Clone everything from Mac to Hackintosh

[ktlnjcksn]

Hello I currently have a Late 2006 iMac running OS X 1.7.5 Lion with a ton of stuff on it and I'd like an exact clone of everything to be on my new Hackintosh. I am still looking into even going the Hackintosh route and being able to have everything exactly how it is on my iMac transferred onto the Hackintosh is a huge factor for me. Is this possible to do and what would I need to buy in order to make it happen? Thanks.

 

[Going Bald]

Hello I currently have a Late 2006 iMac running OS X 1.7.5 Lion with a ton of stuff on it and I'd like an exact clone of everything to be on my new Hackintosh. I am still looking into even going the Hackintosh route and being able to have everything exactly how it is on my iMac transferred onto the Hackintosh is a huge factor for me. Is this possible to do and what would I need to buy in order to make it happen? Thanks.

Yes, it is possible to clone your iMac drive and put the clone in a PC-Mac and make it work with the addition of a boot loader and some kexts. The problem you will run into is with using Lion and up-to-date hardware - not possible. Lion 10.7.0 through 1-.7.4 will run on either Sandy Bridge and 10.7.5 will run on Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge hardware, but not Haswell. 10.8.0 - 10.8.4 will run on Sandy or Ivy, but not Haswell. you need 10.8.5 or later to run on Haswell, preferably 10.9.x.

 

[ktlnjcksn]

Yes, it is possible to clone your iMac drive and put the clone in a PC-Mac and make it work with the addition of a boot loader and some kexts. The problem you will run into is with using Lion and up-to-date hardware - not possible. Lion 10.7.0 through 1-.7.4 will run on either Sandy Bridge and 10.7.5 will run on Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge hardware, but not Haswell. 10.8.0 - 10.8.4 will run on Sandy or Ivy, but not Haswell. you need 10.8.5 or later to run on Haswell, preferably 10.9.x.

Oh why not just use Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge hardware then? I don't think think that I have any applications that wouldn't work with Mavericks — the only reason I'm using Lion right now is because it's the highest OS my iMac can handle.

 

[ktlnjcksn]

ok I'm thinking of going with the CustoMac mATX build — will I be able to work with this?

 

[dougoftheabaci]

ok I'm thinking of going with the CustoMac mATX build — will I be able to work with this?

FWIW there's nothing stopping you from building an Ivy Bridge Hackintosh. Before I made the jump to Haswell that's what I was using and it ran just fine. The only real downside is that there's no hardware upgrade path from Ivy to Haswell so you're going to have to upgrade your system sooner than you would if you went straight to Haswell.

That being said, what exactly do you need to transfer over? Certain things can be manually transferred over; your home folder, applications folder, preferences, etc. can all be manually transferred from a 10.7 build to a 10.9 build. No real issue there. It's not a straight up clone with something like SuperDuper! but it will allow you to move right to the latest stuff.

The only reason I can think of for preferring a clone over moving certain sections over manually is if you had a lot of programs you knew wouldn't run on 10.9 or if you were really concerned about losing app preferences. Otherwise it's something like an extra hour or two of work on your end.

 

[ktlnjcksn]

I guess it's mostly just app preferences and lots of other stuff that would be a pain to do over again. I will still have my iMac around so it's not too big of a deal if I'm not able to move over some stuff. Anyone know what the CustoMac mATX build costs?

 

[dougoftheabaci]

I guess it's mostly just app preferences and lots of other stuff that would be a pain to do over again. I will still have my iMac around so it's not too big of a deal if I'm not able to move over some stuff. Anyone know what the CustoMac mATX build costs?

You could simply copy over you /Library/Preferences and ~/Library/Preferences folders and get the vast majority of that stuff. That doesn't change OS to OS and I've done it that way before.

Price is dependent on what you choose for hardware. If you go with a budget machine you can squeak buy in the $400–$500 range. If you go for something with a lot of horsepower you're looking at $800+. When I built my first Hackintosh I spent around $1,200, but I was specifically looking to build a very capable gaming rig that could play games at 1440p on high to ultra settings.