Carbon Copy Cloner 6
Backup and disk copying utility
Even if you’re happy with your backup software, CCC’s cloning and snapshot tools are compelling
£29.45 FROM Bombich Software Inc, bombich.com NEEDS macOS 10.15 or later
When Apple killed off its Time Capsule devices, backing Macs up fell into a void. Apple’s own Time Machine languished in Catalina, and competitors such as Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) stood up. With Big Sur, the game has changed again: Apple decided Time Machine would at last back up to APFS volumes, and it does so excellently, but making copies of the new sealed System volume wasn’t going to be useful – or even possible until recently – any more.
Carbon Copy Cloner version 6 is Mike Bombich’s riposte: near-infinite flexibility against Time Machine’s rigid hourly schedule; navigators, audit and information before, during and after any backup; and an overhauled interface to ensure its wealth of features doesn’t overwhelm. From its original goal of cloning disks, CCC has become a fully fledged backup system.
CCC now not only backs up by schedule, but can do so when your Mac first connects to the backup disk, ideal for laptop users, or whenever the source files change. Setting up this automation is extremely simple, and when you think it’s right, you can preview the task to see what changes will be made on the backup store.
Backups are claimed to be faster than in previous versions, and CCC already has a deserved reputation for speed. While Time Machine is so slow in Catalina that there was no contest, backing up to APFS in Big Sur is faster, at least until it hits folders with many small files. Backing up the whole of Apple’s Xcode took CCC only 128 seconds for nearly half a million items in 30GB. A straight Finder copy between the same two folders took 339 seconds, two and a half times as long. CCC supports backups to local and networked storage, although its performance with the latter will be constrained by the network file system used. When working with local disks, CCC 6 must now be the quickest in its class.
If you’re less worried about time but want backups to interfere as little as possible with your work, it has per-task control over its processor usage. It also features a rolling chart of speed which is far more informative than a progress bar.
Conventional and simple
Once a backup has completed, you can audit it to see exactly what was copied and why, helped by a visual comparison between source and backup. CCC can also verify a complete backup to double-check its integrity. Because these backups are conventional copies, they can be moved to another disk and copied simply, unlike the elaborate snapshots now used by Time Machine to APFS.
CCC set out as a utility for cloning disks, when making bootable copies was common if
not best practice. Catalina and Big Sur in particular bring an end to this by segregating much of macOS on a protected System volume. The most difficult of all to copy is macOS installed on the internal SSD of an M1 Mac. While CCC 6 can do this reliably now, it’s a legacy feature which shouldn’t normally be used. Instead, it’s better to copy just the Data volume, as CCC’s backups work fully when migrated into a freshly installed System.
Snappy snapshots
CCC is the best tool for managing snapshots on the Mac, not only those it makes when backing up, but those of Time Machine and others too. Select any mounted volume to list all its snapshots, identify what created them and when, and their size, or ≈-click to browse their contents, restore or delete them. CCC’s own snapshots are retained according to its default rules, or you can set your own, and are normally retained for longer than Time Machine’s fixed period of 24 hours. Even if you’re happy with your existing backup software, CCC is worth buying for snapshot management alone.
Considering the complexity and extent of the options and features in CCC 6, its interface is remarkably clean and easily navigated. Its sidebar determines whether you’re working with backup tasks, or mounted volumes.
Its toolbar then gives immediate access to functions including restore, preview and compare, together with task history. Those who prefer Dark Mode can now rest their eyes with its new appearance.
Extensive help starts with tooltips controlled from the toolbar. Most topics are covered in full in its Help book, which links to Bombich’s online Knowledge Base to give access to the latest technical and specialist information. There’s also the facility to message its Help Desk, and submit logs to support questions and reports of problems. The first release of CCC 6 did have some minor bugs which were fixed almost immediately with 6.0.1, which appears to work flawlessly.
CCC retains a traditional licensing model, with discounted paid-for major updates, and for non-commercial use a single licence covers all the Macs in one household, including use of versions 4 and 5 on Macs which aren’t yet running Catalina or Big Sur.
Whether you want to make occasional copies of key folders, manage snapshots, or run a full tiered backup scheme, Carbon Copy Cloner 6 has got it covered better than any other app. If you’ve become disenchanted with Time Machine’s inflexibility, CCC should be ideal. Howard Oakley