I guess what is confusing me is why I can't just detach my external drive like I always do when I'm done with it and go into my OS on my internal drive minus the external drive being attached. I don't want to have to tell my Mac which drive to go into every time. Besides, there will only be one OS (Catalina or the next one) on my internal drive anyway. I've decided not to put more than one OS on my SSD as you've suggested. Plus, I have found that once I relegate an older OS to my external drive, I rarely go there again. Of course, I would be putting my new OS on the external drive, also. I need to keep this really, really simple as I do now. I honestly don't feel the need to back up everyday. There is nothing that important on my Mac that I need to do this and really don't want to.

If I were using a desktop computer it would be a simple thing to keep my external drive connected. I only have a laptop which I actually use on my lap. It's too awkward to keep the external drive connected because of logistics and it's short cable. It has come out of the USB port more than once because I had the audacity to move in my chair. smirk

Originally Posted By: joemikeb
Originally Posted By: plantsower
Wow, I am so sorry you woke up at 4 a.m. worried. It was probably warranted. LOL! But thanks. So sorry.

Today is not a good day to do this but soon. I don't understand all the directions completely, but hopefully as I bumble along on each step, it will become clear.

BTW, I use SuperDuper.

Not to worry, I needed to get up anyway, 😄

I quit using SuperDuper because it did not handle the Recovery Drive properly, if at all and Carbon Copy Cloner did at the time. I have no current experience with SuperDuper but as I recall it works essentially the same way CCC does but with a different UI and I would imagine they have caught up with CCC in regards to handling the multitudinous volumes used in Mojave and Catalina.

Originally Posted By: plantsower
Just to clarify steps 6 thru 8:

6. Click on my Sierra clone and reboot (restart the computer after I enter Sierra Clone)?

See screenshot here

Originally Posted By: plantsower
7. Run for several hours, etc. Got it.

8. Select Mac HD from Start up Disk and reboot. (Restart?). After I run Sierra Clone for several hours (or a day) and then remove Ext. HD, first? I don't normally have to pick a startup disk after I remove my Ext. Drive. But, maybe this is a special situation?

The boot drive is stored in the system so every time you boot it will attempt to find and start from Sierra Clone unless you tell the system otherwise. If it does not find the selected startup drive it then searches for any other drive that has a bootable volume. Resetting startup drive will save some time every time you startup your computer not to mention eliminating any confusion if your external drive happens to be attached when your boot/reboot. NOTE: if you are going to be cloning every day, and you should if you do not use Time Machine, why go to the trouble of mounting and dismounting the external drive daily? Why not just leave it connected?

MacBook Pro - M2, Ventura 13.6
Safari Tech Prev 17.0
Safari 16.6
Firefox 116.0.2
iPhone 7 Version 15.8