Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper!

[iconochrist]

I have used SuperDuper! since it came out. I love the app, the simplicity, the ability to recover from a catastrophe in a snap.

Leopard has forced me to look at something else in the interim, such as Carbon Copy Cloner.

Can anyone comment on why I would not want to just switch permanently? I do not use sandboxing, all I need is one backup, on schedule, to a sparse disk image so it does not interfere with my Time Machine backups which are set to backup on the ~/my_user area.

Carbon Copy Cloner seems to work now, though it is not as nice and easy to use. So, aside from ease of use, is there something it is not doing as well in regards to file integrity?

Is SuperDuper! Any smarter in regards to the efficiency in which is can back up files?

I always try to support the indy developer, even if it costs more, but in the end, its about reliability of the application, above all else.

[dnanian]

Please see this completely independent evaluation.

[iconochrist]

Yes, I have read that, however, that is for an old version of CCC, not the current one.

[dnanian]

Yes: the current one is based on rsync, which is also covered.

[iconochrist]

Hi dnanian. Not trying to be a pest here, just looking for solid answers. I will no doubt come back to SD! when I can.

The report is based on rsync 2.1, Leopard ships with version 2.6.3, so I assume a lot has changed since that article was written.

If there are specifics you know of that apply to the current versions of CCC and rsync, that make it a bad interim choice for backup, I would like to know what they are.

[dnanian]

Why don't you do some testing on your own? There are tools listed in the forum there (Backup Bouncer).

[danielp]

Originally Posted by iconochrist

I always try to support the indy developer, even if it costs more, but in the end, its about reliability of the application, above all else.

Yesterday I gave up and downloaded ccc and it worked fine. I now have a bootable backup. Is it as nice? No. I'm comfortable with superduper. It saved me once before. But it's been 4 weeks and I simply couldn't wait any longer. For all the ways superduper is better it currently couldn't help me if my hard drive crashed tomorrow.

I'll probably return to SD! eventually. I paid for it. But it's nice to know an alternative exists.

[Robster]

I have to concur with the last poster.

I had a problem with my MacBook that meant either reinstalling 10.4 or moving to 10.5.

I made the easy and obvious choice BUT am nervous as hell without SD for my backups.

So I too am using CCC.

I am doing so with my fingers crossed but right now it is the only choice for me.

But I WILL switch back to SD as soon as it is released, hopefully VERY soon.

Robin

[stevenN]

Originally Posted by danielp

Yesterday I gave up and downloaded ccc and it worked fine. I now have a bootable backup. Is it as nice? No. I'm comfortable with superduper. It saved me once before. But it's been 4 weeks and I simply couldn't wait any longer. For all the ways superduper is better it currently couldn't help me if my hard drive crashed tomorrow.

I'll probably return to SD! eventually. I paid for it. But it's nice to know an alternative exists.

I have to agree! I'm switching to CC, tired of waiting for Shirt Pocket to get SD to work.........regretting I paid for this now.

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by stevenN

I have to agree! I'm switching to CC, tired of waiting for Shirt Pocket to get SD to work.........regretting I paid for this now.

Which was preceded by

The only issue I know of in Leopard is scheduling backups and there is a work around for that.

I'm sorry.
A "work around" means that it does not work.

One of the reasons that I use Mac OS X and not Linux is that "everything is easy to use". I am tired of being an expert with the Windows Registry. I don't want to do command lines. Yes, I am a baby. I just want it to work and I want an excellent human interface.

For me. I will wait for SuperDuper! to work with Leopard.

[ksrhee]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

Which was preceded by

I'm sorry.
A "work around" means that it does not work.

One of the reasons that I use Mac OS X and not Linux is that "everything is easy to use". I am tired of being an expert with the Windows Registry. I don't want to do command lines. Yes, I am a baby. I just want it to work and I want an excellent human interface.

For me. I will wait for SuperDuper! to work with Leopard.

Fine. That's up to you, but you wouldn't have a bootable clone as we speak. The workaround I was referring to has nothing to do with using the terminal program to type in commands. It's merely rechecking a box in the schedule task menu and saving the change. Before you jump to conclusions, please check your facts first.

[justG]

People are reporting problems with CCC's smart-update thing and the integrity of their clones after a few backups. Not to denigrate that developer's efforts, but if you are going to tick the option to erase the target disk before copying, why wouldn't you just use the rock-solid utility provided by your operating system? It's been mentioned in other threads on these forums but I don't think anyone's brought it up in this one: Disk Utility works perfectly well for creating a bootable clone of your startup disk. You will lose the ability to "smart update" your backup, but you can just set it to go before you go off to run an errand or go to sleep. As far as I can tell, there is no difference between using this option and ticking the "erase target disk" option in CCC, except that you already have Disk Utility and have already entrusted the integrity of your data to Apple by installing Leopard.

Just another option to consider. Works well enough for me until Shirt Pocket makes a Leopard-compatible version of SuperDuper! available.

[rmf]

CCC is frankly very buggy. I found after using it for a little while in x.5 that after a few iterations, errors were introduced and eventually the clone was not bootable. So, as a result, I gave up on CCC.

As an interim option I suggest deja vu. It makes a good clone, but it's options are very limited compared to SuperDuper! (can't schedule machine shutdown after running for example, limited number of scripts can be created).

Superduper has proven over the long run to produce the highest quality clones of any app I know. Their tech support is very responsive. CCC very rarely does any upgrades and its options (like shut down after running script) are very limited. So, I'm patiently waiting for the x.5 versions, with confidence that they will get it right.

[jofallon]

I also tried updating a clone backup with CCC. It worked, but gave an error message that it could not delete some Toast 8.0 directory on the target. I've no idea what it meant, but it doesn't give confidence. The CCC forums have a bit of a Linux flavor to them; people asking noobie questions don't always seem to be treated with a whole lot of patience.

[ksrhee]

Originally Posted by jofallon

I also tried updating a clone backup with CCC. It worked, but gave an error message that it could not delete some Toast 8.0 directory on the target. I've no idea what it meant, but it doesn't give confidence. The CCC forums have a bit of a Linux flavor to them; people asking noobie questions don't always seem to be treated with a whole lot of patience.

To be fair to CCC, I'm running CCC 3.0.1, and had no problem with either full backup or selected back up (smart backup in SD). The only issue I know of in Leopard is scheduling backups and there is a work around for that.

I've used SD exclusively until I upgraded to Leopard and then tried CCC, and so far I'm impressed with the program including the ability to archive the deleted items.