HOW TO Clone your Mac the right way

1 Set the source volume

In Carbon Copy Cloner, select Tasks in the sidebar and give the new, empty backup task a name. Click on the Source icon and select your Mac’s startup disk, by default named Macintosh HD, to make it the source for your clone.

2 Set the destination

Note the used space on your source, and check the destination volume has sufficient free space to store that. Then click on the Destination icon and select the volume with enough free space to contain the clone.

3 Set whether to repeat

Click on Automation to set the scheduling basis if you want this cloning to be repeated automatically. Normally a daily clone is best for backups, or when the disk is remounted for intermittently connected MacBooks.

4 Set scheduling detail

If your Mac is left running overnight, it’s a good idea to set the run time for when it’s not in use. If it’s going to be asleep, you can have the backup task wake the system, or leave it until later. You can also skip weekends.

5 Set excluded items

Click Task Plan at the bottom of the main window to select items you don’t want included in the clone. Consider keeping separate copies of huge files like Virtual Machines which change constantly when in use.

6 Set advanced options

CCC offers many options for the more advanced, such as running scripts before and after copying. If you want it to back up while you’re using your Mac, you can now change the priority of its copying tasks here.

7 Check with a dry run

Before running the first clone, check whether copying will produce what you expect. Click on the Preview tool and CCC will do a dry run without copying any actual files, and forecast the exact size. Fix any errors now.

8 Set source snapshots

Consider making regular snapshots. Click Volumes in the sidebar and select the startup data volume named Macintosh HD – Data or just Data. Switch on for CCC to make a snapshot with each copy of that volume.

9 Snapshot retention

Most should find CCC’s default snapshot retention policy ideal, as older snapshots can take large amounts of disk space. Click the Customize button to set your own policy if you wish, but monitor the space used.

10 Clone that volume

When you’ve set everything up, ≈-click the task in the sidebar and use the Run Now command to make the first clone. CCC then shows its progress of the clone in graphical form, and an accurate estimate of time to finish.

11 Check task actions

When cloning has finished, click on Task History, select the completed task, and click on the Task Trends button to see a summary of actions. If the task is going to recur, click the Start button in the main window.

12 Optional System clone

If you want CCC to clone your System volume as well, before following step 7, set the Destination to make a full bootable backup by clicking on its icon and selecting the Legacy Bootable Backup Assistant command.