Watch a video of this tutorial on YouTube
Note: This will erase all data on your backup disk!!!
Launch Disk Utility
Open a Finder window and navigate to Applications > Utilities and double click on Disk Utility.
The remaining steps vary considerably depending on the operating system you are running. Choose About This Mac from the Apple menu to determine your current OS, then make a selection below.
- macOS 10.13 High Sierra
- OS X 10.11 El Capitan and macOS 10.12 Sierra
- Mountain Lion, Mavericks, or Yosemite
Instructions for Sierra and El Capitan
Select the backup disk
Click to select the disk that you would like to use for your backup. This disk should not be the same as your startup disk.
The name of a new disk will often include the manufacturer’s name (e.g. WD My Book 111D Media...). A startup disk will often include the manufacturer's serial number in the title (e.g. TOSHIBA MK50...).
Erase the backup disk
Click on the Erase button in Disk Utility's toolbar, then configure the name, format, and partitioning scheme of your backup disk. You can set the name to whatever you like, but set the Format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and set the Scheme to GUID Partition Map, then click the Erase button.
Don't Use Time Machine
Click Don’t Use. You may use the same backup disk for both Time Machine and CCC backups, but if you do so, you must use a dedicated partition for the Time Machine backup. Otherwise Time Machine will consume all available space on the backup volume and make it impossible for CCC to use the backup volume.
Your new hard drive is now ready to accept backups created by Carbon Copy Cloner!
Instructions for Mountain Lion, Mavericks, or Yosemite
Watch a video of this tutorial on YouTube
Select the backup disk
Click to select the disk that you would like to use for your backup. This disk should not be the same as your startup disk.
The name of a new disk will often include the storage capacity and manufacturer’s name (e.g. 500.07 GB WD My Passp...). A startup disk will often include the manufacturer's serial number in the title (e.g. 320.07 GB TOSHIBA MK3255GSXF Media).
Partition the backup disk
Click on the Partition tab.
Choose 1 Partition from the Partition Layout popup menu (or more if desired).
Click on Options.
Choose GUID Partition Table, then click the OK.
Name the Volume
Format the Volume
Select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the Partition Format popup menu.
Click Apply.
Ensure that you have selected the correct disk for your backup drive. This step will delete all data from the selected disk. Click Partition.
Now skip ahead to the remainder of the instructions that are not OS-specific.
Related Documentation
"My disk is already formatted HFS+, why am I getting this warning?"
Video: Preparing a drive for a backup of the macOS in macOS 10.11 or higher
Video: Creating a new/additional partition (OS X 10.10 and earlier)
Support for third party filesystems (e.g. NTFS, FAT32)