Carbon Copy Cloner 7 - Users Thread

[Realityck]

Anyone that enjoys participating with latest MacOS betas knows the value of backup utilities. Can’t say enough about how CCC has allowed me through many years of MacOS releases to always be able to recover easily enough.

Even if you question the value of using something other then Time Machine, there is nothing more important then being backed up and restoring your data/settings from a Apple Software Restore (ASR) snapshot or timepoint when something happens either software or hardware wise.

from https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/Carbon_Copy_Cloner

CCC is now more the 20 years old and the developer is a very responsive to any issue that happen on even the just released betas of MacOS.

 

[0134168]

I used CCC from the beginning.
Without easy to create and to use bootable backups it is much less worth than before.

Now it has to compete with Apple's solution called "time machine".
And time machine is good enough.

CCC could be of use if it could easily synchronize i.e. a Mac Studio with a Macbook Pro.
But I see a lot of problems with the content of apps like amazon kindle.

Time machine has NOTHING to do with CCC. You have to install a new macOS, hours, and then restore, even more hours.

CCC makes perfect bootable backups on EVERY macOS, be Intel or Silicon.

You just boot from the clone, and clone again. Meanwhile you can continue working.

 

[radus]

Time machine has NOTHING to do with CCC. You have to install a new macOS, hours, and then restore, even more hours.

CCC makes perfect bootable backups on EVERY macOS, be Intel or Silicon.

You just boot from the clone, and clone again. Meanwhile you can continue working.

There is no perfect bootable backup using CCC on the M1 Mac, forget it.
May be if you clone to a new initialized disk - but it does not boot after the first incremental backup.
Even if it boots you have to re-authorize most of the apps und all the internet-accounts / email accounts.
This is not helpful anymore.

 

[0134168]

There is no perfect bootable backup using CCC on the M1 Mac, forget it.
May be if you clone to a new initialized disk - but it does not boot after the first incremental backup.
Even if it boots you have to re-authorize most of the apps und all the internet-accounts / email accounts.
This is not helpful anymore.

You are so wrong. I never make incremental backups. Always Legacy.

PERFECT clones.

 

[Realityck]

There is no perfect bootable backup using CCC on the M1 Mac, forget it.
May be if you clone to a new initialized disk - but it does not boot after the first incremental backup.
Even if it boots you have to re-authorize most of the apps und all the internet-accounts / email accounts.
This is not helpful anymore.

Whats gone since Big Safari is incremental bootable backups where the system is incrementally updated as well as data.
Apple added additional security to using its APFS replication utility that prevent that. Now when you use the legacy bootable backup it's just a snapshot that stays at the system version/data. You can still incrementally backup settings/data but then it becomes a ASR volume group that Migration Assistant can use with DFU for example.
If you want it update to a newer macOS version as a snapshot you just follow the process I document on this post.

Its possible eventually Apple will completely fix the utility they provide for third part backups, but right now it is what it is.

for more info see https://bombich.com/blog/2021/05/19...dapting-recovery-strategies-evolving-platform

 

[Realityck]

CCC 6.1.2 worked with the MacOS 13 (Ventura) developer beta released today. It of course said it was not thoroughly qualified warning. Still I went though using disk utility to group volume erase of back up HDD and then followed the legacy bootable backup and it completed with no errors.

Additionally I changed this thread's title to encompass MacOS 13 Ventura as they work the same with CCC 6.x.x.

Old topic name = Monterey - Carbon Copy Cloner - Users Thread
New topic name = MacOS 12/13 - Carbon Copy Cloner - Users Thread

 

[arw]

Did anyone find a way to restore a dmg of the data partition to a backup drive, without the backup drive's system partition being erased in the process? Restoring the dmg of the data partition while booted from said drive keeps the system partition intact, but the data partition is not 100% restored: some files apparently can't be replaced while being booted, therefore my question of recovering to the drive while not being booted from it.
Basically I want to recover my Mac's data partition from a dmg (also data partition only) without having to re-install the OS. I have a bootable backup drive with CCC that I can boot from to recover the dmg to the internal drive, but that deletes the internal OS.
Can SuperDuper do a simple data-partition restore?
Just fyi, I bought CCC and a month later the mentioned functionality was removed...
Thanks

 

[Realityck]

Did anyone find a way to restore a dmg of the data partition to a backup drive, without the backup drive's system partition being erased in the process? Restoring the dmg of the data partition while booted from said drive keeps the system partition intact, but the data partition is not 100% restored: some files apparently can't be replaced while being booted, therefore my question of recovering to the drive while not being booted from it.
Basically I want to recover my Mac's data partition from a dmg (also data partition only) without having to re-install the OS. I have a bootable backup drive with CCC that I can boot from to recover the dmg to the internal drive, but that deletes the internal OS.
Can SuperDuper do a simple data-partition restore?
Just fyi, I bought CCC and a month later the mentioned functionality was removed...
Thanks

see this post. You can readily use Migration Assistant to selectively recover your data with a legacy bootable backup snapshot as a ASR that it sees.

 

[Sciuriware]

see this post. You can readily use Migration Assistant to selectively recover your data with a legacy bootable backup snapshot as a ASR that it sees.

I get the impression that, with the advent of rapidly changing OS-levels (Ventura is imminent),
the entire OS-backup issue is pushed into the background:
you may decide to make a full backup but then you are required to update the OS and you MUST make a full backup.
;JOOP!

 

[arw]

see this post. You can readily use Migration Assistant to selectively recover your data with a legacy bootable backup snapshot as a ASR that it sees.

Ok, thanks. I fail to fully comprehend the process but I remember trying Migration Assistant and I had to fully erase and restore user accounts instead of just incrementally update/recover the data partition. I will give it a greater try.

 

[Realityck]

Now available CCC 6.1.3-b1 (7374) — This is a pre-release update of CCC for Ventura beta testing cycle

Spoiler: CCC 6.1.3-b1 Fixes and Changes

This update starts our macOS Ventura beta testing cycle, but includes changes that will affect all supported versions of macOS.

• Changed
  Task groups can now be deleted via the Task menu (e.g. Command+Delete) and via the "Additional Actions" menu in the sidebar.
• Fixed
  Resolved an issue in which a task would appear stalled when converting a disk image to a read-only format. Fixed an unrelated progress indication issue in the same scenario.
• Changed
  Fixed an issue in which "on reconnect" tasks were not correctly getting throttled according to the task configuration if the task was also configured to prompt the user to proceed when the missing volume was reconnected.
• Changed
  Automated tasks will now be skipped any time a restore task is running to remove any possible conflict between a restore task and a backup task. Users are welcome to run backup tasks manually while a restore task is running, this change only affects automated tasks.
• Changed
  Fixed the presentation of a snapshot creation failure in cases where the destination is in the midst of encryption conversion.
• Changed
  The minimum time threshold for "When files are modified on the source" tasks is now 1 minute, but the default is now 5 minutes.
• Changed
  The CCC Dashboard will now proactively open CCC if CCC's helper tool lacks Full Disk Access. Likewise, the Dashboard will open CCC if corruption in CCC's task database has been detected.
• Changed
  CCC now applies a two-week sanity limit on the Quick Update feature. We were finding some cases where macOS managed to have retained multiple weeks of FSEvent records, and it was taking longer to slog through all of those records than it would take to simply re-enumerate the source and destination. So if a Quick Update task hasn't run successfully in the last two weeks, it will now proceed with a full audit of the source and destination.
• Changed
  Ventura: Added the Ventura OS name in places where the OS version is presented.
• Changed
  Ventura: Modified the steps for granting Full Disk Access. Note that this is likely to change again. The procedure to grant FDA on Ventura right now feels a bit buggy, but that's likely due to the enormity of the SystemPreferences > System Settings transition. Ventura b2 is already better than b1, and we're optimistic that Apple will resolve the annoying UI problems (and for the record, we've submitted multiple bug reports).
• Changed
  Ventura: Fixed the filesystem identity of ExFAT and FAT32 volumes in the disk chart (i.e. when you click on the Source or Destination selector, or select a volume in CCC's sidebar).

This should be working for MacOS 13 beta 2, as 6.1.2 worked fine.

 

[Realityck]

Verified 6.1.3-b1 performed Legacy bootable backup OK with MacOS 13 beta 2

 

[0134168]

Verified 6.1.3-b1 performed Legacy bootable backup OK with MacOS 13 beta 2

Great news!

 

[Realityck]

Verified 6.1.3-b1 performed Legacy bootable backup OK with MacOS 13 beta 3 on M1 Macs.

The latest MacOS 13 beta 3 saw significant speed up of installation. It took the usual time to download, prep was a bit longer, restart was quick, install never showed estimated time, but it completed significantly faster. So when the public beta shows up you're covered.

MacOS 13 beta 3 thread

 

[0134168]

Verified 6.1.3-b1 performed Legacy bootable backup OK with MacOS 13 beta 3 on M1 Macs.

The latest MacOS 13 beta 3 saw significant speed up of installation. It took the usual time to download, prep was a bit longer, restart was quick, install never showed estimated time, but it completed significantly faster. So when the public beta shows up you're covered.

MacOS 13 beta 3 thread

Yes, tried. Didn´t like the no progress time installation.

 

[jasnw]

I’m wanting to test Monterey, but I don’t want to test it by installing it on my system. In the good old days (before Apple went to the current multi-partition/multi-container disk layout) I’d use CCC to make a bootable clone of my system on an external drive, install the new OS on top of that, and boot into the external drive to test. Or, if I was feeling bold, I’d install the new OS on top of the internal drive knowing I could always fully recover from the CCC-build bootable clone on the external drive.

So, now I’m not sure that this will work since CCC can no longer build “officially blessed” external bootable clones. And I'm uncertain about the ability to boot from an external drive these days. My preference is to make a bootable copy of my current system (Intel MBP running Big Sur) on an external drive and install Monterey on top of that and boot into it for testing. How exactly does one do that these days? Same as before except you cross your fingers that everything will work?

 

[Realityck]

I’m wanting to test Monterey, but I don’t want to test it by installing it on my system. In the good old days (before Apple went to the current multi-partition/multi-container disk layout) I’d use CCC to make a bootable clone of my system on an external drive, install the new OS on top of that, and boot into the external drive to test. Or, if I was feeling bold, I’d install the new OS on top of the internal drive knowing I could always fully recover from the CCC-build bootable clone on the external drive.

So, now I’m not sure that this will work since CCC can no longer build “officially blessed” external bootable clones. And I'm uncertain about the ability to boot from an external drive these days. My preference is to make a bootable copy of my current system (Intel MBP running Big Sur) on an external drive and install Monterey on top of that and boot into it for testing. How exactly does one do that these days? Same as before except you cross your fingers that everything will work?

A bootable legacy clone under Monterey is meant to be a bootable snapshot not a runtime environment for testing OS. APFS security keeps evolving with Ventura. The latest 6.1.2 release and also the 6.1.3-b1 work with Ventura betas.

If you have qualms about installing Monterey post in this thread. I use CCC as just a backup solution for testing betas.

 

[jasnw]

That's what I'm starting to see. So, is it now completely impossible to test a new OS other than by installing it over your current OS and hoping for the best? Or, better yet (for Apple), have a second computer on which you do this testing? Security may be evolving, but ease-of-use is taking a big hit.

 

[flowrider]

^^^^No, I only use one computer (with ten internal SSDs). Four of them run OSs, Two have Ventura and two have Monterey (Boot drive and backup). All the OS drives have been cloned, at one time or another, with CCC.

Lou

 

[Mr Todhunter]

I’m wanting to test Monterey, but I don’t want to test it by installing it on my system. In the good old days (before Apple went to the current multi-partition/multi-container disk layout) I’d use CCC to make a bootable clone of my system on an external drive, install the new OS on top of that, and boot into the external drive to test. Or, if I was feeling bold, I’d install the new OS on top of the internal drive knowing I could always fully recover from the CCC-build bootable clone on the external drive.

So, now I’m not sure that this will work since CCC can no longer build “officially blessed” external bootable clones. And I'm uncertain about the ability to boot from an external drive these days. My preference is to make a bootable copy of my current system (Intel MBP running Big Sur) on an external drive and install Monterey on top of that and boot into it for testing. How exactly does one do that these days? Same as before except you cross your fingers that everything will work?

Macbook Air M1 (running Monterey) with external western Digital USB3 SSD connected to a USB-C hub. I always test betas on external disks.
I cloned my internal to the external with ccc. It went smoothly, no problems at all. I then booted from the external, enrolled, downloaded and installed the Ventura PB. It runs great from the external.
I consider buying a USB- C external ssd to eliminate the need of a hub but since I have no problems with the hub or with slow speeds maybe it would be overkill.
Anyway, what I wanted to point out is that CCC can make a bootable clone your Monterey disk so you can go ahead and test Ventura.

 

[jasnw]

Thanks. I've got a CCC-built external clone of my Big Sur system and plan to load Monterey over it tomorrow.

 

[0134168]

A bootable legacy clone under Monterey is meant to be a bootable snapshot not a runtime environment for testing OS. APFS security keeps evolving with Ventura. The latest 6.1.2 release and also the 6.1.3-b1 work with Ventura betas.

If you have qualms about installing Monterey post in this thread. I use CCC as just a backup solution for testing betas.

I don´t understand. I´m using cloned Montereys as startup disk. Then clone again.

 

[Sciuriware]

I don´t understand. I´m using cloned Montereys as startup disk. Then clone again.

By running on a backup, you are using it, so changing it: then it's no longer a (valid) backup.
;JOOP!

 

[0134168]

By running on a backup, you are using it, so changing it: then it's no longer a (valid) backup.
;JOOP!

Works perfect for me. Booting from the cloned SSD.

 

[0134168]

Now cloning again to the internal.