Copying Yosemite to another iMac

[Alwyn]

I've successfully installed Yosemite, although the Set up Assistant failed.

I want to install it on my wife's iMac. Can I do that without downloading it from the internet?

 

[chscag]

If the setup assistant failed, that means you didn't make a Yosemite bootable flash drive. Which means you'll have to download Yosemite again to install it on the iMac.

 

[Alwyn]

If the setup assistant failed, that means you didn't make a Yosemite bootable flash drive. Which means you'll have to download Yosemite again to install it on the iMac.

Okay, not a problem, but otherwise what is the purpose of the setup assistant and do I need it?

 

[chscag]

You don't really need to use the setup assistant. As long as you have a bootable backup of Yosemite, it's not necessary. I keep a bootable backup on hand and update it every two days or so. I use Carbon Copy Cloner to make the bootable backup.

 

[Alwyn]

Carbon Copy Cloner

Thanks chscag. I've been meaning to get around to installing it. How big a drive do I need?

 

[chscag]

You should use an external hard drive that is at least the same size as your hard drive. Carbon Copy Cloner will warn if it doesn't have enough space to create the clone plus the recovery partition clone.