Time Machine vs CCC vs SuperDuper

[willmtaylor]

I’m getting a new backup backup external HDD for our family iMac tomorrow, so I am starting with a clean slate. I have an on-site HDD with Time Machine running, but the new drive is one I keep at my office and bring home about once a month. That way, if we have a catastrophe at home, our family finances, photos, office docs, etc. would be preserved.

It‘s a 5TB HDD, and it will currently be keeping around 1TB of info.

What is the best method for my use case? TM, CCC, or SD? Why?

I’ve only ever used TM, but I know some around here—I’m looking at you @Fishrrman —are advocates for other methods, so I’d like to know the pros, cons, and costs.

TIA,
Will

 

[Weaselboy]

What is the best method for my use case? TM, CCC, or SD? Why?

IMO TM is better at keeping and accessing older versions of files. CCC can do it, but accessing them is not very intuitive.

I use both TM and CCC on two drives. TM is on constantly (hourly backups) and I do a CCC clone update every few days. I also backup my home folder online using the app Arq to address the "house burns down" scenario you mentioned.

I think CCC and SD do pretty much the same thing as far as cloning, but I have read SD is not ready for Catalina yet, so that may be an issue for you.

 

[jasnw]

I'm biased by the number of times I've been burned by TM failures, but that was some years back so it may be better now. I would use CCC for this, mostly because I use it and am familiar with it, and use it for all of my backup needs. It is effectively a GUI front-end to a decades-old Unix synchronizing technology (rsync), and I really like it because the end result is a backup drive that you can browse with Finder or in Terminal to find files you want to recover.

 

[MacBH928]

CCC for me, reliable, dependable, never failed me, professionally handled. Its worth every penny and the drive they make is bootable, its a 1:1 replica. 0 worries.

If you are not so paranoid about privacy, best is to buy online storage and upload your files. You can always encrypt them in a folder before uploading therefor only you have access to them.

Time Machine from what I understand is best for accessing older version or deleted files, not an HDD backup. It has a weird way of working and it failed me big. I will never use it again and I think its one of the worst pieces of software Apple have created.