'07 MacBook Pro clone to new '11 MacBook Pro (Clone failed)

[Cow]

I read here at the Shirt Pocket website:

You can even take your backup to a totally different Macintosh, start up from it, and work while your failed Macintosh is in the shop... then, when it comes back all fresh and shiny, restore things and keep working. And even if the other Mac is a different CPU type, you can still open and edit the files on the backup.

So I was very dismayed when I attempted to clone a sparse dmg superduper clone via the superduper app from the '07 MBP to my new '11 MBP and it failed to boot at all.

I know Shirt Pocket said it would boot another CPU, but doesn't that also mean I could utilize SuperDuper to transfer one clone to another computer? And, if not, can someone please clarify under what specific circumstances will this not work?

I've been very happy with SuperDuper over the years and this is the first time a clone I've made hasn't worked. But I would never have gotten rid of my previous '07 MBP and only relied on the SuperDuper dmg clone if I had known this wouldn't work properly.

Because of not keeping my old '07 MBP and after the clone failed to boot on the new one, I had to resort to using Apple Migration with the SuperDuper sparse dmg and it was a nightmare where very little transferred over and I'm having tons of permissions issues.

I really think for the sake of your customers, you need to be far more specific about the compatibility and the practicality of using SuperDuper to clone one machine and transfer it to another machine.

I'm sorry if I sound disappointed, but this was a really bad ordeal counting on a clone that didn't work and it really cost me.

I do feel dumb for counting on SuperDuper without making 100% sure it would work, but I also really wish Shirt Pocket would be much more specific with the claims made on that page or at least a link to more details so no one else gets burned.

Once again, I really have appreciated how well SuperDuper has worked for me over the years, but this burned me pretty bad. Feel free to ask as many question as you like, I wouldn't doubt that I've left vital info out here and I also would like it if my post saves others from trouble too.

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All that said, has SuperDuper been shown to work at all with bootable clones for the new '11 MacBook Pros or do we need an update for it to work? I really don't want to be the guinea pig and get caught without a reliable backup for this machine.

[sjk]

Have you seen some recent related comments: here?

[Cow]

Originally Posted by sjk

Have you seen some recent related comments: here?

Thanks for the response. AFAIK, The OS shouldn't have been the issue in this case.

The '07 MacBook Pro was running 10.6.6 when I cloned it with all the latest Mac OS updates applied to it. That's why I was shocked when the '11 MacBook Pro wouldn't boot after copying the sparse dmg to to the '11 MBP with the SuperDuper app.

I've upgraded dissimilar Mac hardware before and the clones worked perfect, so I figured going from an old MBP to a new one would've been a snap.

I'm thinking it might be the radically different new i7 architecture of my new '11 MBP from the old "core2 duo" in the old '07 MBP?

But, once again.... I'm now worried about the reliability of utilizing SuperDuper with my '11 Macbook Pro now as well. Has anyone made a successful sparse dmg to one yet? Or just a bootable hard drive?

I would do it and test it myself, but this whole problem of the clone failing cost me tremendous amounts of time already and I just can't do that right now as a guinea pig when I have clients flipping out because of all my down time.

[dnanian]

No, this WAS an issue, Cow: the problem is that the "normal" 10.6.6 does not support the new Macs. You need to use the steps listed in the FAQ about "I have a new Mac..."

[sjk]

From the FAQ post Dave linked to at the end that other thread:

This means that, most of the time, you should not use SuperDuper! to copy from an old Macs to a brand new one.

Sounds like that's what you've indirectly done.

Oh, just noticed Dave's posted since I started composing this so I'll let him take over from here. 

[Cow]

Thanks to you both for the info/links.

Ok, you can't/shouldn't clone to a another CPU.

So when can you boot to another CPU as advertised in the Shirt Pocket site? Is this when you clone to an external hard drive?

[dnanian]

No, that's not what I'm saying. Rather, new Macs have special builds of the OS. It can take a minor OS version release before you can boot anything-from-anything again...