[Guide] How to perform Mac Drive Cloning

We have written many articles related to Mac. In this article we'l show you how to perform mac drive cloning.

Hard drive cloning is a well-known method to back up all data at once, and the backup is termed the bootable backup of the Mac. Well, the process actually is quite hard to perform and there is a huge risk of data loss while copying the system files and installed applications from the source drive to the destination drive. In contrast, the process is quite faster, efficient, and productive as compared to backing up the crucial files manually on the individual basis.

How to perform Mac Drive Cloning

Well, the process of Mac drive cloning on to a secondary drive requires certain criteria to be satisfied with no failure. Accordingly, the user must have a Mac drive-cloning tool and a secondary drive with the size equal to or greater than that of the primary drive (i.e. Mac drive). Remember, in case the secondary drive is brand new (or it has not been used with Mac yet), it has to be formatted with the Mac file system at the very first step of the process. For this, you can also use Mac inbuilt Disk Utility, or a Mac partition manager to simplify Mac drive cloning process. To format the secondary drive with the Mac file system using ‘Disk Utility’, you need to track the following steps:

Step 1: Hook up the secondary drive to the Mac with a USB data cable when it is running, in case it is an external drive. Otherwise, install this drive on the Mac with a SATA to USB cable, and then turn on the Mac.

Step 2: The sooner the Mac detects this drive, Disk Insertion message pops up, saying, “The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer.” Click the Initialize button to start formatting it.

Step 3: Clicking the Initialize button launches Disk Utility, afterwards select the secondary drive at the left and go to the Erase tab at the right.

Step 4: In the Volume Format drop-down menu, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and specify a name for this drive in the Name field.

Step 5: Click the Erase button to start formatting this drive.

After formatting the secondary drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), user can now proceed to clone Mac drive on it. In this post, the drive we are going to clone (i.e. the primary drive) has only one partition (i.e. the boot volume). If your Mac drive has multiple partitions, then partition the secondary drive into its equal number of partitions. In this regard, track the following steps:

Important: You can see the formatted secondary drive mounted on desktop, which you have to partition into required number of partitions.

Step 1: Highlight the secondary drive in the left pane of Disk Utility and then click the Partition tab at the right.

Step 2: Under the graphical view of the hard drive, click the Options button and choose a Partition Map Scheme for this drive, and then click OK.

Important: Choose GUID Partition Table on your Intel-based Mac, or Apple Partition Map on PowerPC-based Mac.

Step 3: Now, click the Volume Scheme drop-down menu and select the number of partitions to create.

(For Instance, choose ‘3 Partitions’ to split the hard drive into three partitions of equal size. You can resize them later.)

Step 4: After that, select one partition and update its properties under Volume Information area:

a. In the Name field, type a name for the selected volume.

b. In the Format menu, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

c. In the Size field, specify the size (in GBs) of the volume if you want to resize it.

Step 5: Now, repeat the step IV for other newly created volumes.

(Important: In case you want to install Windows on any of these volumes, choose MS-DOS (FAT) as the format of the particular volume.)

Step 6: Finally, click the Apply button to save them.

Based upon the number of partitions you choose to create on the secondary drive, Disk Utility takes a while to end up partitioning it successfully. After that, you can begin with Mac drive cloning process. Since Mac drive cloning process copies the boot volume as well, you have to boot the Mac from a secondary bootable media. In this regard, boot you Mac Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks from Recovery HD. For earlier versions of Mac OS X, users require a bootable disc.

Booting Mac from Recovery HD

Restart the Mac and hold down the ‘Command + R’ keys until the Apple logo appears. Once it reaches the desktop, you should see OS X menu and a Mac OS X Utilities window. In this window, launch Disk Utility.

Booting Mac from Bootable Disc

Insert Mac bootable disc and restart it, and then hold down the C key to boot from it. In the Mac OS X Utilities window, launch Disk Utility.

As mentioned earlier, we consider the Mac drive has only one partition (i.e. the boot partition), which means that the process describes the steps to copy Mac applications and the system files. If you want to copy the boot volume only, then you can skip the steps to partition the secondary drive, and directly proceed with the following steps:

Step 1: In the left pane of Disk Utility, highlight the Mac drive and go to the Restore tab at the right.

Step 2: Now, drag the Mac drive to the right and drop it in the Source field if it is not already shown there.

Step 3: Likewise, drag the secondary drive from the left pane to the right and drop it in the Destination field.

Step 4: Make sure the selected drives are correct and click the Restore button.

The time elapsed in copying Mac boot volume varies with the number of applications installed on it. Once the process ends up, exit Disk Utility (eject the boot disc if booted from it), and start the Mac normally. To boot from the clone drive, hold down the Option key when Mac is booting and choose clone drive.

Author Bio
Donald Kepler has a passion to write tips & tricks for backing up Mac by cloning Mac HDD, imaging Mac drive etc.

How to use uTorrent on Mac

In the previous article I showed you how to speed up utorrent. I will continue to provide some useful information about utorrent. In this article I will show you how to use utorrent on Mac. So Gear up and lets get started!

How to Download uTorrent on Mac

Before we see in detail how to use uTorrent Mac , you must download and install the application on your computer. Go to the Internet site of uTorrent and click Get uTorrent to start the download of utorrent. Open the file you just downloaded (uTorrent.pkg) and first click on Continue, and then click Decline offer, again Continue, Install and Close to complete the installation of uTorrent.

How to use uTorrent on Mac

Now you can begin to use uTorrent Mac for downloading your favorite files from the Internet. Go to Torrentz.eu or any other site that allows to search for content on the BitTorrent network and click Downoad link to download the .torrent file. When the download is complete open by double clicking on it, the link and uTorrent should start automatically with the Torrent you just downloaded on your Mac.

uTorrent also supports the so-called magnet links , links now widespread on the Torrent sites that allow you to download files with a single click without having to first download links. To use them properly, click on the red magnet that is located on the download page of the file you want to download with uTorrent and the program will "intercept" automatically.

If clicking on a magnet link or opening a torrent file does not start uTorrent and if it startes another P2P client installed on your Mac (like iTransmission), you must set up uTorrent as your default application for downloading Torrent files.

MUST CHECK: How to use uTorrent for Android

How to set uTorrent as a default appilication on Mac

Open uTorrent, Go to Preferences >> General. In the window that opens, Click on the Check now button and confirm that you want to set uTorrent as a default application.

Once you have started to download a file with uTorrent on Mac, but despite this has a large number of sources ( seed / peer ), the download speed is very low? Probably the port used by the program to perform the download is blocked by the router. If you want to speed up uTorrent by unblocking or changing the port for the utorrent, My guide on how to speed up utorrent would help you.

If you still have any doubts about how to use utorrent on Mac or to speed up uTorrent, you can contact me or leave a comment below, so that I can help you.

[Guide]: How to install Windows 8 with Boot Camp on your Mac

If you are working on a Mac and you need to run Windows programs, then that is not a problem. Using a standard utility called Boot Camp, you can install any program from Microsoft on your Mac system, and it will run at full speed, without performance limitations,which is characteristic of virtual machines. The installation process is simple and safe for your data on your computer. Once installed, you can run Mac OS X or Windows 8.

What you'll need is:

• Mac with OS X 10.8.3 or higher (download the OS X 10.8.3 here)
• The Windows 8 installation CD (download Windows 8 from MSDN, TechNet or DreamSpark. Alternatively you can use the Guide to create a boot-able USB stick with Windows 8).
• 30 GB of free disk space (to create a partition for Windows 8).
• USB flash drive to store the Boot Camp drivers.Recommended size is 8 Gb.

If you got everything you need, you can install Windows 8 on a Mac. We recommend that you back up the data on your computer by using Time Machine.

How to install Windows  8 with Boot Camp on your Mac:

Step 1: On your Mac with OS X, launch Boot Camp Assistant from the applications folder -> Utilities. On the first screen, click continue.

Step 2: On the second screen, if you do not have the latest version of Boot Camp drivers then select both "Install Windows 7 or later version" , and "Download the latest Windows support software from Apple". After you click Continue, the application will prompt you to save a copy of the drivers for the USB flash drive or DVD. Select the desired source and press continue.

Driver loading process may take some time, depending on the speed of your Internet connection.

MUST CHECK: How to install Ubuntu from USB

Step 3: After you download the driver to a USB flash drive, the Boot Camp Assistant prompts you to create a partition for Windows. Under the new operating system, we recommend that you dedicate at least 20 GB.

Step 4: After confirmation, restart the computer with the connected installation disc or USB flash drives with Windows 8. If you did everything correctly, your Mac will boot from the external drive.

Step 5: From this point on, to install Windows, you should follow the instructions on the screen. When choosing partition, specify section <<BOOT CAMP>>.

The installation process of Windows 8 on Mac may take some time. Do not interrupt the process, do not restart or turn off your computer.

Step 6: When the Mac reboots for the second time, you are ready to install the necessary drivers. Insert the USB flash drive on which you have downloaded the driver and run the installation program.

MUST CHECK: How to use icloud on Windows and Mac

Congratulations, you have successfully installed Windows 8 on Mac! Now you can run either of the two operating systems at will.

How to restart your computer under Windows or OS X 8:

During the reboot, hold down the Option Mac (Alt), to bring up the boot OS choice. On the screen you will see a menu to run OS X and Windows. Select the desired system by clicking on the corresponding icon.

DOWNLOAD | OS X Mountain Lion

DOWNLOAD | Windows 8

Apple Mac Pro First Look!

Apple revolutionizes the Mac Pro chassis with cylindrical with deep chassis redesign of internal structure. Xeon processors and AMD FirePro GPU E5, becomes available in the coming months.

Among the novelties presented at the inaugural conference of the Worldwide Developers Conference Apple 2013 stands out in particular the new Mac Pro system, the subject of a thorough review of design that has allowed Apple to create a compact system and unusual cylindrical appearance. Phil Schiller, the new Mac Pro began saying "can't innovate anymore, my ass", whose meaning is easily understood.

The new aluminium chassis, Mac Pro has dimensions of 25 cms tall and 16 cms in diameter, for a volumetric dimensions equal to 1/8 compared to current generation Mac Pro systems

ALSO CHECK: Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 First look! 

A cylindrical case imposes a complete reorganization of internal components: here is that the main Mac Pro Logic boards are fastened to a Prism-shaped sink, which Apple calls "unified thermal core". This allows you to use a single cooling fan, which is located on the top of the unit that creates a flow of air from the bottom upwards, thus leaving out the hot air from the top of the cylinder.

On the hardware front were not released specific details, with final configurations that will be announced at the actual market release. The new Mac Pro will use Intel Xeon processor E5 allowing to get to "combat" configurations up to 12 cores. The new Mac Pro PCI Express technology of the third generation leading up to 40 GBps bandwidth, with read and write speeds up to 1.25 GBps, and 1.0gbps.

The memory subsystem is DDR3 ECC modules of type four-channel, operating at a frequency of 1866 MHz and allow you to get a 60 GB/s bandwidth.

ALSO CHECK: Samsung Ativ Q and Ativ Tab 3 First Look!

Also news regarding the GPU, with the presence of two AMD FirePro cards with 6GB of memory dedicated VRAM, capable of expressing a computational power up to 7 Teraflops. Mac Pro has a chance, in this way, also support 4 k-type display.

With regard to the storage compartment Apple chooses to rely exclusively on PCIe flash solutions to 1250 MB/s, sending retired definitively the internal hard disk magnetic/mechanical type. For mass storage users will have to rely on external drives, which can be connected to the system using the new Thunderbolt 2 interface technology, recently announced by Intel.

Expand considerably the possibilities for connection to external devices, with the presence of six Thunderbolt 2 ports, four SuperSpeed USB, two Gigabit Ethernet connectors, HDMI 1.4 and audio in/out connectors. The new Thunderbolt 2 interface, we recall, has the ability to support 20 GBps throughput and up to six devices daisy-chained on each port.

ALSO CHECK: Nexus 7 Specs & Cost

The new Mac Pro, at least according to currently available information, it appears to be devoid of any optical drive: also in this case, users must rely on external solutions.

The availability is expected to follow later this year, possibly to the autumn. Pricing and final configurations have not been disclosed.

MacBook Air Configurations and Prices!

Apple updates the MacBook Air family, introducing the recent Intel Haswell and bringing the operational autonomy to 9 hours for the 11-inch model and 12 hours for the 13-inch model

The family of laptops MacBook Air has been the subject of an update announced at the opening keynote of the 2013 Edition of Apple's WWDC, we have followed live in the liveblog that you find on this page.

In addition to a renewal of hardware platform, which makes pivot on new Intel Haswell, the most interesting of ultra-portable systems nuvoi from Apple is represented by the increase of operational autonomy of both models. MacBook Air 11 is now available to a range of 9 hours compared to the previous model, 5 and 13 MacBook Air can reach up to 12 hours of battery life, compared to 7 hours provided by the predecessor. The new systems also include WiFi 802.11 technology ac and also have a Thunderbolt port, two USB 3.0 ports, FaceTime and HD dual microphone.

We summarize below the basic configurations of the two models:

ALSO CHECK: Apple Mac Pro First Look!

Apple is also offering, for both models, the version with 256 GB of storage space: in this case the price rises to Rupees 1,03,435 for MacBook Air 13 and Rupees 95,650 for MacBook Air 11. Only for these two models it is possible to select a flash storage from 512 GB, in this case the additional outlay required for this  is Rupees 23,350.

Among the other configuration options include the ability to select, for all models, the Intel Core i7 dual-core 1, 1.7 GHz (Turbo Boost, 3 3 GHz) that imposes an additional outlay of Rupees 11,675. for all models.

Remember that memory is welded directly onto the logic board, so you must choose when ordering a quantity of RAM that suits our needs. In case you opt for 8 GB, the extra outlay is Rupees 7,705, again for all models. The new MacBook Air is already available on the market.

How to use icloud on Windows and Mac

How to use iCloud, both on Windows and on Mac? iCloud is a service from Apple that lets you back up (save) their data and files securely and shared on all devices connected to both on computers that are running both operating systems on mobile devices such as iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. Already from the name we understand immediately that it is a software that works on the clouds or on the cloud to store contacts, photos, videos, bookmarks and whatnot on remote servers and from there on various iDevice and computer. Let's find out more and see how to use it.

iCloud is free for the first 5 GB online space made available, but there is a possibility to extend the capacity for a tot to GB, or tranches. Supports all kinds of multimedia files and therefore with photos, videos, music and documents (also useful for work and productivity) but also favorites of the browsers for surfing the net. It works natively and instant even with all mobile devices applications. But let's see how to use it with Mac and Windows computers. It is necessary, of course, an Apple ID (here's how to change it, if desired).

MUST CHECK: How to install Windows 8 with Boot Camp on Mac

How to use iCloud on a Mac? There is no need to download anything, since it's already integrated into the operating system. From your computer, go to system preferences and then click the icon to configure ad hoc iCloud. You have to click with a check on items you want to synchronize and you're done. You can choose from contacts, Favorites, Photos, calendar, etc ... the photos are obviously synchronized with iPhoto, contacts with OS X address book, bookmarks with Safari and so on. By clicking on Manage can possibly expand available space – a fee – Buy more space.

How to use iCloud on Windows? Apple obviously does not scorn Microsoft users. To use the service you must download iCloud for Microsoft Windows, which you can find on the official site of Apple.Click and follow the directions shown in the site and you can easily select all the items you want to save as and be synchronized.