Speed Up your Mac performance with junk cleaning software

Is your Mac irritates you ? You could speed up your Mac performance by squash extra life out of your older Mac. And I think its better idea too, rather than investing in new Mac machine.

Although there are many points one should keep in his mind while doing practices to boost its speed but, I will focus only on increasing RAM about which users are mainly concerned about.

Increasing RAM:

•  When it comes to enhancing performance of your Mac, in spite of investing money in buying new Mac machine for getting rid off slow Mac, it is recommended to increase your RAM. It is probably the easy way to enhance the performance of your Mac. This also results in reducing the time that system would use memory as Virtual memory when it find less free space available. As today need of memory is increasing so make sure you should have as much RAM as you need or can afford.

• Now, the question arises how one could know that he/she required more RAM. Firstly, you can see the memory usage from Activity Monitor to get an idea about the load your machine is handling. And an easy and good method of determining whether you need more RAM or not, by following the series of steps: 

   

How to determine if you need more RAM:

1. Restart your Machine.
2. Use the computer as you normally would for about 10 minutes, and do whatever like checking mails, etc. But do not play hevy files like video or intensive games -­-­- they can effect the results.
3. Open Activity Monitor apps.
4. Click on the 'System Memory' button.
5. There is one listings reads "Page ins/outs".
6. This has numbers in the format of "1418/8224"
7. The first number is number of page ins and the second number is the number of page outs or it actually tells the number of times the mchine had to use your internal hard drive as virtual memory. So, if page outs are very high, above 3,500, then you could increase your RAM.

So, there is highly demand of one suitable cleaning software, that boost your Mac speed by removing all clutters from your drive.You can download its free trial for getting an idea about the software features.

Comparison between iCloud and google drive

Google has the upper hand when we talk about functionalities. iCloud proved itself as a revolutionary application. But after the launch of Google drive popularity of iCloud degraded. Both iCloud and Google drive are file storage and sync service. Former was released by apple inc. and later by Google. Both the applications allows users to store data on remote server. Despite of various similarities, While comparing we find lots of similarities amongst them. But additional and improved features provided by Google drive precedes iCloud.

• Both offer 5 GB worth of storage, both have the ability to sync pictures, audio/video, and both cost nothing to the user. But iCloud users must require i Tunes for music and photo syncing.
• Google Music allows its users to simply upload and sync any music selected from local hard drives.
• Sharing files publicly is quiet easy in Google drive, also it appends files larger than iCloud.
• Maximum file upload size in iCloud is 25 MB for free user and 250 MB for the paid ones. Where as Google drive allows user to upload file size up to 10 GB and that is for free of cost.
• Major difference between these technologies is the compatibility with mobile platform. iCloud is compatible with IOS devices. Where as Google is about to launch latest version which supports both IOS and Android mobile platform for phone and iPad.
• It is not only the space provided matters in the competition, money also turns the game around. iCloud demands 40$/ year for 20 GB of space where as Google drive just satisfied with30$/yearoffering25GBspace.
  
  Overall after considering all the aforementioned points one can easily conclude the feasibility of Google drive over iCloud. Google is also planning to launch latest version with additional features.

The easy, fast and cheap way to Defrag and Optimize your Mac

I don't remember if Apple had ever provided any defragmentating tool with its OS. Specially after the introduction of HFS+ file system in Mac OS X. Defragmentation of a hard disk drive reduces file fragmentation by reorganizing the fragmented disk files into contiguous memory locations. Ostensibly, a defraged drive performs read/write operation at faster rate than a disk where all the files are scattered about.

Whenever I talk to any Mac expert about the need of defragmentation, the answer I always get is – NO. Actually , the HFS+ file system of this wonderful OS is too smart to handle fragmentaion upto some remarkable level. 
 
The condition becomes little wired with users working with large files. My friend, a graphic designer, is one such user who deals in photos, videos etc. He often faces sluggish Mac behavior which delays his job. There, the built-in ability of Mac fails to manage the fragmentation and needs some external tool to take care of scattered pieces of files.
I suggested him to first download the trail version of Stellar Drive Defrag and analyse the drive . It shown the status of fragmentation as given in fig 1. Next, he bought the application and got his entire drive defragged within no time. It optimized Mac drive and rejuvenated it with prominent increase in performance. 
 
Usually a defragmenting tool consumes little longer to perform the task but the point matters a lot is reliability an security of data it works upon. Stellar Drive Defrag need to create a bootable DVD before defragmenting the boot drive.
By default the OS X adopts the the technology called the “Hot File Adaptive Clustering”. Your Mac moves the files used most frequently, an area on the hard disk that gives you faster access times. Stellar Drive Defrag knows this area and doesn't make any changes in the Hot Zone and leaves them alone.

Caution: The users should note that the defragmentating involves the permanent movement of files in drive so there should not be any shut down during the process else, it may lead to permenent loss of your Mac data.

How regular Backup is related to data recovery

I have gone through many articles or blogs related to data backups and recovery, and most commonly used term I noticed in all articles is “regular backups”. So I analyze this term in depth. Before discussing this term, I would like to discuss facts that shows: how data backups are related to data recovery.

Backup protects your data from loss in the situations of crash, ensuring data safety. If you perform backup of your drive or volume, then it is for sure that you don't need to go for any recovery. As we know “prevention is better than cure”, we should apply this statement here also, in terms of “backup is better than recovery”.

Let me tell you my real life tragedy.That was my first family trip and all my beautiful memories I captured, in my sony camera, i.e video recordings ,pics etc. I had deleted everything from camera in order to make memory free to have some more pics and recordings, after transferring it to my system. But unfortunately I lost my all pics. Than I buy some photo recovery software and these softwares are costly but Unfortunately I have no other solution. Because if data is important than there is no alternative.

If you have ever lost your important file , or ever performed restore a backup than you will got what I am trying to explain you. What will be your condition when after giving hours effort in making presentation, which you will be delivering tomorrow is lost. It happened, when after some time you come back to give a last touch to your presentation, and found that your recent changes are not saved.

It kills you right?

Now let concentrate on the term 'regular backups'. So, what you people understand by taking regular backups. Yes, it is known to all that taking regular backups is important for data safety in order to keep it far from the need of recovery.

Actually today all users, irrespective of the OS they have, know the need of taking backps and cloning their drive, but even then they didn't indulge themselves into such activities. Because people are generally figure out 'backups' as complex,time taken and annoying process.

By saying 'regular' what it means: weekly, monthly, daily, or if whenever you have time? So,what exactly 'regular' means here! Because when you go in depth or focus in detail, you would find that there is always a gap between two consecutive backups. Means in the mean time the changes and addittions you made to the data may be not saved.

So I personaly prefer Stellar drive clone software to clonemac os x.

Create Mac Disk image using Disk utility

I think I don't need to define disk utility and its features to any Mac user. Sometimes people confuse whether to create clone or image for their Mac drive or volumes. So, they just need to clear their concept that both clone and image are meant to backup. From the user's point of view, the only difference is clone are bootable while images are not.

So, creating image is also a way to store files in a Mac. Creating Image using Disk Utility gives you a compressed and encrypted image. So, in order to save your data from unauthorized access, one should create image of their startup drive.

Although it has so many advantages, but images are not bootable.

Before we move further, you should know why it is essential to create image(backup) of drive. And then we will concentrate on the methods of creating image using Disk utility.

No matter which hard drive you are using, its quality or manufacturer, as no one would take responsibility to protects your data from any mishappening.

These are steps of creating Mac disk Image Using Disk Utility:

• Launch Disk Utility application. Located in Applications -­-> Utilities.

• Go to the File menu, and select New -­-> Disk Image.
• Select the volume or drive you want to create image. Then click the Image button shown below in screen.
• Give some name to your new disc image. Then from the Image Format menu, select Compressed(image creaed in compressed form).
• Once your disc image is created, it will appear in left pane in the Disk Utility application. After click once on the image. From the Images menu, select 'Scan image' for Restore.
• If you want to restore a disc image, click once on the image in the left pane of Disk utility. Click to select the Restore tab. Drag the image file from the left pane to the Source location. Drag the particular partition or volume you want to restore to from the left pane to your designated Destination location. Check both the Erase Destination and Skip Checksum checkboxes. Click the Restore button.

I had gone through all these steps, that my friend sent me for my help in this matter, and I succussfully created my first Mac disk image easily. But, as I wanted to create bootable disk so, he advised me to use a third party tool. As per his suggestion, I bought Stellar clone drive which is able to make bootable clone of recovery HD also. I am very thankful to him for his great suggestion for using Stellar drive clone, and it really works superbly. Now I love this software only because it doesn't need any technical expertise, it just works.

How to create copy of mac os x

Making a copy of your Mac OS X is an intelligent decision towards protection of your original installed Mac OS X. Because no one knows, when are you going to get your drive crashed.

You had also heared many news related to “data loss” at home(personal or important data) or in corperate world(broad level). It can happen with anyone,without giving you any warning or chance to save your impotant or running apps,

Although there are plenty of software for recovering your lost data, but anyhow chances of recovery depends on condition of hard drive corruption. And its always recommended by technical experts to take backup of your drive in order to avoid risk situations.

So, these things make you think about 'creating backup or clone of your Mac OS x' to ensure protection against any mishappening with your data. Creating clone of necessary files time to time, is important but, have you ever thought about creating copy of Mac OS X?

My friend Sam is a new Mac user since last month and doesn't know much about cloning or copy Mac OS X and creating bootable copy of your Mac drive. I told him steps (mentioned below) and he got his job done perfectly without facing any problem.

Actually the fact is Apple gives you legally 4 chances to install mac os x on single Apple ID. So, guess what will happen if your original copy of Mac OS X will damaged, will you want to reinstall it again as until tou can't boot your Mac.

And as per recovery HD is concerned there may be chance when it might not accessible, then you could need to have a bootable backup of your OS. So, a bootable copy of Mac OS X is a need not only a safety measure. If you are not aware of why and how to create a bootable copy of Mac OS X, than the guidelines I mention below give you complete picture. So, let take example of creating bootable copy of OS X Lion.

Tutorial to create bootable copy of Mac OS X Lion:

• First Go in Finder and then navigate to /Applications/Install Mac OS X Lion.
• Right click on Downloaded file, go into package and select tab “Show package contents”.
• Open Content folder in new finder window.
• You will find InstalledESD.dmg(disk image) file after Opening shared Support folder.
• Right click on InstalledESD.dmg file.
• Select Copy from pop-up menu.
• Paste it on desktop by select 'paste item' from pop up menu.
• Go Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities)
• Click burn, select InstalledESD.dmg from your desired location and click burn.
• You need an optical disc to do job done and then click burn.

Delete Mac Partition without deleting data

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How to remove a Mac partition without losing data ? Mac users search for this question whenever they need to merge data of two or more volumes. Me too have experienced this situation and fortunately, got a working solution for the issue.

In my Mac, there were three volumes – Macintosh HD, Patition A and Partition B. Usually , when there was anly one volume, it was smooth but, after creating multiple partitions its performance started lagging. Now, it was very risky to go back and reduce the number of partitions.

There was a risk of losing valuable data while deleting a partition in simple way. So, I decided to first move my important data from Partition B to A and then remove Partition B.

Fig1. explains the exact situation.

Macintosh HD Size: 200 GB Free Space: 100 GB

Partition A Size: 150 GB Free Space: 10 GB

Partition B Size: 150 GB Free Space: 100 GB

I wanted to move 50GB of data to partition B there was no enough free space to to hold new data. Now, resizing was the task to accomplish first. I used Stellar Partition Manager to resize my Mac volume.

It offers options to Add, Format, Delete, Hide and Reveal a Mac partition. The GUI is much easier to understand and use than that of Disk Utility. I simple dragged the partition A towards B and its done.

Macintosh HD Size: 200 GB Free Space: 100 GB

Partition A Size: 210 GB Free Space: 70 GB

Partition B Size: 90 GB Free Space: 40 GB

Just copied all my content from Partition B to A and deleted the Partition B. Here is the pic.

Macintosh HD Size: 200 GB Free Space: 100 GB

Partition A Size: 210 GB Free Space: 70 GB

Free Space: 90 GB

The next task was to merge the free space of 90 GB to Partition A to create a single volume. I did it with Stellar Partition Manager by expanding its size.

Macintosh HD Size: 200 GB Free Space: 100 GB

Partition A Size: 300 GB Free Space: 160 GB

Finally, I deleted Mac volume without deleting data in it. For details and more features of this Mac partitioning software visit Mac Partition.

Mount Mac volume | How to mount volume in Mac Lion

How to repair or mount unmounted Mac volume in OS X Lion ? A query I was searching for, a few days ago. It was the end of September 2012 when I was creating presentation on my Mac with OS X Lion. All of sudden the power went off causing an unintentional shut down of my Mac.

After an hour or two, when I restarted my machine, it shocked me. There was no volume at desktop. It was very pathetic because it was going to kill my efforts of many hours. Technically, I grade myself 1 out of 10. After consulting a friend I came to know about disk utility – an inbuilt tool to take care of diks related issues.

There, all the three volumes out of four were visible except the one I was working upon. It was shaded and renamed in some ridiculous manner. Technically, it got unmounted. As per my friend's suggestion, I selected the volume and clicked “verify disk”. Got an error message in red and then I tried to fix the problem by clicking “repair disk” but all in vain. Unfortunately, it didn't work and raised my tension to a new peak.

Now, formatting the volume was the last solution left with me but, it was risky because it could have deleted all my data in it.

After too many hits and trials I found another third party tool – Stellar Drive ToolBox. It has Volume Repair to fix verification and permission related issues in Mac disk. When I run the mudule, it fixed the issue in one go.

I am not so techie to explain all the 12 features of this tool but want to thank the Stellar Drive ToolBox mounting my Mac volume without data loss.

For details Visit : http://www.drivetoolbox.com/volumes-repair.php

Optimize Mac by defragmenting Mac Drive

Usually we implement simple methods to make their Mac run faster by clearing the cache, clutters and cookies from it. But, even doing so we find no improvement in the speed. So, after trying these basic troubleshooting methods at the end we got nothing but frustration. At last users call their technicians or friends and share their slow Mac issues with them. As a result, as per the suggestion of experts they perform disk defragmentation to speed up their Mac which gradually enhance performance. So, defrag Mac drive helps to enhance performance of your Machine.

Fragmentation:

Fragmentation of files can happen when numerous files are created, deleted and modified by users with the passage of time. For example downloading or creating files on daily basis. After some time user delete these files thinking that it will save space for more work. But simply deleting files and emptying the Trash does not meant that we get all the occupied space. The remaining of various deleted files in different sectors of drive can significantly slow down the performance of the machine.

Disk Defragmentation:

Note: The first thing one should do before reinitializing, upgrading and updating process is to take backup copy of all vital file.

This is to ensure that no important files will get deleted during such operations.

Defragmentation Need?

When you own a Machine, you have to pay attention to process like defragmenting your hard-drives, updating anti-virus, installing and enabling firewall for protecting it from unauthorized access and optimization. Actually users who are new to Mac, thought that they need not worry about optimization practices. Because Mac has built-in HFS+ file system which somehow avoid file fragmentation only up to 20mb sized. And Mac has maintenance routines that run periodically.

So, don’t get confused on whether we need defragmentation in Mac or not. As it is quite clear that we need to do defragging if files size is larger than 20 Mb.

Third party tool for defragmentation:

Today we’re delving into the topic of defragmentation in Mac, and I have experience of Stellar Drive Defrag software and it works more efficiently and smoothly. Although there are plenty of software for defragging Mac drives but I suggest this one because of its unique features and interactive interface. This utility also defrag boot volume by creating bootable dvd of that drive.

This software also let you know your drive temperature or status.

Optimize Mac Performance using Utilities

Like every operating system Mac also requires maintenance to remain as brand new. As after time usage, Mac too slows down and it results in decrease performance.

Every advanced machine also requires some sort of maintenance to run smoothly. Your Mac may be laced with the most recent technology, but without proper care, its performance is bound to decrease.

It is a common problem on the parts of almost every Mac user that their machine gets slower over time. If there is no virus/malware infection or you are not running out of disk space, then such slowing down of Mac is due to fragmentation of files.

Though according to Apple, Mac performs defragmentation to some extent, still Mac machines gradually go slow because of fragmentation. As Mac does not provide any disk defragmenting option in it, you need to take the help of a good Mac disk defrag utility to do the job.

Sometimes, Mac users get surprised following the slowing down of their Mac. Even with the same RAM, processor speed and enough disk space, the Mac gradually becomes slower. Users find it extremely difficult to perform their regular day to day operations, such as opening/shifting/copying/deleting of files and running applications. Especially, in such conditions, the games or applications with high resolution graphics either hangs in the middle or quits unexpectedly. The entire computer usage becomes extremely irritating, making Internet browsing almost horrible.

If there is no possible corruption in the disk, then the most probable reason behind your slow Mac is severe fragmentation of files in the drive. Whenever you save a file in your Mac hard drive, the operating system searches for a contiguous memory chunk, which is either equal or greater than the size of the file.

This is the way, every file is saved, unless there is no contiguous free space left in the disk. Similarly, when you delete a file from the disk, a memory chunk gets freed in between two files.

After several instances of file deletion and creation, the free space of the hard drive gets severely fragmented. When the hard drive has been already fragmented and you try to save a file to the disk, the OS does not find any contiguous memory chunk. As a result of this, the file is broken into multiple logical pieces and saved at the available free spaces.

Now, when you try to perform any operation on such a fragmented file, the OS requires more time to load and execute the operations. This is the reason, your Mac appears slower than before. Unfortunately, in your Mac, there is no visible option to defragment the fragmented drive and thus you need to take the help of a good disk defragmenter to bring back your good old speed.

Benefits and steps to make a common HD for multiple OS

In which way, you can make single drive compatible in both Mac and window. In other words, you can say how can you make possible to access your window files on your Mac machine and vice versa.
So, in order to get it in detail you must have basic knowledge of file system/formats.

You can share an external drive between Mac and windows by formating your drive by using any of the following file formats given below:-

a)FAT or FAT32(windows old format)
b)NTFS(windows new format)
c)HFS (OS X Extended journaled) (Mac format)
Criteria/issue one can decide to format their drive in order to achieve compatibility between Mac and windows.

1.File size limitation issue:

Firstly taken Fat32 known as win old format, which has 4GB max file size limitation while NTFS and HFS have no file size limitation.

2.Read/write Access issue:

• FAT32 is read and writable on both Win/Mac.
• NTFS readable on both mac/win, but writable on Win only.
• While HFS is read/writeable on macs only.
  
  Now from the above mentioned points we got that FAT32 is the only choice to format drive. Beside its limitationn of file size of 4gb maximum,so for small size files one can format their drive in FAT32 .
  
  Means if you don't have bulky videos you can choose FAT32 format. But often our system having large sized files and for that you should select HFS format. As HFS have no file size limitation but it read/writeable on macs only. Inorder to make it accessible on windows too go for HFS Explorer.
  
  I want to suggest you something that there is no need to go for third party tool even if you want to format your drive using HFS . Using HFS Explorer to read/write on windows.
  
  And if you want to format your external drive using NTFS , then use NTFS-3G to read/write on Mac.
  
  If one want to use common external drive then it is suggested to format your external hard drive either in FAT or FAT32 file or in exFATformat, it will allow your data to read and write in both OS.
  
  In multi-operating systems ex-FAT(Extended File Allocation Table) is best, but it doesn't mean that this don't have any disadvantage. ExFAT have no issue regarding file size but with when we compare speed it somehow slow while transferring files. Most of the times it irritates by consuming much time. Although we can select between these two according to our prior on file size or speed.
  
  But in short it is appropriate to use these formats in respective conditions:-
  

  • If transfering files from Win to Mac , choose NTFS.

  • If transfering files from Mac to Windows, choose HFS .

  • If transfering two ways use either.

  
  Otherwise you can create partitions on your hard drive to have multi operating system to use separately.
  
  NOTE: Before going to do formating your drive it is important to make clone of your hard drive with some suitable software which having support on different formats(like NTFS, Ex- FAT, MBR etc.) I found Stellar Drive Clone 2.5 version capable for the above mentioned constraints.

Alternate of Auslogics boostspeed but for My Mac

Is there any software similar to Bootspeed but for Mac ? When I searched for the best tool to speed up my computer, I got Bootspeed but unfortunately, this program is designed for PC only.
Millions of Mac users like me, lose the taste of fast Mac after few months of usage. Some Mac owners find their old Mac not compatible with today's software and thus get a slowing Mac. But, that is not the only reason of a sluggish Mac because a number of users having a brand new Macbook, also face this irritating situation.

When the OS calls an application, it uses free space, as a resource, to run the program. Researches reveal that lack of free space on drive, could be a major cause of a lethargic Mac. In Windows, an inbuilt drive cleaner is available for removing temp files and all unnecessary stuffs from the hard disk. Bootspeed is another helping tool from Auslogics to help users to get rid of such unnecessary files. In Mac, there is no such built-in tool available to cleanup Mac drive. So, they can think of using Stellar SpeedUp Mac to speeding up Mac by regaining free space.

This tool is capable to scan, segregate and delete those files which are unnecessary for users. The users can set the preferences of this tool based on following criteria. 

Fig. 1

• General – The fig. 1 above can give you a brief idea about all the general settings related to type of files to be scanned and removed from your Mac.
• Folder Search – One can search for a specific folder and set the preference for both the options – Speed Up Now and Clean My Mac.
• Languages – User just need to select those languages which is not required.
• Files – This is designed to avail users to select files based on file type and size. Also, user can select to delete the duplicate files.
• Scheduler – One can schedule the task of cleaning Mac drive either daily, weekly or monthly.
• Ignore List – Its very easy with this tool to ignore a particular folder while scanning the drive.

So, its not astonishing to state that you have the best Mac cleaning software in your hand.

Help me to speed up my Mac | Increase my Mac speed

The most prominent reason of slow Mac is accessive amount of data on hard drive, consuming too much of memory and processor effort as well. Here in this post, we are going to discuss tips to increase Mac speed.

Tip 1 Use Mac drive cleaner to regain free space: Regardless of size of drive, it fills up with the passage of time. Normally a user keeps his each and every stuff wheteher photos, files, videos or installed applications or music files. Thus, all sorts of files accumulate in drive and lessens the amount of free space. Such issues can be resolved with regular checkup and deletion of irrelevant or unnecessary data from Mac drive. Mac drive cleaners like Stellar Speed Up Mac can help you to get rid of such useless applications, duplicate file (whether its a media file or any other text file), cache and system logs.

Tip 2 Keep monitoring activity monitor: Activity Monitor shows you the list of processes and CPU consumption in percentage. Please make sure that the CPU consumption do not fall below 20% to 30%. because it may delay other processes and slow down overall performance. Through activity monitor, you can also quit the applications consuming too much memory.

Tip 3 Trim your start-up list: If it takes too much time for your Mac to start then please check the list of startup items and trim to only those which are necessary for you. Go to Apple Menu -> System Preferences -> Accounts -> Login Items.


For more tips visit: www.SpeedUp-Mac.blogspot.com

Software to Clone Mac OS X – Cloning Backup

While working on our Mac machine we come across various situations or heard news of critical data loss or inaccessibility to data. There could be many reasons for this, like it can be accidental deletion, crash, bad sectors in hard drive or can be physical damage to hard drive etc. So, any instance can cause data loss because these are quite accidental and it is impossible to avoid them completely.

Therefore, users have to take precaution in the form of taking regular backup of their vital data because recovering all lost data is not always possible. Recovery also depends on things like status of drive etc. And waiting for losing data and then recovering it by using some recovery software is not a good idea. At the time of data loss, situation really gets to your nerves, when something worse happen to your backup drive . Suppose while doing some work your Mac corrupt and fail to boot. There is Recovery HD available to boot your Mac machine. But what if it also refuses to boot? So, it is always good to make a bootable clone of your Mac OS and Recovery HD.

Cloning is an inventive technique to create an exact sector by sector copy of Mac drive/volume/partition etc. One can also make the image of Mac drive and it can be saved at a safe and desired location, so that one can used them whenever required to restore lost data back.

However Time Machine is an adroit solution for taking backup. It is a feasible tool used for making clone and for taking incremental backups for basic or small file system. But in order to get advanced features of making bootable clone of Mac drive and recovery HD as explained above, you should go for third party software like Stellar Drive Clone. By having a Mac cloning tool, one can immediately create a cloned copy of their Mac drive, once you get any sign of failure. One need not to be tensed about your deleted data, as it can easily be restored from the cloned image.

Stellar Drive Clone software usually offer three main tabs. One can make clone of the whole Mac drive or selected volume, and other can make image of the selected drive/volume and the third 'Restore' restores your drive. You can copy Mac OS X and can also create bootable clone using this tool. This software also support SSD , which I will explain in my upcoming blog. It is pretty useful and easy to use application to clone Mac drive/volume. It has interactive GUI which provides advanced features with ease of usage. It is beneficial to have a bootable backup of your Mac drive as it minimizes downtime and expense of Machine.