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MBA M1 OS and apps backup
- Thread starter lvgandhi
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I am given to understand that Time machine does not backup OS. Its back-up is only apps and data. Further is there anyway that Time Machine backup to a SSD which is formatted in exfat and already has data.
Time Machine backs up everything.
If you want to only backup Apps, just copy the files to a flash drive. I save old software that way.
Howdy lvgandhi,
Time Machine will only work on a macOS formatted disk, not on an exFAT disk. Some network file systems (like SMB) seem to work too, but for an SSD you would need to format it as APFS. See here: https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/types-of-disks-you-can-use-with-time-machine-mh15139/mac
As pshufd said, Time Machine backs up everything. You can do a complete system restore from Time Machine, and more importantly the built-in recovery environment on your MBA can directly use and access a Time Machine backup. So no third party software is required. Good luck!
Rich S.
No, Time Machine in Monterey only backs up the -Data volume which contains absolutely everything personal to you Apps data settings. There is no point in backing up the locked sealed System Volume. If you do a full machine restore from Time Machine it downloads a new locked sealed System Volume and you migrate from the Time Machine backup of the -Data volume....works really well.
I guess it depends how you have your system set up. My mini doesn't have a data volume. Only one Macintosh HD volume. My iMac has the two separate volumes.
Thanks for the response. I want a software which backs up only OS and Apps to a drive which already has data. As Mike Boreham written TM saves only apps and data not OS.
Thanks for the response. I want a software which backs up only OS and Apps to a drive which already has data. As Mike Boreham written TM saves only apps and data not OS. I am having Monterey 12.5.1 OS.
Thanks for response. Should I take that locked sealed system volume can not be backed up and restored by any Mac backup software like CCC, super duper? Further I would like to know whether TM can write back to APFS drive which has other data also.
I am curious why you want to backup the System Volume....are you looking for a bootable backup from the back up System Volume? It makes sense if you do, and CCC and Superduper can do that. But the way you describe it sounds like you just want to backup the System Volume as a not bootable backup.
An approach which comes close to your goal would be to create a bootable USB installer. This is in effect a backup of the System Volume in that you could install a System Volume without have to download it. You could even put the installer on a separate partition of a disk or thumb drive and put your Apps on the other partition. Booting from a bootable USB installer also gives you access to Disk Utility and Recovery which can be very useful.
I have switched over to Mac a few months back from windows. In windows we can shorten the drive space where OS is installed. In the freed space another drive is made to have data. Macrium backup software can be used to backup boot drive and OS drive as an image on a external drive which may have data. Backup drive need not be a dedicated drive for backup. We can prepare bootable drive of macrium in a small pen drive. Booting from it we can restore backup drives from image in the backup drive.
I am searching for backup software for Mac like macrium in windows which
1) can back up in drive which has data, no dedicated drive needed
2) does backup of OS and apps only.
3) uses bootable pen drive to restore os and apps from saved image.
whether CCC can backup OS also. I learnt TM does not back up OS.
How CCC restores backup?
You are not the first recent Windows user to try to force Macs to behave like they are used to doing in Windows 😉
I suggest you give up and do it the Apple way! Apple already separates System from Data and makes it very easy to backup Data, with no need to backup System.
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Thanks. Just For your info. I do not want force all windows practice in Mac. Just exploring same thing can be done here or not. I am having backup of my data. Just want to back up only os and app. Is it possible?
If so can it be saved in a drive where I have data in exfat format drive.
Only the ideas I have mentioned above, and the bootable USB won't work on exFAT. As mentioned, Carbon Copy Cloner can clone the System Volume to an external but only using the Apple System Restore tool (ASR) but ASR clones System and Data volumes and I highly doubt it would work to exFAT. I don't believe you will be able to backup the System Volume in any valid or usable way. But you might be able to backup just your Apps.
BTW the System Volume is only 15GB in Monterey (smaller in Ventura). Everything on the Data volume is stuff you have added (apps settings data) so ought to be backed up, not just apps.
A bit more background: the System volume is verified on every boot and if successful a snapshot of it made and the machine boots from the Snapshot. If it fails you are instructed to reinstall from Recovery. This is the verification process (from here):
"Once the System volume has been installed, a hierarchy of SHA-256 hashes is made to cover every file on that volume individually, and its file system metadata, in a hierarchical structure culminating in a single top-level hash known as the Seal. That is then verified against a value which is signed by Apple, providing a chain of trust for everything in that System volume. When that has been completed correctly, a snapshot is made of this System volume, which is specially designated as a System snapshot and blessed".
I highly doubt a System which has been backed up (somehow) to exFAT and restored (somehow) back to APFS is going to pass verification.
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