How do I create a bootable drive from and existing OS intallation

“not of type Apple_HFS or Apple_UFS” error means the target drive isn’t formatted in a way macOS can clone to. Yosemite requires the destination drive to be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with a GUID Partition Map, not APFS or ExFAT.

Here’s what you can do, connect your new SSD, open Disk Utility, select the SSD < click Erase < choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and GUID Partition Map.

Once done, try cloning again using Disk Utility < Restore, or use a third-party tool, that’ll give you a fully bootable clone of your existing OS without hitting those validation errors.

But please make sure to create a backup of your data.

anotherJeff273 wrote:

Now, here is the situation:

I got an external drive case from OWC and a new drive from iFixit.

I put the new drive in the external drive case and plugged it in and erased/initialized as directed

Mac extended GUID partition map.

I had to hack the correct setup to get Disk Utility to try to restore the internal disk to the new drive.

But I kept getting complaints

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/f1ab2e95-b8b5-4fe8-b90e-aad732413a8a

I realized I left out the source and destinatoin disk designations from the screen shot.

Source is MBPII

Destination is Renewal.

So, now what is the complaint?

I did have the source disk verified and the permissions repaired. No complaints, the MBPII disk is not making any

noise. It is quiet as a mouse. So maybe this exercise is not really necessary now. I still want to follow through. The

new disc (as it should be obvious is much larger in capacity).

Thank you for time and attention

whoiam..

See @MartinR's post with the great reference to Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) for cloning a macOS boot drive. CCC is the best option, otherwise you need to install macOS & migrate/restore from a backup or old system. @MartinR even provided a link to the older version of CCC that is compatible with your version of macOS.

Disk Utility is the wrong app for cloning a macOS boot drive. Trust me.....I tried it many years ago. Disk Utility is a terrible app.....it barely does the simplest common tasks of partitioning, erasing, formatting & repair drives/file systems and even then it may not always work.

If the original Hard Drive is failing (very likely), then you have big problems since it is doubtful you can even use CCC to clone the drive, or use Migration Assistant to migrate the software & data. With a failing Hard Drive you may only get one chance. You can use DriveDx (free trial period) to check the health of the old Hard Drive. Post the complete DriveDx text report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper on the forum editing toolbar.

Choose one of these two options for configuring your new drive. It is likely neither option will work to keep your proprietary apps' activation status.....depending on the app one method may work for one app, but not for the other. Disk Utility will not make any difference in this regard so choose one of the better options.

First, the (new) external drive, regardless of whether it's an HDD or SSD, would need to be formatted ahead of time as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

Second, use CarbonCopyCloner to clone your existing drive to the (new) external drive. For a Yosemite-based system you would need CarbonCopyCloner Version 5

A few extra notes ...

• Given the age of your MBPro (probably a Core2Duo model) you are probably better off getting a replacement HDD instead of an SSD. In that era the internal HDDs were only SATA3 and there is a possibility it would not work with a modern SSD.
• With only USB 2.0 and FW400/800 ports you will be severely limited by access speed to an external drive during the cloning process. Plan on it taking awhile.
• Older software sometimes used what was called a hardware "hash code" to authorize the app's license; there is a chance that some of 3rd-party software you have may or may not work on the cloned drive. YMMV.

<< I was planning on using disk utility to clone the drive to a new empty drive. That is by designating the new drive

as the destination or target drive and the internal drive as the source drive. >>

Disk Utility has no functions that can reliably clone a running MacOS to a new drive in a way that will be bootable.

By far the most reliable way to proceed is the current standard way: to install a NEW instance of MacOS from fundamental sources on the destination drive first.

Then migrate your data either form the original drive or a backup of the original drive.

If your Hard Drive is making those noises, then you may not be able to use CCC to clone the boot drive depending on the extent of the drive failure. Keep in mind trying to copy the failing HD's contents will likely make the drive failure even worse since macOS really doesn't handle the I/O errors of failing drives very well. I know CCC will alert you to the errors if they interfere & provide you an option to skip those items automatically (best do it as CCC will log the items that could not be transferred). CCC is an excellent app when the Hard Drive is healthy. There is no good way to clone a failing HD using macOS...CCC may work if the failure is mild & limited to a very small section of the HD.

If you want to create a bootable macOS USB installer, then you need to follow the instructions in the following Apple article:

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

IIRC, if you have a Time Machine backup, then you should be able to use the TM backup to restore the entire system (OS & data) to an external drive which will be bootable.....since you are using Yosemite.

@MartinR is correct that some proprietary apps will require you to reauthorize them which will require the original license codes. Some of these companies have turned off the relevant online authentication servers for older app versions so it may no longer be possible to reinstall & use some of these apps (MS Office is one example, Adobe may be another).

If you have a running version of MacOS, I recommend you set aside your notions of bootable installers or clones and use the full capabilities of MacOS to install a known-good instance of MacOS from fundamental sources.

You have the new drive already partitioned in Disk Utility.

Use a link from the "use a web browser" section of this article to obtain a disk image (.dmg) file of either 10.10 Yosemite or 10.11 El Capitan, the latest a 2008 model can run. That .dmg can provide a .pkg that can PLACE the installer in your MacOS /Applications folder if you use the steps provided. Once downloaded:

4) Double-click the .dmg file to open it and see the package (.pkg) file within. 

5) Double-click the .pkg file, then follow the onscreen instructions to [PLACE] the macOS installer into the Applications folder.

6) Open the Applications folder and double-click the macOS installer, named Install [Version Name]. Follow the onscreen installation instructions.

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

You don't want to use those old bootable USB instructions on an old Mac. That's unlikely to work.

The most reliable method would be to take your old hard drive out and put it into an external enclosure. Put the new hard drive in the computer. Boot from the external. Format the new internal as GUID/HFS. Then just run the macOS Installer from the external and tell it to install into the internal.

anotherJeff273 wrote:

re this thread: How do I create a bootable clone of OS on… - Apple Community

The volume on device "/dev/disk0" is not of type Apple_HFS or Apple_UFS

Could not validate source - Device not configured

The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSStatus error 6.)

I have tried this in the past and also have received this error message.

In the posting to the community that I am referencing the error was not

addressed.

So what is the problem and how do I fix it?

I have an older (ca 2008) Macbook Pro 15" that has Yosemite installed.

The internal drive has started making rattling noises that sound like

it is about to die.

SO;

I want to copy the system to an new drive, probably an SSD drive that

can replace the internal drive. It has Mac software with features that

were removed in later versions.

Yes I have done lots of work on Macs including Powerbooks and Macbook Pros.

They were user serviceable, unlike many newer models.

Thank you for time and attention

Did you download the installer app...?

From the Terminal copy and paste:

softwareupdate --list-full-installers

For the latest Tahoe the example is as follows :

sudo softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 26.0.1

(note: your psswd will not echo on screen type it in anyway, to proceed use the enter\return key)

Once downloaded it will be sitting in your Applications folder "Install macOS Tahoe.app"

if it launches automatically quit it like any other app.

Then use the references posted above for making a bootable USBinstaller

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support