Looking for a real 1:1 backup solution similar

[Dorfdad]

So I have been stuggling to find a solution to a problem that has been solved in Windows for ages, but I can't seem to find a 1:1 or one step solution to backups for OSX.

We have Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cleaner, and a few others but none of them seem to offer a true CLONE of the HD for me, maybe I am doing something wrong or just don't have to knowledge to do this like I can on PC. So hoping someone can help me

I have a few MacBook Pro's and Apple silicon Mini's. Id like to setup base OS and a few apps and just close the entire thing so if we have issue I can restore the entire OS back to the same point in time. On windows Macrium Acronis etc do this without issue. However on OSX Time Machine doesn't do this, CCC does have a feature which they say may work (mine never did) since it's relying on Apple to authenticate etc.

Is there a solution to this. I don't want to have to format drive, install OS, than restore off a Backup just for APPS that were installed. Any help would be appreciated as I'm kinda unfamiliar with backups on OSX. But I have had issue with OSX and just had to format and reinstall everything time and time again to ensure it was clean and osx was fixed.

 

[Bigwaff]

Bootable clones are now a relic of the past. You can boot from external drives (i.e. install macOS on external drive), but that is quite different than producing a bootable clone. To produce a "bootable" clone, you need to perform a clean install of macOS on the external storage. This will create a bootable disk with the Signed Sealed Volume containing macOS along with a user data volume. Use CCC to clone the user data volume from the internal storage to the user data volume on the external storage. CCC will "clone" the user data and settings but will not touch the SSV. To update macOS on the external storage, you have to first boot using the external storage and then update.

 

[Dorfdad]

Bootable clones are now a relic of the past. You can boot from external drives (i.e. install macOS on external drive), but that is quite different than producing a bootable clone. To produce a "bootable" clone, you need to perform a clean install of macOS on the external storage. This will create a bootable disk with the Signed Sealed Volume containing macOS along with a user data volume. Use CCC to clone the user data volume from the internal storage to the user data volume on the external storage. CCC will "clone" the user data and settings but will not touch the SSV. To update macOS on the external storage, you have to first boot using the external storage and then update.

OK so going forward there is no 1:1 cloning for OSX? It's always a 2 step process?

why exactly is that? is it a security issue?

 

[Bigwaff]

OK so going forward there is no 1:1 cloning for OSX? It's always a 2 step process?

why exactly is that? is it a security issue?

From Apple's perspective, yes.

 

[Mike Boreham]

OK so going forward there is no 1:1 cloning for OSX? It's always a 2 step process?

I agree with @Bigwaff that bootable clones are of the past, but CCC and Superduper! apps can make bootable clones using Apple System Replicator (ASR) to copy the Signed Sealed System volume. The process is a bit hit and miss and has been relegated to a legacy mode in CCC. Creating legacy bootable copies of macOS.

SD takes a different attitude, but the limitations of SD are the same as they both have to use ASR.

CCC and SD! clones may not be forensically identical but contain everything needed to function exactly as the original, as does the preferred install and migrate method. Only not needed files are not included, listed here for CCC.

Years ago one could make block level copies of a boot volume with apps like CopyCat, and Drive Genius which I believe were forensically identical. I guess the only reason for using such apps would be for forensic purposes.