situation/plan?
-
Once the target drive is properly created, is it just a matter of starting the destination MacBook Pro in Target Disk mode, and using Volume to Volume cloning?
I have spent some time on this, and the steps for #1 are unclear, and I have had failures with step #2 each time, so I obviously don’t know what I am doing.
Hoping for a clear path.
Thanks!
APFS is both a filesystem and a volume management scheme. It is not a type of partitioning scheme, but is on a GPT partitioned disk. APFS volumes and containers are on a GPT partition (or multiple). A boot camp partition is also on a GPT partition. As you can see, Boot Camp doesn’t depend on the format of the other GPT partitions (APFS/HFS+ or other).
tim
Ok, and these things all have to co-exist and all be bootable. . .
My question is what are the steps to prep the target disk for a Bootcamp clone, with the ability to also have multiple Mac OS instances within APFS on that Target disk? I don’t see a clear path for this and I have invested much time without success, which is why I am asking.
When I Try to Clone, and select the source (my BootCamp) and Destination (FAT 32 partition on another Mac in target Disk mode using a Thunderbolt cable) I get an immediate "Restore Error There was an error during the disk to disk clone. There may be a problem with one the the volumes or the disks.)
Ok, making some progress. . . seems the problem is with Volume to Volume Cloning, which fails. I am presently running “Restore Image” to copy an Image I had previously created, and that seems to be working. I will get back and report on the result.
What is the deal with Volume to Volume Cloning and the fairly immediate “Restore Error” issue?
Ok, using “Restore Image” completed the process of restoring the previously created Windows Image without error. I next used Carbon Copy Cloner to copy the Mac OS Volume to the Target computer. I ejected the Target mode disks on the Target computer, restarted, holding Option, and it sees both the Windows and Mac Volumes as bootable. However, I get the message “Error loading operating system” when selecting the Windows volume to start. The Mac OS volume starts up fine. Looking for a clear path here. . . what am I missing? Is there some specific steps to creating/prepping the Target Disk before I start this process, or is WinClone messing up the restore?
Ok, I updated to Winclone 8, created a Fresh Image from the Bootcamp on the working computer, Restored that image to a partition on the Target computer connected via Thunderbolt (both Mid 2012 Macbook Pros), and although both Windows and Mojave show up when I start the Target computer up on its’ own, holding Option, when I select Windows for startup it messages “Error loading operating system”.
If I go back to Target Disk mode, and startup the source computer holding Option key, and select the source computer is able to startup from the External Cloned copy of Bootcamp. Something is pointing incorrectly. . . Whats the remedy? What am I missing?
In Winclone, under the tools menu, there is “Make EFI Bootable” and “Make Legacy Bootable”. Those options set the boot camp partition as either EFI or legacy bootable and should help resolve your issue.
tim