Sequoia 15.2 and Carbon copy cloner

I believe the CCC warning is related to the Legacy Bootable feature. The normal backup works fine in Sequoia.

CCC's legacy works fine with Intel Macs but not with Silicon Macs.  The following is what Rob of Bombich Software told me as a way to clone my internal boot drive on a Silicon Mac to an external SSD:

1 - Boot into Recovery Mode

2 - Erase the external disk in Disk Utility

3 - Install macOS on the external disk

4 - When the installation has completed, accept the offer to migrate data from your original source disk

It worked like a charm and I use it to run beta Sequoia updates.    

Until Apple fixes the replicator in Sequoia We'll have to clone as above.

ndalyte:

CCC's legacy works fine with Intel Macs but not with Silicon Macs.  The following is what Rob of Bombich Software told me as a way to clone my internal boot drive on a Silicon Mac to an external SSD:

1 - Boot into Recovery Mode

2 - Erase the external disk in Disk Utility

3 - Install macOS on the external disk

When the installation has completed, accept the offer to migrate data from your original source disk

It worked like a charm and I use it to run beta Sequoia updates.    For economy sake I use this configuration for my clones:

Its speed is limited to 500 Mbs which is fine for checking out compatibility of apps with the newer beta systems. You can get a SATA to USB 3 adaptor for older Macs.

I also use Carbon Copy Cloner to do backups. However, Time Machine is the only method to get a version backup, i.e. you can go back hour by hour or day by day to get a particular version of a file. CCC only gives you the latest version of all files. It's all in what you requirements are. I have a clone of my boot drive which I use CCC to keep it identical to my boot drive in case of some disaster like me screwing up.

I originally had CCC 6.xx in Sequoia, but it acted odd. Mainly, it would randomly complain that I needed to give it full disk access, even thought that was already active. I would have to restart the computer before it would run.

Upgrading to version 7.xx fixed those problems.

As far as making a bootable clone, I asked the developer about that at least two major releases of macOS back. His reply was, "Don't do that. The new security of macOS makes it impossible to know if everything was copied, or copied correctly."

He very strongly suggested the only correct way to do it now is to create an APFS volume on an external drive and do a backup without trying to use the Legacy Bootable option. When the copy is complete, it looks something like this:

To make a working clone on an external drive (to a different APFS volume), or to rebuild your main internal drive from scratch, you use either a bootable USB drive of a macOS installer, or install the OS from Recovery mode. When it gets to the end and asks if you have data to restore, you point it to your CCC backup. All of that gets merged in and you have an exact replica of your backup, which is also bootable.

It takes a bit more time this way than attempting a full clone, but it's guaranteed to work.

Carbon Copy Cloner 7.0.4 can make bootable clones just fine in macOS Sequoia 15.2 at least in my Intel Mac mini 2018. Yesterday I did that several times and it always worked. Silicon Macs might be more picky.

I use it often for testing various software by archiving bare bones clean macOS versions as "bootable" .dmg disk images that can be cloned to real bootable SSD volumes in just about 2 minutes. Much faster than the normal 30-45 minute macOS install.

I successfully cloned my Mac Mini M4 boot drive to an external SSD. I had contacted CCC to ask them if I was using CCC correctly in trying to clone my drive but kept getting errors.

Their reply and instructions for cloning the drive are as follows:

Apple's APFS replication utility is consistently failing, it's not going to be able complete this task. I wish I had any insight at all into what kind of corruption it's finding, how serious it is, etc, but Apple's tool just doesn't provide that level of detail.

So, on to plan B:

1. Boot into Recovery Mode

2. Erase the external disk in Disk Utility

3. Install macOS on the external disk

4. When the installation has completed, accept the offer to migrate data from your original source disk

Best wishes,

Rob

Bombich Software, Inc.

I followed the directions to the letter and got a bootable clone of my internal SSD. Then I can use CCC to update the clone user data from my internal SSD.

If you purchased CCC V6 in 2024 you get a free license for V7. If you purchase V6 earlier then it's a 50% discount.

I use both CCC and Time Machine as I want a "versioned" backup (TM) and a current backup (CCC) on separate discs.

CCC's legacy works fine with Intel Macs but not with Silicon Macs. The following is what Rob of Bombich Software told me as a way to clone my internal boot drive on a Silicon Mac to an external SSD:

1. 1. 1. Boot into Recovery Mode
      2. Erase the external disk in Disk Utility
      3. Install macOS on the external disk
      4. When the installation has completed, accept the offer to migrate data from your original source disk

It worked like a charm and I use it to run beta Sequoia updates.

With SuperDuper one can still backup up ("clone") all one's files:

SuperDuper says "use 'Backup - all files' with 'Smart Update' to copy everything but the OS'

In fact both CCC and SuperDuper recommend against making clones where the clone needs to be bootable. That is because such bootable clones do not have full functionality (according to CCC and SuperDuper).

CCC says this: "we do not recommend that you attempt to make your backups bootable; we recommend that you proceed with a 'Standard Backup' instead. You can restore all of your documents, compatible applications, and settings from a standard CCC backup without the extra effort involved in establishing and maintaining a bootable device."

I think that because of the security of the sealed system volume, increasingly with the last several MacOS it has become more challenging to create fully functional clones with the MacOS included in that clone. Both CCC and SuperDuper discuss this extensively on their web sites. The preferred way seems to be to do a clean install on the target drive for the Backup and then clone all non-MacOS files. That's what both of those companies recommend. Or, simply use the cloning software to copy everything EXCEPT the MacOS.

With the more recent Mac models, a complete hardware failure of the internal (boot) drive will prevent booting from an external drive.

The approach Apple has been steering users towards increasingly has been to use only Apple's installers for MacOS to create bootable systems. Both CCC and SuperDuper warn that even if you are able to create a bootable external drive via cloning, you will not be able to update its MacOS and continue using it. It will be stuck at that version (at least that is what CCC and SuperDuper advise).

I am a neo-luddite that still in this day and age makes bootable Sequoia backups with Carbon Copy Cloner.

Granted, my main Mac is still Mac mini 2018 Intel running Sequoia. Silicon Macs are more picky about this and might need a regular macOS install on top of data-only CCC backup. But after that AFAIK they should act the same when doing subsequent data-only backups to them:

I have occasionally booted to those backups and updated Sequoia (applying full Sequoia install on top of the old system would do the same).

Even if I could not somehow boot to them anymore, the data volume would still act as a backup (I rotate two such external backup disks).

That said, my main use for bootable clones is for testing various software by archiving bare bones clean macOS versions as "bootable" .dmg disk images that can be cloned to real bootable SSD volumes in just about 2 minutes. Much faster than the normal 30-45 minute macOS install.

In past history a bootable backup has once helped me to get fast back in action when the internal HDD broke. It was a breeze to boot to the external backup and clone that to the new internal HDD. With Silicon Macs that would not work because they use the internal disk also for the boot process for external disks. But new SSDs should be more robust than old HDDs. I do not care about the "SSD wear level" because AFAIK they outlast the Mac's usable years by a very great margin anyway.

I just used CCC 6 and and backed up my data. Then booted into recovery and installed Sequoia on my external disk and boots fine. I do not attempt to use the legacy boot feature with CCC as it is not reliable on Silicon Macs.

I have done all. I was running OS14 and before I update my internal I always update my external clone first to test to be sure no other issues come up. I updated my OS 14 clone to OS 15+ by booting up my clone and then updated to 15+ OS. As I stated when making a clone with CCC do not use the Legacy boot feature (with Silicon) as I have found it does not always work and it will not boot correctly if at all. If you are using an Intel Mac then the CCC legacy boot feature works fine. I know nothing about using SuperDuper.

+1 to what tbirtvet have reported.

CCC 6.1.11 still works for me after updating my Intel and Silicon Mac's to macOS 15.2.

FWIW I keep and use CCC clones to migrate from, rather than to boot from.

Carbon Copy Cloner works for me on my Mini M4 with Sequoia 15.2. I haven't tried to clone my boot drive to an external drive as yet but will do so in the future as a backup. But backups to another volume works as advertised.

If it helps, I have spent the last couple weeks facing a similar situation. My timemachine backup was on a LaCie Big Deck (make sure you pronounce that correctly), and the La Cie failed. It's now across the country in their data recovery department hopefully rescuing everything in my archive. So I have been researching better options. For the cloud backup option (not just the new external drive option I've ordered) I've been reading everything ab out CCC and Chronosync. I wrote Chronosync to confirm I was thinking about it right, that I could have a bootable back up there. They replied this morning that they do not offer that anymore as an option since, direct quote, "Apple does not allow them. So the alternative is to do a Data Volume Backup.

Even though it is possible to attempt bootable backups they are completely unreliable on any modern macOS.

It is important to understand that no one software can overcome the new Apple restrictions."

So I guess we're forced to rely only on Time Machine on an external disk.

Though I'm a novice about all this so sorry if it's really basic and old info.