#Utility programs for mac update#
#Utility programs for mac mac#

Carbon Copy Cloner also offers encryption for disk images, while SuperDuper lets you choose from three levels of compression. In addition to using an actual drive as the destination, each app can copy the source volume to a disk image (which wonвЂ™t itself be bootable, but which can be restored to a drive that will then become bootable) you can choose from among several disk-image formats, with or without compression.

#Utility programs for mac update#

(The free trial version of SuperDuper disables the incremental update feature, which Shirt Pocket calls Smart Update.) Both also let you deselect specific files, folders, or filename patterns to omit them from your backup, although they have very different interfaces for doing so-I find this task much easier to accomplish in Carbon Copy Cloner than in SuperDuper. Each utility provides a plain-English summary of whatвЂ™s about to happen you then click a button to begin the copying operation.Д«oth apps give you the option to erase the destination before copying files from the source or to update your clone incrementally to reflect only those files that are new, changed, or deleted since the previous cloning run. In both apps, you choose a source drive (say, your startup volume) from a pop-up menu on the left, a destination drive (your clone-backup volume) from a pop-up menu on the right, and any desired options using additional pop-up menus or buttons. Each has a long history, focuses on cloning, presents a simple and clear user interface, and includes unusual features that make it an especially good choice for creating and maintaining bootable duplicates.ДЇor everyday cloning tasks, SuperDuper and Carbon Copy Cloner are equally good in almost every respect, and they have a core set of features in common. Most of these apps and processes do an entirely respectable job, but two cloning utilities-Shirt PocketвЂ™s $28 SuperDuper and Bombich SoftwareвЂ™s $40 Carbon Copy Cloner-stand above the rest. (You can see a list in the online appendix to my book Take Control of Backing Up Your Mac.) ItвЂ™s also possible (if not especially convenient) to clone a drive using Disk Utility or by using the diskutil command in Terminal. More than two dozen third-party backup apps can make bootable duplicates. (For more details, read Mike BombichвЂ™s article What makes a volume bootable?) All this is best done with a utility designed expressly for cloning. And, crucially, the System folder (/System) on the backup drive must be вЂњblessed,вЂќ which entails recording its physical location on the drive in a special portion of the driveвЂ™s hidden HFS Volume Header.

#Utility programs for mac mac#

Symbolic links (Unix-based file references that function like Mac aliases) must be recreated correctly.

Every file on your drive-including thousands of hidden files-must be copied just so, with permissions and other metadata intact. Unfortunately, you canвЂ™t make a clone merely by copying files from your startup volume to an external drive in the Finder. (Your MacвЂ™s built-in OS X Recovery features include Disk Utility, but sometimes you need a drive-repair app with more oomph.) Finally, having a clone is essential when upgrading to a new version of OS X, because it gives you the option to easily revert to your previous system (by erasing your upgraded-OS drive and then restoring from the clone) if compatibility problems arise. By contrast, even though Time Machine also backs up every file on your drive, restoring all those files to a new drive takes hours (or possibly days) restoring an entire drive from an online backup service takes even longer.ДЄ clone also comes in handy for troubleshooting, because you can use it to run third-party utilities on your ailing drive. A few moments later, youвЂ™re back up and running-and you can then repair (or replace) your main startup drive more or less at your leisure.

You simply attach your clone drive, restart while holding down the Option key, select the clone drive in OS XвЂ™s Startup Manager, and press Return. What a clone offers that the likes of Time Machine and CrashPlan do not is immediate recovery: You can get back to work almost instantly after a drive crash or other severe problem with your startup volume.