Carbon Copy Cloner 5

Still the easiest way to create bootable clones

$39.99 From Bombich Software, bombich.net Needs OS X 10.10 or later

There are many reasons why you’d want to create a bootable clone of your Mac’s startup drive — or any other connected drive. Perhaps you’re performing a clean install of macOS, for example. Or simply deleting or overwriting large amounts of data. In each case, a bootable clone can get you out of trouble should something go disastrously wrong.

Carbon Copy Cloner does much more than create bootable clones, but that remains its core function. And if you’re using High Sierra, Carbon Copy Cloner supports both the new OS and APFS.

New features in CCC 5 include a guided restore function that offers to walk you through the process of restoring files when you boot from a CCC backup. The Cloning Coach is also new. It watches in the background as you configure tasks, alerts you to any potential problems, and gives advice on how to avoid them.

The other new features in CCC 5 are focused on managing tasks. An Outlook view displays tasks in a calendar format that makes it easy to see which ones are scheduled to take place. Tasks can also be organized in groups.

Aside from its utility, perhaps the best thing about Carbon Copy Cloner is its interface, which is logically laid out. There is room for improvement: sometimes tips can be displayed beyond the edge of the screen and, with no way to resize the CCC window, the only way to see some of them is to drag the window around.

The bottom line. Carbon Copy Cloner is an excellent tool. Cloning your Mac or backing up specific folders has never been easier.

The yellow tip boxes can be useful. Unfortunately, they can also be very difficult to read.