Cloning Mac Volume is far Better than Backing it up

“Cloning technology refers to creating a replica of an object to another of similar kind, where the resulting object possesses properties exactly same as that of the original object.”

In order to keep your data protected from various threats, you might have been backing it up regularly, as data backup is one of the most reliable ways of data security and it is preferred the most.

In this regard, which backup strategy you have been implementing ever since you started backing up your data? Have you been backing up your files manually? Alternatively, are you using a data backup application? Well, in reality, backup techniques do nothing apart from copying the files from the source disk to the destination disk in an archived form. In adverse situations like, if the original files get corrupt or become inaccessible, you can easily restore them from the backup.

Even though you can back up every file manually, it becomes quite easier and more efficient if you use a professional data backup application. Alternatively, you can also use Mac OS X inbuilt data backup tool – Time Machine.

Mac OS X includes a data backup tool, called Time Machine, which automatically backs up data every hour once it is configured. In fact, Time Machine is highly compatible with a range of hard drives (such as internal and external hard drives, and Time Capsule), so you can choose any of these to be used as the backup drive. However, ever since cloning has set up its feet in computers world, data backup techniques are no longer in fashion. Now, you can clone Mac volume containing your valuable data, which is much more advanced as compared to a simple data backup. In fact, in addition to an individual volume, you can also clone the entire Mac drive, which is termed as the bootable backup. The term bootable backup states that you can boot from the clone drive too. 

“Hard drive cloning refers to a process that involves replicating a hard drive to another based on certain criteria.”

·      Make sure the secondary disk is larger (in capacity) or at least equal as compared to the primary disk.

·      The primary disk should be formatted as Mac OS Extended (journaled), so the secondary disk as well.

·      The primary disk should be using GUID Partition Table as the Partition Map Scheme, so the secondary disk as well.

·      In case you are going to clone the entire hard drive (i.e. containing multiple volumes), the secondary drive must have partitions equal to that of the primary drive.

Now, if you are still wondering why to go for cloning even since you can back up your precious files manually, then you need to go through the following significance of cloning:

·      As you know that clone drive is the exact replica of your Mac drive, you can use both drives interchangeably.

·      Once you clone your Mac drive, since both drives are independent of each other, you can use any of them even if the other one is no longer available.

·      In corporate, engineers use cloning technology to replicate their system's hard drive and use the clone drive for software testing and other similar operations

·      Since cloning results in bootable backup of your Mac drive, you can boot from a clone drive as well

These features collectively make cloning techniques an edge over typical data backup techniques.

Since hard drive cloning refers to creating a bootable replica of your Mac drive, you must have a secondary hard drive and a cloning application to satisfy its major requirements for cloning. In case you are going to clone the boot volume of your Mac OS X Lion or Mountain Lion, you need to boot it in Recovery Mode. For earlier versions of Mac OS X (i.e. Snow Leopard and earlier), you can boot with Mac OS X install disc.

In case you are going to clone one of the secondary volumes (i.e. containing data only, except Macintosh HD) to another volume of your Mac drive, you can directly jump to Step4.

Step1: Secondary disk must be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

The secondary drive connected to your Mac is shown on its desktop. Alternatively, if you use a new drive, a Disk Insertion message pops up. This message says, “The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer.” Therefore, click the initialize button given on this message box; it launches Disk Utility. 

• Select this drive in the left pane of Disk Utility and go to the Erase tab in the right pane
• In the Format dropdown menu, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
• In the Name field, specify a name for this drive
• After that, click Erase button to format it

Step2: GUID Partition Table should be the Partition Map Scheme

Once the secondary drive is formatted, you see it on the desktop with the given name. Since cloning requires the secondary drive be using the GUID Partition Table as the Partition Map Scheme, it should be an Intel-based Mac.

• Select this drive in the left pane of Disk Utility and go to the Partition tab in the right pane
• Click the Options button and choose GUID Partition Table in the window that opens, and then
• Click the OK button

Step3: Creating partitions of the secondary drive

As mentioned earlier, the secondary drive must have the number of partitions equal to that of the primary drive.

1. Select this drive in the left pane of Disk Utility and go to the Partition tab in the right pane
2. Click the Volume Scheme dropdown menu and choose the number of partitions you need to create
3. Select one volume and give it a Name, choose its format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and specify its Size
4. Repeat the step 3 for other partitions as well
5. After that, click the Apply button

Step4: Begin with Cloning

(I.) If you are going to clone a secondary volume of your Mac

• Select your Mac drive in the left pane of Disk Utility and go to the Restore tab at the right
• Drag the volume that you need to clone to the Source field and
• Drag the secondary volume to the Destination field, and then
• Click the Restore button

(II.) If you are going to clone the boot volume of your Mac

• Boot your Mac Lion or Mountain Lion in Recovery mode or boot with Mac OS X install disk if your Mac is Snow Leopard or earlier
• Launch Disk in the Utilities window
• Select your Mac drive in the left pane of Disk Utility and go to the Restore tab at the right
• Drag the boot volume to clone to the Source field and
• Drag the secondary volume (i.e. it should be a volume of the secondary hard drive) to the Destination field
• After that, click the Restore button

(III.) If you are going to clone the entire Mac drive

• Once in Recovery mode, launch Disk in the Utilities window
• Select your Mac drive in the left pane of Disk Utility and go to the Restore tab at the right
• Drag your Mac drive to the Source field if it is not already shown therein
• Drag the secondary hard drive to the Destination field, and then
• Click the Restore button

Apart from Disk utility, you can also use a professional cloning application to clone Mac volume. However, it is recommended to use a professional cloning application only.

Which file system is the best for SSD Partition - NTFS or FAT32

While creating partitions in SSD drive a very obvious question that arise is which is better for SSD file system – FAT32 or NTFS.
Here we are discussing the point and trying to find the best answer for it.
Would it be better to prefer FAT32 file system to NTFS for an internal SSD drive?

You would have learnt many times that NTFS is more flexible and smarter with read/write operations than FAT32 and thus is doubted to cause reduction of longevity of SSD. But that is not the only reason for moving to FAT32 but backup support and portability also count more.
There is no native utility for NTFS -> FAT32, but it can be done via some third party tools like AOMEI.

1.) Does it work? Yes
2.) Is it reliable? Yes
3.) Does it work with files greater than 4GB also? No
4.) Would it be better to use the FAT32 file system for a data partition? (Yes/No)

FAT32 is a less safer than NTFS because there is no concept of journaling in FAT. Let me explain the fact. Absence of journaling means that in case of some  power loss, BSOD (Blue screen of death), or other unexpected interruptions during writing data, the file system can reach some inconsistent state and ultimately cause a data loss. NTFS can also lose your data but it will leave you to the most recent consistent state so that your files still work, even if not with the most recent contents. On the contrary, FAT32 breaks and lets you to a stage with corrupt data.
NTFS takes care of performance degradation and does not do a significant   amount of extra writing to the SSD.

So, we recommend that it’s not a good idea to use FAT32 unless you have a very unusual workload. Here, the unusual means high volume of saturated writing task to the disk.
Please note that there is no file system or OS in the universe, which can protect your drive from being failed. So, always keep a valid backup of your drive and in case you have lost your data due to hard drive crash, there is a good option for data recovery software, independent of OS you are working with.

Windows data recovery software
Mac data recovery software

Should I buy Photo recovery software for Mavericks or a Combo

Last week we had this dilemma and were struggling whether to buy Mac photo recovery program or data recovery software, which can retrieve all types of data. We (Me and my cousin) sat together to find the answer.

I have Mac mini with the latest Mavericks installed in it. While searching for some tool to undelete photos on my camera memory card, I came across many tools. Some were specified with single type of task (recovering photos only) whereas some were to recover all types of data.

If we talk specifically about products then here is a short comparison Yodot, Stellar Phoenix and Card Rescue

Sr. No	Name of Software	Features	Price
1	Card Rescue	Recovers photos, Videos	$ 39.95
2	Yodot	Recovers photos, Videos	$ 59.95
3	Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery	Recover all types of data	$ 99.00

If we concentrate only on price and neglect the features, then Card rescue is best but, I was searching for some long term solution for data loss problem in my Mavericks. So, instead of buying a light product for photo recovery software for Mac, I invested in Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery and now feeling working in a risk free environment.