3.3.1 - Advanced disk cloning/recovery utility. Download the latest versions of the best Mac apps at safe and trusted MacUpdate. Macintosh-HD - Applications - Utilities - Disk Utility. Start up disk utility. On the left pane view, you will see a list of all your disks. Click on the disk. Click on the partition tab. You will now see how your disk is currently set up. Fill in the information as appropriate. You should pick Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Click on Options. Straight from Disk Utility, No Third Party Apps Required. Fire up Disk Utility from Spotlight (Command+Space) or the Utilities folder in your applications. You’ll be greeted with a list of all of your volumes, including your internal hard drive (probably called OS X. Acronis is a name well known in the Windows world, but less so to Mac users. True Image is its personal backup solution and it supports backing up your data to a local disk, Acronis' own cloud. The OS X recovery utilities includes access to Disk Utility for managing storage volumes. You can select an internal drive from the list in the left pane and then do anything you would normally do with Disk Utility inside OS X, including repairing your disk in the First Aid tab.

1. Mac Os X 10.11 Download Free

When you decide to backup your Mac, it’s important to choose the right way to do it. While using Time Machine is a great option, sometimes it helps to consider all your options.

For example, if you’re looking to replace your MacBook’s hard drive, consider creating a disk image of your hard drive and store it on an external drive. You can do it by using Disk Utility.

Creating a backup of your Mac will allow you to make an exact copy of your current hard drive and restore all of the information when you get a new drive installed. Having a backup copy of your startup disk also removes the risk of losing your data while performing system updates.

Prepare to Backup Your Mac

Before you begin backing up your Mac, there are a few things you need to keep in mind.

• Disk Utility is free and included with macOS. You can find it in Applications > Utilities.

• Before you start the Mac backup, make sure you have an internal or external hard drive ready. It needs to be large enough to store the data you have on your current startup disk and that it doesn’t have anything you want to keep on it. The backup process will erase the receiving drive.
• The destination drive also needs to be properly formatted. Especially if you’re using an external hard drive or an external SSD to back up your data, as most of them don’t come pre-formatted for Macs.
• Check the destination drive for errors before you begin the process.
• Finally, the whole process will take anything between half an hour and several hours, depending on the data you’re backing up. So make sure your computer is plugged in and you won’t need to use it in the next couple of hours.

Verify the Destination Drive Using Disk Utility

If your destination drive has any errors, it might cause issues with your backup, and you won’t have a reliable copy of your startup drive.

We recommend using Disk Utility to verify the destination drive before you start the backup process. In order to do that, follow these steps:

1. Open Disk Utility.
2. From the device list, select the destination drive.
3. Click First Aid in the top of the app. Then choose Run.

This will start the verification process that shouldn’t take longer than a few minutes.

If Disk Utility shows verification errors, you’ll need to repair the disk before moving on. To do that, click the First Aid button in Disk Utility again to repair the disk. If you get a confirmation message in the end, you’re good to go.

On the contrary, if there are still errors listed after you’ve repaired the disk, you’ll need to repeat the whole process until the disk is fully repaired and you get the Disk Utility confirmation message.

Start The Mac Backup Process

Now that your destination drive is ready, you may begin the cloning process and create a copy of your startup disk. To do that, follow these steps:

• In Disk Utility, select your startup disk.

• From the Disk Utility menu, choose File >New Image > Image from “name of your drive”.

What to Do if The Option to Create an Image is Greyed Out

Sometimes the option to create an image from the current disk will be greyed out. That happens because some macOS versions have rather complex file system arrangements. Disk Utility will sometimes only show you volumes and not all available devices.

In order to fix that, open the View menu in Disk Utility and choose Show All Devices. You will then see a different file structure. To create an image of your internal disk, you’ll need to choose it under “Internal” and then repeat the process FIle > New Image > Image from “name of your disk”.

• Before starting the backup, you can change its name. If you’re only using that disk for backup purposes, we recommend choosing something like Mac Backup to help you remember it in the future.

• Select your destination drive.
• For general use, choose the default options: “compressed” under Format and “none” under Encryption.
• Click Save. This will start the backup.

Disk Utility will require some time to create the backup of your Mac depending on the amount of data you have on your startup disk. Once it’s finished, Disk Utility will notify you. Then you’ll have a complete copy of your hard drive which you can use to restore your data later on.

Use Boot Manager To Check Your Copy

One extra precaution that you can take is checking your backup to see if it works as your startup disk. After your Mac backup is complete, you’ll need to restart your computer and see if it can boot from the backup copy. You can do it using the Mac’s Boot Manager.

1. Shut down all applications.
2. Click on the Apple menu and choose Restart.
3. When your screen turns black, hold down the Option key until your screen turns gray and you see icons of bootable hard drives.
4. Choose the backup copy you just created.

Your Mac will now boot from the backup you just made. To return to your startup disk, you’ll need to restart your computer once again.

If you don’t want to lose your data, taking a backup of your Mac should become a habit for you. If you can’t remember when was the last time you’ve made a copy of your files, it’s safe to say it’s time to do it again.

There are many different ways to backup your iOS and macOS devices. You can choose the one that suits your needs best, or even better – use different methods for different types of data. Aside from Disk Utility, try using iCloud for backing up your photos, and Time Machine for creating copies of larger files.

Basic Backup

For some people Time Machine will be more than adequate. Time Machine is part of OS X. There are two components:

1. A Time Machine preferences panel as part of System Preferences;

2. A Time Machine application located in the Applications folder. It is

used to manage backups and to restore backups. Time Machine

requires a backup drive that is at least twice the capacity of the

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drive being backed up.

Alternatively, get an external drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):

1. Carbon Copy Cloner

2. Get Backup

3. Deja Vu

4. SuperDuper!

5. Synk Pro

6. Tri-Backup

Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files. For help with using Time Machine visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.

Although you can buy a complete external drive system, you can also put one together if you are so inclined. It's relatively easy and only requires a Phillips head screwdriver (typically.) You can purchase hard drives separately. This gives you an opportunity to shop for the best prices on a hard drive of your choice. Reliable brands include Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, Toshiba, and Fujitsu. You can find reviews and benchmarks on many drives at Storage Review.

Enclosures for FireWire and USB are readily available. You can find only FireWire enclosures, only USB enclosures, and enclosures that feature multiple ports. I would stress getting enclosures that use the Oxford chipsets especially for Firewire drives (911, 921, 922, for example.) You can find enclosures at places such as;

1. Cool Drives

2. OWC

3. WiebeTech

4. Firewire Direct

5. California Drives

6. NewEgg

All you need do is remove a case cover, mount the hard drive in the enclosure and connect the cables, then re-attach the case cover. Usually the only tool required is a small or medium Phillips screwdriver.

Feb 21, 2014 11:31 AM