I agree. I think CCC is very underrated not to mention not as well known as it should be. I think if more people knew about it, TM would be used less and less.
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Bombich Software Announces Carbon Copy Cloner 6 Featuring Faster Backups, Quick Updates, Snapshot Navigator, and More
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Thanks for chiming in Dayo, your experience as it relates to EFI/OC/RefindPlus related backup concerns will also be appreciated. yea I just upgraded to CCC6 and I see that it uses APFS snapshots to basically do what TimeMachine does. Maybe it was already there and I missed it. I think TimeMachine has a little nicer interface for finding the version of a file you want, CCC's is a little confusing, but then it offers other advantages too, showing version diff's and different things we can't do with TimeMachine...so I guess there are pros and cons.
What I still like about TimeMachine is that it can backup over network remotely and the author of CCC strongly recommends against any kind of network backup with CCC. Only to local volumes. TimeMachine is also dead simple to setup and TimeMachine can be restored directly from recovery mode or install media, while CCC requires a running copy of Catalina to restore Catalina.
What I don't like about TimeMachine is that you can't boot from the backup like you can with CCC..which is definitely a plus, as long as you have a dedicated local volume to backup CCC to.
I think, along with what you're saying...it doesn't really make sense to use both CCC and TimeMachine..its one or the other..I just haven't decided which yet.
I have decided not to try to backup EFI this way, I keep my EFI config in a git repo...so...I can easily reinstall it whenever I need to, in order to do a restore of any kind.
Not sure the best way to backup my BOOTCAMP volume.
I am also genuinely curious about how people are using DiskUtiliy to create dmg image of their Catalina container and use it later to restore.. This seems like the only true clone approach with OS Catalina frankly...but also not suitable for nightly backups. But I wouldn't mind cloning my system once a month or something to save that image offline somewhere just in case. When I tried to do it last night...I was trying to use Disk Utility from Recovery mode to save a dmg image of Catalina volume using just under 400gb..... attempting to save the image to a drive with nearly twice that much space free on it...but it failed halfway through complaining that there is not enough disk space for it.
So first effort failed, but I'm generally curious about that as a way to stash a full clone of my Catalina as an image that I can move offline or save to a remote server or whatever..keep somewhere else safe just in case...plus technically its more of a bit for bit clone. It would almost be better in a restore situation to start with that and then restore from CCC/TimeMachine to bring that up to date...
What I still like about TimeMachine is that it can backup over network remotely and the author of CCC strongly recommends against any kind of network backup with CCC. Only to local volumes. TimeMachine is also dead simple to setup and TimeMachine can be restored directly from recovery mode or install media, while CCC requires a running copy of Catalina to restore Catalina.
What I don't like about TimeMachine is that you can't boot from the backup like you can with CCC..which is definitely a plus, as long as you have a dedicated local volume to backup CCC to.
I think, along with what you're saying...it doesn't really make sense to use both CCC and TimeMachine..its one or the other..I just haven't decided which yet.
I have decided not to try to backup EFI this way, I keep my EFI config in a git repo...so...I can easily reinstall it whenever I need to, in order to do a restore of any kind.
Not sure the best way to backup my BOOTCAMP volume.
I am also genuinely curious about how people are using DiskUtiliy to create dmg image of their Catalina container and use it later to restore.. This seems like the only true clone approach with OS Catalina frankly...but also not suitable for nightly backups. But I wouldn't mind cloning my system once a month or something to save that image offline somewhere just in case. When I tried to do it last night...I was trying to use Disk Utility from Recovery mode to save a dmg image of Catalina volume using just under 400gb..... attempting to save the image to a drive with nearly twice that much space free on it...but it failed halfway through complaining that there is not enough disk space for it.
So first effort failed, but I'm generally curious about that as a way to stash a full clone of my Catalina as an image that I can move offline or save to a remote server or whatever..keep somewhere else safe just in case...plus technically its more of a bit for bit clone. It would almost be better in a restore situation to start with that and then restore from CCC/TimeMachine to bring that up to date...
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Thanks for those instructions. I can see that I can use DiskUtilty to restore from a chosen volume to a destination volume....
or we can also right click on the container and make an image. Restore can also restore from an image.
That is the mode I am more interested in...as a monthly operation to create a dmg that I can stash offline somewhere. It will be some time before I have some disk space that I can test it out...and test the restore too.
I do think for a one-off clone..this is the superior way to clone a volume. Its going to take about the same amount of time as ccc would for a complete backup from scratch. And since its copying at block level rather then file level, I think more likely to be a perfect clone. I need to test this theory more though.
I tried to do it last night, but ran out of disk space in the middle of the cloning operation TO IMAGE, even though there was more than enough disk space to do it...so... That is perhaps a problem.
yea. I think the amount of time it takes is pretty comparable to how long it would take TimeMachine to do a first-time backup to a brand new empty TimeMachine volume. The biggest problem with this approach for regular nightly backups is that you have to do that full long backup every time..which is not practical for nightly backups, not to mention you don't gain any ability to restore versions back in time, like you can with TimeMachine or CCC.
But...this approach does give more of a bit-for-bit clone of the source volume I think...I don't know until I test it, I'm assuming it copies over all the APFS snapshots, firm links, cloned files, etc..properly...since its copying by blocks rather then at the file level with rsync.
Nothing wrong with using both as TM is perhaps easier for fine grained and has a nicer interface.
A cMP can have more than 8 internal disks. I had 7 in mine, with one for TM and another for CCC (running on schedules in the background) until sometime in March when on needing to roll back a folder, I discovered my TM disk had failed silently since last December!
I was up the creek without a paddle as I didn't want to do a CCC restore just to get at a folder but luckily found out I could just open a CCC snapshot and copy the folder. Didn't bother to reactivate TM afterwards. TM experience is better for this but not an issue for the odd time I need to get a file/folder back.
MyBootMgr lives in /User/Shared which is backed up as any other folder ... no special needs.
Actually, the folder I needed to retrieve was the MyBootMgr folder as I had screwed something up in development and needed the state it was a few weeks before.
You can add EFIClone to CCC to specifically clone the EFI but I don't bother with this since /User/Shared/MyBootMgr is backed up and recoverable.
A cMP can have more than 8 internal disks. I had 7 in mine, with one for TM and another for CCC (running on schedules in the background) until sometime in March when on needing to roll back a folder, I discovered my TM disk had failed silently since last December!
I was up the creek without a paddle as I didn't want to do a CCC restore just to get at a folder but luckily found out I could just open a CCC snapshot and copy the folder. Didn't bother to reactivate TM afterwards. TM experience is better for this but not an issue for the odd time I need to get a file/folder back.
MyBootMgr lives in /User/Shared which is backed up as any other folder ... no special needs.
Actually, the folder I needed to retrieve was the MyBootMgr folder as I had screwed something up in development and needed the state it was a few weeks before.
You can add EFIClone to CCC to specifically clone the EFI but I don't bother with this since /User/Shared/MyBootMgr is backed up and recoverable.
So I just bought a Samsung T5 SSD and CCC 6. I cloned my MacBook Pro 16 inch Catalina 85 gb in less than 5 minutes. Superduper is still running 20 minutes later. I like both programs, but damn, CCC 6 was hot tailin it out of town like a boss. That little drive is sweet. I got it over the T7 because this Mac's usb c ports are USG 3.1 Gen2. The latest from Apple use this one currently. Probably update standard soon, but still quite respectable.
Good to know the CCC has faster speeds.
With regards to your SSD drive, actually both of these have the same theoretical max speed of 10Gps connection. It's just that the T7 is almost twice as fast in both read and write speed versus the T5 due to the chip implementation. And since the MacBook Pro 16 is capable of up to 40Gbps with Thunderbolt, then you will harness the additional speed of the T7.
With regards to the USB 3.1 Gen 2 and USB 3.2 Gen 2 naming confusion:
"USB 3.1 Gen 1 (formerly known as USB 3.0), which offers speeds up to 5 Gbps, will be rebranded into USB 3.2 Gen 1 while USB 3.1 Gen 2, which supports communication rates up to 10 Gbps, will be called USB 3.2 Gen 2 moving forward."
Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/usb-3.0-usb-3.1-becomes-usb-3.2,38699.html
CCC saves the bacon 
So I just got v6 for my M1 mac - but I have yet to get an external SSD.
Can the M1 macbookpro boot from a usb-c drive? (not going TB3/4 at this point - waiting for prices to come down).
So I just got v6 for my M1 mac - but I have yet to get an external SSD.
Can the M1 macbookpro boot from a usb-c drive? (not going TB3/4 at this point - waiting for prices to come down).
Err... The impression I get is that, moving forward, we may not (should not?) count on bootable backups. This is due to changes in the OS and Apple's continual move towards locking the OS down for security.
"If you were making your backups bootable in case of hardware failure, then that's an extra logistical chore that you can now retire from your backup strategy."
Basically, you restore via Apple's Recovery Mode, and then migrate your data from the backup drive.
PS. CCC > TimeMachine
"If you were making your backups bootable in case of hardware failure, then that's an extra logistical chore that you can now retire from your backup strategy."
Basically, you restore via Apple's Recovery Mode, and then migrate your data from the backup drive.
PS. CCC > TimeMachine
Why cloning Big Sur isn’t as useful for an M1 Mac
For some, inability to clone to the internal SSD of an M1 Mac seems disastrous. In reality, it could achieve little, and there are better solutions.
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