Carbon Copy Cloner vs. Super Duper-Which is better?

[cooa99]

Hi Guys,

My backup solution is a little bit different for my setup which is rMBP, MacMini and Synology NAS with 2*4TB Raid 0 + 1*4TB basic ... and a couple of drives.

Problems with backups is that they become an issue when the total size of all your data is crossing the 2TB boundary hence you need to decide what exactly is important to you regarding your backup strategies.

For me, only my files are important hence don't really mind spending the time to reinstall my mac or the apps on it.

So What I did on both machines was :-
1) created a Single Root Folder which holds all my important data i.e. documents, entire iTunes music & App Library and several large virtual machines. The only Exception is iPhoto Library which is still in its default location
2) Backup this folder + iPhoto to my NAS manually as needed. My NAS contains all my Video library.
3) I have a backup Strategy on the NAS to backup the RAID0 to the other BASIC drive (on the NAS) as well as to 2 portable 2TB USB drives for safekeeping

So If any of the machines go down, I know I have 3 backups ....
Now you might say that I have to spend the time installing the whole machine again + apps. The advantages is that :-
1) I don't have to worry about additional storage space for ccc/timeMachine backups which for me will be about another 1TB+
2) Re-installation gives me an opportunity to refresh my system
3) Frequency of machine failures such that you need to re-install are very small ( ...never had one) ... and I have the 3 backups mentioned above just in case

Questions
I have a question on the 2 weakest points of my backup strategy.

(a) What software can I use to copy/sync a folder from machines to my NAS on a timely basis? ... and maybe send me email that folder sync completed?
(b) Is it possible to change the location of my iPhoto Library away from the default folder ?, e.g to another folder OR the NAS ?

 

[maflynn]

(a) What software can I use to copy/sync a folder from machines to my NAS on a timely basis? ... and maybe send me email that folder sync completed?
[/quote[
Check our chronosync That might fit your bill.

(b) Is it possible to change the location of my iPhoto Library away from the default folder ?, e.g to another folder OR the NAS ?

Yup, you should be able too, check out the apple kb on this

 

[jdelgado]

(a) What software can I use to copy/sync a folder from machines to my NAS on a timely basis? ... and maybe send me email that folder sync completed?

Check our chronosync That might fit your bill.



Yup, you should be able too, check out the apple kb on this

I also use Chronosync for this.
I did not see an offsite backup. If you do not, I recommend you implement one.

 

[cooa99]

Check our chronosync That might fit your bill.

Thanks I'll check that out

I did not see an offsite backup. If you do not, I recommend you implement one.

Thats also the tricky one. Who would I give my data to keep?

Online storage is still expensive especially with 2TB of data

 

[The-Pro]

CCC has always been about 3x faster then super duper for me

 

[jdelgado]

Thanks I'll check that out




Thats also the tricky one. Who would I give my data to keep?

Online storage is still expensive especially with 2TB of data

Right now I have offsite backup, but it is not online. I make weekly copies of what I need to backup and place them elsewhere. My plan is to go online with a remote NAS and backup there.
Regarding the data volume, my total backup and archive volume is close to 5TB, but that includes items that I do not modify regularly. My normal volume should be around 1-5 GB/day, which should be no problem to backup online.

 

[dimme]

Superduper fan here!

 

[mtngoatjoe]

Thats also the tricky one. Who would I give my data to keep?

We've gotten a little off topic, but oh well....

One option: I just keep a drive in a drawer at work. I take it home once a month or so and plug it in. Time Machine recognizes the drive and automatically makes a backup.

Easy peasy.

 

[Bob-o-Link]

Does Free version of CCC clone Recovery Partition?

Hi,

Does the FREE version of Carbon Copy Cloner (ver 3.4.7) clone the Recovery Partition in Mac OS X 10.8.5 (Mountain Lion)? I'm suspecting that it doesn't, since it's older than Lion, but I want to be sure.

Thanks!

-Bob

 

[300DDR]

Hi,

Does the FREE version of Carbon Copy Cloner (ver 3.4.7) copy the Recovery Partition in Mac OS X 10.8.5 (Mountain Lion)? I'm suspecting that it doesn't, since it's older than Lion, but I want to be sure.

Thanks!

-Bob

Yes, it does.

 

[Bob-o-Link]

Yes, it does.
View attachment 471260

Are you sure? I can't find this check box on my version of CCC (again, this is the FREE version - 3.4.7).

-Bob

 

[300DDR]

Sorry, didn't even realize they had a free version. Used to all be free, I didn't know they changed their pricing/versions. If you don't see it in preferences, must be only in the paid version.

 

[Bob-o-Link]

Sorry, didn't even realize they had a free version. Used to all be free, I didn't know they changed their pricing/versions. If you don't see it in preferences, must be only in the paid version.

Actually, thanks! You helped me out out after all. Silly me - I didn't think to check "preferences." There it is! The wording is a little different. It says:

"Automatically create an archive of *Lion's* Recovery HD volume" …

The latest free version must have been written when Lion (10.7) was the latest version of OS X. The decision to charge for future versions of CCC must have been made just after this (my guess). Hopefully it works for Mountain Lion, too.

Anyone out there know for sure?

Actually, I'm going to clone my system overnight to my new Seagate 2 TB, 9.5mm HDD (currently in an external drive but will probably be used as my new MBP internal drive.). So I can find out.

-Bob

 

[Bob-o-Link]

Actually, thanks! You helped me out out after all. Silly me - I didn't think to check "preferences." There it is! The wording is a little different. It says:

"Automatically create an archive of *Lion's* Recovery HD volume" …

The latest free version must have been written when Lion (10.7) was the latest version of OS X. The decision to charge for future versions of CCC must have been made just after this (my guess). Hopefully it works for Mountain Lion, too.

-Bob

It doesn't seem to work. No recovery partition with the free version of CCC (3.4.7) on Mountain Lion (10.8.5). Here's the pathname:

/Library/Application Support/com.bombich.ccc/Recovery HD.dmg

I tried the Unix find command in terminal for "Recovery HD.dmg". No luck.

If anyone has had a different result, let me know. I'd love to hear about it! Maybe the filename got changed or something.

I wonder if it's worth shelling out $40 so that my cloned drive will have a recovery partition?

Thanks,

-Bob

 

[Bob-o-Link]

It doesn't seem to work. No recovery partition with the free version of CCC (3.4.7) on Mountain Lion (10.8.5). Here's the pathname:

/Library/Application Support/com.bombich.ccc/Recovery HD.dmg

I tried the Unix find command in terminal for "Recovery HD.dmg". No luck.

If anyone has had a different result, let me know. I'd love to hear about it! Maybe the filename got changed or something.

I wonder if it's worth shelling out $40 so that my cloned drive will have a recovery partition?

Well this is embarrassing. The reason CCC didn't clone my Recovery HD is because I never had one in the first place. So cancel everything I said in the last posts. I just did some reading and apparently because I installed Mountain Lion to an external drive (and later cloned to to my internal drive, as a way of checking out Mountain Lion on my old machine before committing to the upgrade) I have no Recovery HD. Now I have to figure if there is a way to give myself one without reinstalling everything - a royal pain!

So, I am now convinced that the free version of CCC (3.4.7) does clone the Recovery HD on any system that has it (Lion or Mountain Lion - don't know about Mavericks).

Thanks,

-Bob

 

[Weaselboy]

Well this is embarrassing. The reason CCC didn't clone my Recovery HD is because I never had one in the first place. So cancel everything I said in the last posts. I just did some reading and apparently because I installed Mountain Lion to an external drive (and later cloned to to my internal drive, as a way of checking out Mountain Lion on my old machine before committing to the upgrade) I have no Recovery HD. Now I have to figure if there is a way to give myself one without reinstalling everything - a royal pain!

So, I am now convinced that the free version of CCC (3.4.7) does clone the Recovery HD on any system that has it (Lion or Mountain Lion - don't know about Mavericks).

Thanks,

-Bob

If you still have the ML installer, you can use this tool to create the recovery partition.

Otherwise, you can just DL and install ML over top of your existing install and that will also create a recovery partition without overwriting your data.

Backup first though just to be safe.

 

[Bob-o-Link]

If you still have the ML installer, you can use this tool to create the recovery partition.

Otherwise, you can just DL and install ML over top of your existing install and that will also create a recovery partition without overwriting your data.

Backup first though just to be safe.

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work for me. I ran it once and it installed the recovery partition on the external drive that I had originally installed Mountain Lion on (and later cloned to my main internal drive) instead of my main drive. I disconnected the external drive and tried again. It went through the motions of a successful install, but when I reboot (holding down the option key): no recovery partition!

I retried several times, sometimes deleting the Creat-Recovery-Partition-Installer and re-downloading a fresh copy. No luck. I'm totally stumped. I guess I'll have to reinstall.

I apologize for pulling this thread off topic (CCC vs Super Duper). Sometimes one thing leads to another.

Thanks,

-Bob

P.S. BTW, is there a way to "see" the recovery partition on a drive without rebooting? This would make checking if it's there a lot easier.

 

[Weaselboy]

P.S. BTW, is there a way to "see" the recovery partition on a drive without rebooting? This would make checking if it's there a lot easier.

Yes... enter "diskutil list" (without the quotes) in Terminal and it will list all the partitions, including the hidden 650MB Recovery HD partition.

 

[DeafRaiders]

Should I ditch time machine all together and use CCC? Went it start it is asking me to create a recovery part what do I say to this?

 

[Weaselboy]

Should I ditch time machine all together and use CCC? Went it start it is asking me to create a recovery part what do I say to this?

Tell it yes to go ahead and also clone the recovery partition.

IMO CCC is a clone tool, and although it can be used for backups, it is not as good as a backup/versioning tool as the built in Time Machine. For example, if you decide you want to make restore a specific folder back to how it was last Thursday, TM makes this very easy to do. It can be done with CCC, but it is a manual operation.

 

[DeafRaiders]

Tell it yes to go ahead and also clone the recovery partition.

IMO CCC is a clone tool, and although it can be used for backups, it is not as good as a backup/versioning tool as the built in Time Machine. For example, if you decide you want to make restore a specific folder back to how it was last Thursday, TM makes this very easy to do. It can be done with CCC, but it is a manual operation.

I only have 1 TB External HDD, if i want to use both backup software as both have cons and pros, would it be wise to invest another 1TB External HDD?

 

[Weaselboy]

I only have 1 TB External HDD, if i want to use both backup software as both have cons and pros, would it be wise to invest another 1TB External HDD?

How much data is on the drive you are backing up? If it will fit, you can just make two partitions on the single 1TB drive and use one partition for a CCC clone and the other for Time Machine.

 

[DeafRaiders]

How much data is on the drive you are backing up? If it will fit, you can just make two partitions on the single 1TB drive and use one partition for a CCC clone and the other for Time Machine.

My whole Computer has a Fusion 1TB HDD. I would like to backup it all if possible.

 

[Weaselboy]

My whole Computer has a Fusion 1TB HDD. I would like to backup it all if possible.

All that really matters is how much data is on there, or how much you expect to have. You cloud have a 1TB drive with 200GB of data, and a 500GB partition would be plenty for Time Machine for example. So the real question is, how much data do you expect to have on the drive?

 

[DeafRaiders]

All that really matters is how much data is on there, or how much you expect to have. You cloud have a 1TB drive with 200GB of data, and a 500GB partition would be plenty for Time Machine for example. So the real question is, how much data do you expect to have on the drive?

Current I have used 483.11 GB of 1TB with approx 600 TB left over. I have 2x1TB External drives, and a 3TB, Could i tell which folders i want it to backup all i need is the main folders i use like Movie, Docs and Photos but if the computer goes errors i may have to restore back and i don't really want to spend a whole day installing all my apps again.