What's the best way to use CCC?

[kapalua12]

To clone one iMac or multiple iMac's how do most people recommend configuring Carbon Copy Cloner? I have multiple hard drives so that's not an issue.

Should I just leave one hard drive connected to the machine that's being cloned and set a schedule daily for CCC to create and overwrite the existing copy that CCC cloned yesterday?

I know there is benefit to alternating hard drives and bringing one offsite at all times. Would there be benefit to saving multiple older versions of CCC backups in their entirety that have not been written over by CCC in it's daily clone update process which I assume only changes files that have changed?

So many options.

Can I run CCC to clone to a hard drive plugged into my Time Capsule to have an extra bootable copy of my iMac's entire SSD?

Thanks.

 

[maflynn]

I use TM machine for hourly backups and CCC for a complete backup. I run mine manually since I have TM current.

The advantages of keeping the deltas is that if you edit a document and the edited version gets backed up, then you realize you need the older version.

I needed this on occasion for my RapidWeaver files, along with other files that got changed and that changed file was backed up.

For me, TimeMachine works great, and I think using two tools such as these really compliment each other. The speed of CCC when I need to restore the entire system, and TimeMachine for the incrementals.

 

[kapalua12]

I use TM machine for hourly backups and CCC for a complete backup. I run mine manually since I have TM current.

The advantages of keeping the deltas is that if you edit a document and the edited version gets backed up, then you realize you need the older version.

I needed this on occasion for my RapidWeaver files, along with other files that got changed and that changed file was backed up.

For me, TimeMachine works great, and I think using two tools such as these really compliment each other. The speed of CCC when I need to restore the entire system, and TimeMachine for the incrementals.

Thanks.

What do you think about setting CCC to automatically run every day on automated schedule?

Can I create multiple complete operating system and data clones on the same External hard drive or does CCC have to simply update the one existing clone with anything that has changed?

 

[flynz4]

Thanks.

What do you think about setting CCC to automatically run every day on automated schedule?

Can I create multiple complete operating system and data clones on the same External hard drive or does CCC have to simply update the one existing clone with anything that has changed?

Tom,

I clone (with CCC) up all of my media nightly at 4am. Since it is an incremental backup... it generally finishes within a few minutes. I do this at 4am... because I am always sleeping by 4:00.

Note that I ONLY backup my media via CCC... because my media does not really need to be encrypted. I do not use CCC in any "encrypted mode" (and to be honest... I do not know if it is supported). Hence... I do not use CCC to clone my sensitive data such as email, documents, etc... because I do NOT ever want them around on a non encrypted drive. This data can be used to perform identity theft.

For the sensitive (non-media) files identified above... I use Time Machine & Crashplan+ in fully encrypted modes... plus I secure my drives with FileVault II.

/Jim