Hello
@MuffinCrumbs,
I've not used an offline cloner myself, but I'm not opposed to such tools. Because you have one now, I'm sure many of us would be very interested in your experience. For example:
- Do both NVMe SSDs have to be the same capacity?
- How long does the cloning process take for a certain capacity?
- For example, if you're cloning a 512GB or 1TB NVMe SSD, how long does it take for a disk of that size?
- Is the clone fully bootable?
The disadvantage of an offline cloner is that we have to
physically remove the NVMe SSD from our motherboard and install it into the cloner.
With Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper, of course, the source disk remains where it is. These software solutions can also clone a source disk to a
smaller destination disk as long as there's enough space. This is because only the
used space on the source disk determines the minimum size of the destination disk.
Hey, so I finally did the testing of
Icy Box IB-2912MCL-C31 Cloner/Dock.
It is very straightforward. Of course, one has to take out the old SSDs. However, the dock itself requires no tools. It comes with two thermal pads, two heatsinks. This model also has a built in fan. It is a very tiny dock. It got a tiny footprint. With USB 3.1 Gen 2, and AC power connector. If you only want to use offline cloning function, you only need to power it, no need to plug it to a computer.
Next is to just read the manual.
Switch the on/off switch to on, press the "clone" button for 10 seconds, you'll see 0%-50% green light blinking, then it will stay on in stale, whilst 50%-100% green light is blinking. The process is done when both lights stay on in stale, lighting green.
- Do both NVMe SSDs have to be the same capacity?
The target SSD needs to be same size, or larger than the source SSD. In this case, I used Samsung 970 EVO 500gb (400gb was used out of 500gb) as source SSD, and I cloned Kingston Renegade 1tb as target SSD. Thereafter, for the giggles, I used Kingston Renegade 1tb as source, and cloned WD Black SN850 1tb.
- How long does the cloning process take for a certain capacity?
- For example, if you're cloning a 512GB or 1TB NVMe SSD, how long does it take for a disk of that size?
According to the device itself, I was done within 5-6 minutes cloning. Out of care, I waited 10-12 minutes. I was sort of paranoid, whether I should trust the cloning dock or not, because in the manual it says it can even take hours. But it most likely depends on what type of partition map\scheme, format, size etc. The dock has no digital way of telling, whether it is done, it tells it with lights. When the lights are lighting completely in stale, and doesn't blink, it means the cloning process is done. It took about the same amount of time for both drives.
- Is the clone fully bootable?
Yes, fully bootable. Absolutely everything is in the drive, partitions, EFI partition etc. In the manual for this cloning dock, they don't mention anything about MacOS, however, they mention Windows. According to the manual, there are some extra steps for Windows, by making the drive active in Windows.
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So I think it is actually too early to tell whether this gives some form of error to the system. As of now, I haven't encountered it. And I have installed the two SSDs in two different computers. It required me to change the EFI of one of the drives, because the computers were different. But everything is functioning and running.
The cloning device is relatively expensive in comparison to some other brands people can get. However, I'm not sure how good the other brands/models are. Of course, it might also be more pricier, because this dock is not only for offline cloning, it is also to plug in as a drive bay dock. One might want to consider to get good 1tb SSD, instead of buying this offline cloner. In my opinion, an offline cloner would suit someone who clones a lot.
tl;dr
It works, and it boots. Target drive needs to have as much capacity as the source drive, or higher. According to the device, it took 5-6 minutes, paranoia made me wait 10-12 minutes.
