What is the best way to keep a bootable system backup these days.... ( m3 Ultra ) (Protools Music Guy) Previous Mac OS's & Intel Macs I would split my partition and clone back to another partition.. So when i install something problematic, or something happens, I can just boot into a previous backup & keep working & diagnose the problem later.... Seems you can't make bootable copies anymore.. What you clever guys & gals out there doing these days ?
I've stopped making bootable backups.
If you want to have a bootable recovery disk, one suggestion I've seen is to erase an external drive, do a "clean" installation of macOS onto it, boot from the external drive, and then use Migration Assistant to pull over copies of data files from your internal startup drive or from a backup.
However, that sounds like a recipe for a full backup ... whereas ideally you would want to be able to incrementally update the backup (as in the old days).
Not applicable today with Apple silicon like the old days of bootable clones...
The current macOS utilizes SSV (Signed System Volume ) w/ strong cryptographic protections to store system content separated from user data.
If you value your user data
3-2-1 Backup Strategy: three copies of your data, two different methods, and one offsite.
More than one device, more than one backup methodology— and backup regularly.
—Back up your Mac Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support
you can read more—ref: Change your Mac startup disk
Use macOS Recovery on a Mac with Apple silicon - Apple Support
Bootable backups were on the way out most of a decade or so ago, and that trend only accelerated with the advent of the read-only system volumes; the signed system volume security mechanism.
I haven’t met much that could alter or corrupt the read-only system volume, short of a hardware failure. User data could get clobbered, but the bootable part itself has done a good job of protecting itself.
Partitioning is great fun though, right up until one of the occupants gets feisty and corrupts the everything.
What do I do? NAS storage for Time Machine and preferably across multiple NAS boxes, and with off-site backups as appropriate.
And I'm preferably not installing “problematic” stuff generally, but if I do, it’s into a guest in a virtual machine, or on a test machine and not into production. And I’ll pull the proverbial chrome handle and flush everything not in the SSV.
As for “best”, that depends on details not yet in evidence.
Related reading:
Well actually that's what i did.. i had a clone partition through CCC but when i ran into a problem.. I discovered the partition was not bootable.. so ended up reformatting & re-installing the OS & doing a migration from a third CCC backup...... So was wondering if there is a better way to do it...
North Pole wrote:
What is the best way to keep a bootable system backup these days.... ( m3 Ultra ) (Protools Music Guy) Previous Mac OS's & Intel Macs I would split my partition and clone back to another partition.. So when i install something problematic, or something happens, I can just boot into a previous backup & keep working & diagnose the problem later.... Seems you can't make bootable copies anymore.. What you clever guys & gals out there doing these days ?
SuperDuper4, the latest version of the SuperDuper cloning app, can clone from your Mac's internal drive to an external drive that can be made bootable (it is an option within the app).
@MrHoffman included a link to the CCC developer's instructions for best method of maintaining a bootable external drive as a backup.
Another thing to remember with Apple Silicon Macs.......you must not connect the bootable external drive to the dedicated DFU Port or macOS installation & updates won't install correctly. Here is an Apple article with this note (see note at top of the article in the section "Connect the Storage Device to Your Mac" as well as a link to another Apple article for identifying the dedicated DFU Port on various Apple Silicon Mac models.
Use an external storage device as a Mac startup disk - Apple Support
How to identify the DFU port on Mac - Apple Support
Best Tahoe silicon Bootable backup solution ??
