Clone Mojave To External Ssd

Summary :

Cloning is a viable option if installing a fresh copy of the OS and migrating your data is not an option. Cloning is a destructive process that will erase the recipient drive, leaving the source drive intact. The instructions below are for cloning from the original drive externally to a new drive inside a computer. If you are on mojave, just use desk utility to clone it. I did that to my SSD when I swap for a larger capacity. It is pretty direct and painless. But Catalina, I am not sure if it will be painless or not. I personally already roll back for Catalina. It is not ready for prime time. Select Disk Utility from the Utility Menu and click on the Continuebutton. After Disk Utilityloads select the external SSD drive (usually, this is the out-dented entry with the mfgr.' S ID and size) from the side list. Click on the Erasetab in Disk Utility'smain window. A drop-down panel will appear. A solid-state drive is one of the best upgrades you can make for your desktop computer. And it's not very hard to set up: Physically install it, connect the right cables, and reinstall Windows.

NVMe M.2 Drive is commonly used in laptops.It has small size and wonderful transmission performance. But how to clone M.2 NVMe drive for hard drive upgrade? You can find the answer in this post provided by MiniTool Software.

What Is an NVMe M.2 Drive?

NVMe M.2 Drive is a type of SSD (solid-state drive), mostly used in Ultrabooks and laptops. Before we get into NVMe M.2 drive, let's see M.2 SSD first.

Nowadays, SSDs are undergoing a transformation. It shows in the shape and transfer speed.

Traditionally, an SSD is known as the '2.5-inch drive', which is actually 2.75 inches (70mm) wide, 3.94 inches (100mm) long and 0.37 to 0.75 inches (9 to 19mm) thick.

However, some laptops are designed skinnier with the needs of customers and thedevelopment of technology. So, there comes smaller SSDs. M.2 SSD is (an SSD with M.2 interface) are one of them.

M.2 is originally known as the Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF). An M.2 SSD conforms to a computer industry specification written for internally mounted storage expansion cards of a small form factor.

M.2 employs a more flexible physical specification and allows different module length. Initial line-up of the commercially available M.2 SSD is 22 millimeters (mm) wide, with varying lengths of 30, 42, 60, 80 and 110mm. The most popular length used in notebook computers is 80mm, which is commonly referred to as Type-2280.

M.2 SSDs are commonly used to replace mSATA SSDs for smaller size and faster speed. Compared with most mSATA SSDs (50mm*30mm*4mm or 30*30*4mm), M.2 SSDs can be faster. An mSATA SSD supports data transfer rates of 1.5 Gb/s or 3.0 Gb/s for high performance, while an M.2 SSD which uses NVMe transfer protocol can support data transfer rate of 4 GB/s.

This article explains deeply what SATA SSD and M.2 SSD are. It touches upon SATA Bus standard, PCI-E Bus standard, AHCI protocol, and NVMe protocol.

Now, let's see NVMe M.2 drive.

NVMe, standing for Non-Volatile Memory express, is a data transfer protocol. It could help SSDs reduce latency, lower power consumption and increase IOPS, thus bringing a high performance.The transfer rate of a M.2 SSD which uses AHCI transfer protocol is 600 MB/s, while that of anNVMe M.2 SSD is up to 4 GB/s.

Why do You Need to Clone NVMe M.2 Drive?

1. To get larger storage space. If you find the NVMe M.2 drive capacity not enough as you savemore software and games on it, you may need to upgrade it to a larger one.
2. To get higher transfer rate. NVMeM.2 SSDs are regarded as the fastest SSDs in the market. You canupgrade your hard drive to an NVMeM.2 SSD to speed up your computerif you are using SATA or other types of drives.
3. To avoidhard disk failures. A hard drive used for a few years is easy to wear out. You can avoid hard disk failures by replacing your old NVMe M.2 drive with a new one.

After knowing about the basic information about M.2 NVMe drive, let's see how to clone M.2 NVMe drive. Can t save file as pdf.

If you want to clone NVMe M.2 drive from NVMe M.2 drive, there is an important factor you need to take into consideration. That is the slot for NVMe M.2 drive in your laptop.

There is only one slot for NVMe M.2 SSD in most laptops, while a few types of laptops support 2 slots for M.2 SSD. The steps could be different depending on the slots.

Tutorial on how to clone M.2 NVMe drive in these situations is listed below. You can read it according to your needs.

How to Clone M.2 SSD with Only One Slot

If your computer has only one M.2 slot, I recommend you touse an NVMe to USB adapter to connect your new NVMe M.2 drive to your laptop and then clone your old drive to the new NVMe M.2 SSD. Then, you can disassemble your computer to remove the old drive and install the new M.2 SSD.

Here is the detailed tutorial on how to clone M.2 SSD with only one slot and boot from it.

First Move: Clone NVMe M.2 SSD

Step 1: Connect the new NVMe M.2 SSD to your laptop through a USB adapter.

External hard drive not showing up? MiniTool helps you find the best solutions here to deal with hard drive not showing up issue.

Step 2: Download and install MiniTool Partition Wizard by click the following button.

Step 3: Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard to get the interface. Then right-click your old NVMe M.2 drive and choose Copy, or select the disk and then click Copy Disk from action panel.

Step 4: Select the new NVMe M.2 drive you just installed as the target disk to store those data from your old drive. Then click Next to continue.

Step 5: There will be a window warning you that all the data on the disk will be destroyed. Just click Yes since your SSD is new.

Step 6: Select partition options and click Next.

• Fit partitions to entire disk: the cloned partitions will be adjusted automatically to fill the entire space of the new M.2 SSD.
• Copy partitions without resizing: all the partitions copied into the new M.2 SSD will not be changed in both size and location.
• Align partitions to 1 MB: it is recommended for improving the performance of your M.2 SSD.
• Use GUID Partition Table for the target disk: if you check this option, you can clone SSD to M.2 with GPT partition style. Click MBR vs GPT to know more.

Clone Ssd To Another Ssd

Step 7: Read the pop-up note carefully and then click Finish.

Step 8: Click Apply and then Yes to execute the operation.

Step 9: Once it's done, close MiniTool Partition Wizard and turn off your computer.

Second Move: Install the New NVMe M.2 SSD and Boot from It

Now you can remove your old NVMe M.2drive, install the new SSD and then boot from it.

Step 1: Remove the old NVMe M.2 drive.

1. Unplug the power and remove the battery from your notebook by referring to your notebook manufacturer's user manual.
2. Press and hold the power button for about 10 seconds to release any residual power from the notebook.
3. Remove the case cover and locate the M.2 SSD on the motherboard. Loosen the screw and unplug your old M.2 Drive.

Step 2: Insert the M.2 SSD into the socket carefully by aligning the keys on the M.2 SSD with the keys in the socket.

Step 3: Gently press the back end of the SSD towards the motherboard, and then screw to secure the M.2 SSD.

Step 4: Place the case cover and battery back onto the notebook. Then connect the power and boot from the new NVMe M.2 drive.

How to Clone M.2 SSD with 2 slots

If there are two NVMe drive slots in your laptop, you can directly install your new NVMe M.2 drive into your computer and then clone the data and OS to your new NVMe M.2 drive.

With MiniTool Partition Wizard, you can easily make it without reinstalling operating system.

The steps are very similar to the steps of cloning M.2 NVMe drive when there is only one slot. But you need to install the new M.2 NVMe drive first and then clone your old NVMe M.2 drive.

For your old hard drive, you can keep it or remove it depending on yourself.

NVMe M.2 Drive Options

There are some popular NVMe drives which you can take into consideration if you haven't bought one.

Option 1: WD Blue SN500

• Speed: Sequential read speeds up to 1700MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 1450MB/s
• Form factor: M.2 2280 (22 for width, 80 for length)
• Capacity: 250 GB/500 GB
• Price: about $77.99 for 500 GB drive
• Warranty: 5 year manufacturer's limited warranty

Option 2: ADATA XPG SX6000 Pro

• Speed: Read/Write up to 2100/1500 MB/s (May vary by capacity)
• Form factor:M.2 2280
• Capacity: vary from 240 GB to 1 TB
• Price: $119.99 for 1 TB

Option 3: Crucial P1

• Speed: sequential read/write speeds up to 2,000/1,700 MB/s
• Form factor: M.2 2280
• Capacity: up to 1 TB
• Price: $67.55 for 500 GB

Option 4: Samsung 970 PRO

• Speed: Sequential read and write performance levels of up to 3,500MB/s and 2,700MB/s
• Form factor: M.2 2280
• Capacity: 512 GB/1 TB
• Price: $159.99 for 512 GB, $299.99 for 1 TB
• Warranty: 5-year limited warranty

This post introduces you SanDisk Extreme Pro M.2 NVMe 3D SSD 2TB, which is now available to you.

Bottom Line

After reading this post, you must know deeper about NVMe M.2 Drive, a small but fast SSD. Whether you are looking for a new NVMe M.2 Drive or the way to clone SSD to M.2, you can get what you want in this guide on how to clone M.2 NVMe drive.

Now, it's your turn to have a try!

If you have any questions or suggestions when you clone an NVMe M.2 drive, please let us know by posting them in the following comment section. If you are confused about our software – MiniTool Partition Wizard or MiniToolShadowMaker, you can contact us via [email protected].

Clone NVMe M.2 Drive FAQ

You can refer to the specifications sheet of your notebook. It should be available on the manufacture's website.

Clone Ssd To New Ssd

If your notebook has an M.2 driver installed, you can check the form factor of your currently used M.2 SSD from Device Manager. Just follow the steps below.

1. Press Win + R to invoke Run window.
2. Then input msc and press Enter to open Device Manager.
3. Double-click Disk drives to expand the list. Then you can see the length of your M.2 drive. If it shows as M.2 2280, the length drive your notebook supports is 80mm.

If your laptop has only one NVMe M.2 slot, you can use an NVMe to USB adapter or a USB enclosure to connect the second drive to your laptop and then clone your SSD.

If your laptop has 2 slots, you can install your NVMe SSD to the second slot and then clone disk directly.MiniTool Partition Wizard and MiniToolShadowMaker are nice disk cloning software.

Upgrading Mac Mini or MacBook Pro to SSD Drive can significantly boost its performance. You will find below the steps to upgrade Mac to SSD Drive and transfer Data to New SSD Drive on Mac.

Upgrade Mac to New SSD Drive

The main concern when it comes to upgrading Mac to SSD drive is the possibility of data being lost and how to safely transfer data to New SSD Drive on Mac.

Luckily, macOS software provides multiple data transfer methods and you can choose from Time Machine, Migration Assistant or the Cloning method to safely transfer data to new SSD Drive.

Perhaps the easiest way to transfer Data from Mac to New SSD Drive is to use Time Machine, unless you have an older Mac running macOS High Sierra or MacOS Mojave.

In which case, the external hard drive gets formatted as extended journal and cannot be used for Time Machine Backups (you will need to use the cloning method on older Macs).

1. Make Time Machine Backup to External Hard Drive

The first step is to back up all the data and programs on your computer to an external Hard Drive using Time Machine Backup.

1. Connect External Hard Drive to the USB Port of your Mac.

Clone Mojave To External Ssd Drives

2. Click on the Apple Logo and click on System Preferences in the drop-down menu.

3. On the System Preferences screen, click on Time Machine.

4. On the next screen, check Show Time Machine in menu bar option and click on Select Backup Disk… button.

5. On the next screen, select your Backup Disk and click on Use Disk button.

6.. If the selected disk is not formatted, you will be prompted to erase the disk first. Click on Erase to proceed.

7. After the disk is formatted, click on Backup Now to start the process of Time Machine Backup.

If you are making a Time Machine Backup for the first time, it may take multiple hours to complete the Backup process.

2. Replace Existing Hard Drive on Mac with SSD Drive

Now that you have a Time Machine Backup on a separate external drive, you can safely remove the current Hard Disk on your Mac and replace it with a New SSD Drive.

To upgrade Mac Mini to SSD, you will need a New SSD Drive, TR6 and T8 Screw drivers, Logic Board Removal Tools and Spudger.

To upgrade MacBook Pro to SSD, you will be needing a New SSD Drive, P5 Pentalobe Screwdriver, T5 Torx Screwdriver and Spudger.

System Clone To Ssd

The steps to replace 2014 Mac Mini Hard Drive with SSD can be found in this ifixit guide and you should also watch this video on YouTube.

To replace 2015 MacBook Pro Hard Drive with SSD, you can refer to this ifixit guide and you should also watch YouTube videos applicable for your model of MacBook.

3. Format New SSD Drive Using Disk Utility

If you have replaced the Hard Drive on Mac with a New SSD Drive, you need to format the disk to APFS format.

1. Turn on the Mac and immediately press and hold Command + R keys on the keyboard of your computer.

2. Release both the keys when you see your Mac starting with white Apple Logo. This should make your Mac go to macOS Utilities startup screen.

3. On macOS Utilities screen, select Disk Utility option and click on Continue.

4. On the next screen, type a Name for your SSD Drive and click on Apply to start the format process.

5. When the SSD Drive is formatted, close the screen and this should take you back to macOS utilities startup screen.

4. Transfer Data From Old HDD to New SSD Drive on Mac

The final step is to transfer Data from Old SSD Drive to New SSD Drive on your Mac. You can skip steps 2, 3 below, if you are already on macOS utilities screen.

1. Connect External Hard Drive containing Time Machine Backup to the USB Port of your Mac.

2. Turn on the Mac and immediately press and hold Command + R keys on the keyboard of your computer.

3. Release both the keys when you see your Mac starting with white Apple Logo. This should make your Mac go to macOS utilities startup screen.

4. On macOS utilities screen, select Restore From Time Machine Backup option and click on Continue.

5. On the confirmation screen, click on Continue to confirm.

How To Clone Ssd Free

6. On the next screen, select your Time Machine Backup Disk as the restore source and click on Continue.

7. Select the New SSD Drive on your Mac as the destination source and click on Restore.

8. Patiently wait for the Restore Process to be competed.

Once Time Machine Restore is completed, restart Mac and see if all your data is intact.

5. Desktop & Apps Missing After Time Machine Restore

In our testing, Desktop Files and Program Files were missing on Mac after Time Machine Restore.

If this happens, you can always Enter Time Machine > copy desktop files from Time Machine Backup and paste them on your new desktop.

Similarly, you can copy Program Files from Time Machine Backup and paste them in Programs Folder on your Mac.