The IT Nerd

My go to backup and hard disk cloning program has been Carbon Copy Cloner for a whle now. Last week they released version 5 with a ton of new features which are meant to make the application easier to use. Which in turn means you’re going to back up your computer and protect your data.

Here’s why you want to upgrade from version 4:

• Support for MacOS High Sierra: This includes doing bootable backups and bootable restores on the brand new APFS file system. This is the number one reason why you need to get this version of Carbon Copy Cloner. A close second is the fact that it supports APFS encryption.
• Guided backup/restore/cloning: If you are new to backing up your Mac, Carbon Copy Cloner 5 will walk you through doing a backup or a restore which will lessen the chance that you’ll screw something up. To further help those who are new to the backup game, there are tips that pop up by hovering your mouse over various parts of the user interface.
• Graphical view of tasks: In my case, I run four backup tasks that each last for a week and backup to disk images. But I did have a problem when two backup tasks would run at the same time on a Saturday. After I installed Carbon Copy Cloner 5 and I used this view, I was able to see that visually and quickly fix it. This is something that will really help users figure out when a backup task will happen as well as tweak things to their satisfaction.
• You can group tasks together: This can be for organization purposes, or you can run them as a group. Either way, it gives you additional flexibility.

All of the above, plus a bunch of improvements that have been made have made Carbon Copy Cloner easy to use for novice and pro users. In fact, it has evolved to the point where I will begin to recommend it to my clients over Apple’s Time Machine backup solution as it is that easy to use. I’ve been using it for the last week and I have nothing negative to say about it. If you’re still on the fence, you can try it out for 30 days. If you like it, you can dive in for $52 CAD which if you’re a home user will cover all the Macs in your home. If you need backup software for your Mac, and trust me you do need backup software, look no further than your Mac.

One thing that I am paranoid about is backing up my Macs. And my recent run of bad luck with hard drives in my MacBook Pro seems validated my paranoia. So a project that I have for this year is to enhance my backup strategy to provide additional data protection. Thus I plan on doing three things:

1. Use a more sophisticated backup program.
2. Build a bigger Network Attached Storage unit that can store backups going back a month or more per Mac.
3. Store one montly backup per Mac offsite.

So in the interest of checking off item number 1, I took a look at Carbon Copy Cloner 4 by Bombich Software. Now Carbon Copy Cloner has a bunch of things going for it.

• Bootable Backups: Carbon Copy Cloner will make a backup that when restored on your Mac will boot it. I tested this when I had my numerous hard drive issues and it works perfectly.
• It backs up to lots of places: You can backup to Network Attached Storage devices and external hard drives. Plus you can clone from disk to disk or backup to a disk image. If that’s not enough, you can back up external volumes to other external volumes, network volumes or disk images.
• It backs up the Recovery Partition: One of the things that has really bugged me about most backup software is that they will back up your hard drive but not the hidden Recovery Partition that OS X has. Carbon Copy Cloner changes the game by doing a backup of the Recovery Partition and giving you the option to restore it later.
• Smart Updates: The first time that Carbon Copy Cloner backs up your computer, it will take a long time. In my case, five hours. But every backup after that was less than 20 minutes as it only backs up new or changed files. And it does so perfectly when I compared the backup to the original.
• The user interface makes life easy for you: You get a single window to create backup tasks (which are easy to create by the way) that are independent of each other, or they can be chained together to create very sophisticated backup tasks. You also get the option to use some advanced options to allow you to troubleshoot issues or tweak backup tasks to your particular needs. One handy aspect of Carbon Copy Cloner is the fact that it has a menu bar app that allows you to launch tasks, the app, or preferences at will. The net result is a user interface that works for novice and advanced users alike.
• It lets you know when it’s backed up, or not: You get the choice to use Notification Center, e-mail, or both to let know that backup tasks ran fine, or if they failed. That way you never have to wonder what the result of a backup task was. Plus there’s a task history to see all the tasks that have run in the past and what the result was.
• If something went wrong, it’s clear why it went wrong: One thing I really, really like about Carbon Copy Cloner is the fact that if you have a problem, the app lets you know exactly what the problem in plain English which allows you to address it quickly and easily.
• Safety Net Can Save Your Butt: I don’t use this feature myself, but you might. Carbon Copy Cloner comes with a feature called Safety Net. It will keep copies of your recently deleted and changed files just in case you need to retrieve them.

When I tried it, I was able to create two backup tasks that run every other week at 2AM every day to two separate disk images on my Network Attached Storage device in minutes. When they were done, they were configured to send an e-mail to me letting me know that it either worked or it didn’t. Configuring the e-mail alert was easy and every backup I’ve ran has worked perfectly. I also tested cloning a disk and it worked perfectly as well. That included the restoration of the Recovery Partition which was an additional step, but easy to do. Backups were quick as well as I mentioned above. I honestly could not find anything to complain about when it came to Carbon Copy Cloner as it worked flawlessly.

Carbon Copy Cloner 4 is $45.99 USD. But if you’re a home user, that going to cover every computer in your house. If you’re an existing user of Carbon Copy Cloner, you can upgrade to version 4 for 50% less. As far as I am concerned, Carbon Copy Cloner 4 is a must get for every Mac user as it will easily allow you to backup your Mac in the event of a disaster. I highly recommend it.