Sequoia 15.2 and Carbon copy cloner

I originally had CCC 6.xx in Sequoia, but it acted odd. Mainly, it would randomly complain that I needed to give it full disk access, even thought that was already active. I would have to restart the computer before it would run.

Upgrading to version 7.xx fixed those problems.

As far as making a bootable clone, I asked the developer about that at least two major releases of macOS back. His reply was, "Don't do that. The new security of macOS makes it impossible to know if everything was copied, or copied correctly."

He very strongly suggested the only correct way to do it now is to create an APFS volume on an external drive and do a backup without trying to use the Legacy Bootable option. When the copy is complete, it looks something like this:

To make a working clone on an external drive (to a different APFS volume), or to rebuild your main internal drive from scratch, you use either a bootable USB drive of a macOS installer, or install the OS from Recovery mode. When it gets to the end and asks if you have data to restore, you point it to your CCC backup. All of that gets merged in and you have an exact replica of your backup, which is also bootable.

It takes a bit more time this way than attempting a full clone, but it's guaranteed to work.

While it isn't necessary to erase the drive that frequently (unless you're the type of person who routinely installs apps from shady sources), here's what you can do.

a) Do your erase and reinstall.

b) Install and set up your known third party apps you always use.

c) Get your daily use data back on the drive, such as word processing documents, etc.

d) With the drive in a pristine state, connect an external drive formatted as APFS.

e) Use Disk Utility to create a new volume (not a hard partition). Give it a name that's logical to you. Such as, I have my startup drive named Sequoia. The volume on the external SSD is Sequoia Backup.

f) Use CCC to make what is now a standard backup.

g) Note that I have both the SafetyNet, and Manage snapshots off for the target drive. I personally find no use or need for those.

Never touch that backup after this. Create a separate volume on the external drive if you want do other incremental backups (which would mostly duplicate the clean volume) in-between restores.

You don't have to fully erase the drive each time, either. It's much faster to use a function in macOS. I just setup a new M4 Pro mini, and moved my M2 Pro mini over for my wife's use. Here's what I did.

a) Made a last CCC backup of the M2 Pro to my external drive, disconnected it and turned it off.

b) Swapped out the M2 Pro with the M4 Pro and turned it on.

c) The first thing it asks is if you have data to restore. I turned on the external drive and pointed it to my CCC backup.

d) When the restore is done, everything is back on the Mac exactly as you last had it in your backup. All except for the Privacy & Security entries in the System Settings. Those all have to be added again as needed.

Now, here's really where your restore sequence would come in, and is how I restored my wife's 2018 mini CCC backed up data to the M2 Pro.

a) The is the much faster part. System Settings > General > Transfer or Reset > Erase All Content and Settings.

b) Everything that is not part of macOS will be removed from the drive. The end result will be a Mac that will be set back to the default, out-of-the-box state without spending nearly as much time as a full erase of the drive and reinstall of the OS would.

c) When the Mac finishes resetting itself to a factory state, it will come up with the "Hello" screen. You point it to your clean CCC backup volume and restore that.

Do this anytime you want to restore your Mac to your last clean state. The only time you would ever write to that external clean volume would be immediately after a restore, and you want to install new third party apps you know you're always going to use. As soon as the new apps are installed, update your clean CCC backup. Then those new apps will be added to that volume and you won't have to keep reinstalling them after a restore.

Kurt, you are far too kind with your time. Thanks so much! In the spirit of sharing workflow (Neurosis) There are new apps that often drive my "need" to reformat. My latest trysts were with Steer Mouse, Marta, Eagle cool, Found, Luminar and Dupe Guru, also Adobe Bridge. Even when there aren't any new apps in my workflow, I find the need to "clean" often - remnants from the Final Cut Pro days I guess. I also travel a lot in places like Africa. Knowing that I have a "one-click"thumb drive in the event of a problem is comforting to me as internet is quite spotty in developing nations - I can't just quickly reinstall software.

At any rate, I'm grateful to you for the post. I'll update my CCC. Cheers

If you purchased CCC V6 in 2024 you get a free license for V7. If you purchase V6 earlier then it's a 50% discount.

I use both CCC and Time Machine as I want a "versioned" backup (TM) and a current backup (CCC) on separate discs.

CCC's legacy works fine with Intel Macs but not with Silicon Macs. The following is what Rob of Bombich Software told me as a way to clone my internal boot drive on a Silicon Mac to an external SSD:

1. 1. 1. Boot into Recovery Mode
      2. Erase the external disk in Disk Utility
      3. Install macOS on the external disk
      4. When the installation has completed, accept the offer to migrate data from your original source disk

It worked like a charm and I use it to run beta Sequoia updates.

Carbon Copy Cloner 7.0.4 can make bootable clones just fine in macOS Sequoia 15.2 at least in my Intel Mac mini 2018. Yesterday I did that several times and it always worked. Silicon Macs might be more picky.

I use it often for testing various software by archiving bare bones clean macOS versions as "bootable" .dmg disk images that can be cloned to real bootable SSD volumes in just about 2 minutes. Much faster than the normal 30-45 minute macOS install.

I successfully cloned my Mac Mini M4 boot drive to an external SSD. I had contacted CCC to ask them if I was using CCC correctly in trying to clone my drive but kept getting errors.

Their reply and instructions for cloning the drive are as follows:

Apple's APFS replication utility is consistently failing, it's not going to be able complete this task. I wish I had any insight at all into what kind of corruption it's finding, how serious it is, etc, but Apple's tool just doesn't provide that level of detail.

So, on to plan B:

1. Boot into Recovery Mode

2. Erase the external disk in Disk Utility

3. Install macOS on the external disk

4. When the installation has completed, accept the offer to migrate data from your original source disk

Best wishes,

Rob

Bombich Software, Inc.

I followed the directions to the letter and got a bootable clone of my internal SSD. Then I can use CCC to update the clone user data from my internal SSD.

smokestack salmon wrote:

I want an alternative to Time Machine, that will also copy my external drive I use with my new M4 mini. I'm using an 2 TB external for my music, photos and most of Logic projects, with the home folder staying on the internal drive.

I've always used Time Machine and Superduper, but with Superdupers current issues, I'm considering CC.

I looked at their website, but I don't understand the CC upgrades from one version to the next.

What happens with CC when a new Apple OS comes out, or an incremental update like 15.2? Do older CC versions usually stop working well Or do you need a new SuperDuper version each time Apple upgrades its OS? Is it just new CC features you'd be missing if you don't upgrade?

OFTEN (but not EVERY time) when there is a new version of MacOS you need to use an updated version for both of CCC or SD.

Both CCC and SD developers recommend against using their products to create a bootable clone. They suggest separately installing the OS on the clone drive and then using the clone software to update the user files on the clone, as often as needed.

Either CCC or SD can easily clone an external drive. Just specify that drive as the source drive and provide a blank target drive. We do not all the time in a photography business I work with. Once "cloned," if the source drive is modified, you can do an incremental update to the clone with either CCC or SD. We are constantly cloning those drives with photo files, often they contain original image files from weddings, etc., those are priceless and just cannot be lost, so keeping multiple "clones" for us protects against drive failures, mishaps, human error, etc.

Restoring a clean backup is a very handy way to get rid of lots of apps you were testing all at once. Then you know for sure there are no leftovers anywhere on the drive.

Also very smart to have a bootable USB drive of an OS installer on hand since you can't be sure when you're going to have a reliable internet connection.

You're not glued to Time Machine. Lots of folks use and prefer it. I don't like it and have always used CCC for my backups and restores.

Well, actually, I first used SuperDuper! for many years, but there was a period where it was taking months for the developer to update it to work in what was the latest macOS release at the time. After seeing many users recommending CCC here, I tried it as a demo and instantly made it my de facto backup app.

Old Toad wrote:

CCC only gives you the latest version of all files.

CCC can optionally make snapshots via its "Safety net" feature. I have a few times mounted such snapshot and grabbed an old version of some file.

+1 to what tbirtvet have reported.

CCC 6.1.11 still works for me after updating my Intel and Silicon Mac's to macOS 15.2.

FWIW I keep and use CCC clones to migrate from, rather than to boot from.

Carbon Copy Cloner works for me on my Mini M4 with Sequoia 15.2. I haven't tried to clone my boot drive to an external drive as yet but will do so in the future as a backup. But backups to another volume works as advertised.

I believe the CCC warning is related to the Legacy Bootable feature. The normal backup works fine in Sequoia.

CCC's legacy works fine with Intel Macs but not with Silicon Macs.  The following is what Rob of Bombich Software told me as a way to clone my internal boot drive on a Silicon Mac to an external SSD:

1 - Boot into Recovery Mode

2 - Erase the external disk in Disk Utility

3 - Install macOS on the external disk

4 - When the installation has completed, accept the offer to migrate data from your original source disk

It worked like a charm and I use it to run beta Sequoia updates.    

Until Apple fixes the replicator in Sequoia We'll have to clone as above.

Mark Sealey wrote:

I'm nervous about upgrading from 15.1.1. to 15.2 if there's any chance that a CCC clone would fail.

Based on the SuperDuper! article, the problem is creating new clones, not with existing clones. You can always ask CCC.

I just used CCC 6 and and backed up my data. Then booted into recovery and installed Sequoia on my external disk and boots fine. I do not attempt to use the legacy boot feature with CCC as it is not reliable on Silicon Macs.