![clon to a new hard drive for imac clon to a new hard drive for imac](https://www.paragon-software.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/CopyOS.png)
It can transfer over everything and basically have it all setup the same. This is actually what I have tended to do recently when going to a new larger drive.
![clon to a new hard drive for imac clon to a new hard drive for imac](https://img2.owcnow.com/tech_center/images/clon_data7.jpg)
Clon to a new hard drive for imac mac os#
The other overall option is to clean install the Mac OS on the new drive (which will create the recovery partition) and then use the Migration Assistant to migrate all your settings, programs, and data files to the new drive from the old drive. If you want to go by way of a free option, I believe you can do it with the included Disk Utility in a round about way and maybe directly.
![clon to a new hard drive for imac clon to a new hard drive for imac](https://insmac.org/uploads/posts/2018-03/1521571954_stellar-drive-clone_01.jpg)
I also believe you can use the Mac OS installer to "upgrade" the Mac OS after you clone and it will create the recovery partition but I have never tried this.just seen comments to that effect. In order to get that recovery partition, you will want to install the Mac OS on the new drive FIRST and then clone the main partition from the old drive to new drive. This also means that SuperDuper will not clone the "recovery" partition that Apple has gone to. Thus, if you have multiple partitions, then you will need to first set those up on the drive and THEN clone each partition. I will note that a major difference (to my knowledge) between Mac cloning programs (at least SuperDuper!) and Windows cloning programs like Acronis True Image (which I use for my Windows computers) is that SuperDuper! clones a partition/volume.not the whole disk. The other popular "paid" option is Carbon Copy Cloner.