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SuperDuper! for mac has strange request?

I bought this software at a BestBuy store. It came with a disc which I loaded up. I went to install it and it says it's from a company called "Apricorn". It is a USB connection SATA drive.


It says SuperDuper!.dmg in the window and when I click it loads up and tells me to put it in my application folder. I did and then went to run it. It said for me to do something that I really did not like the sound of. It showed a box that had a little lock on it and said for me to click the lock so that it can make changes to the computer WITHOUT my admin password. That just sounds weird to me. Is this appropriate?


Oh yeah, it also opened up a pop up with an exclamation point that told me that "this file was downloaded from the internet (Safari) on (april or something) 2010. Do you still want to open it?" I clicked yes then it told me to drag it to my app folder. When I tried to run it, it told me to click the lock so that it could make changes without the admin password

Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on May 16, 2011 7:13 PM

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Posted on May 16, 2011 8:40 PM

If you Google "Apricorn" you will find that it is a maker of storage products like hard drives. Did you buy a hard drive and this software was included? SuperDuper! is the premier hard drive cloning/backup software for Mac OS X. I have personally used it for many years. It is simply the best there is in its category. If it came with an Apricorn product they probably have an agreement with the makers of SuperDuper! (Shirt Pocket Software) to include SuperDuper! with their hard drives. If you bought it separately then Best Buy is pulling the wool over you eyes. SuperDuper! is shareware and what you have is probably a trial version.


The little padlock you speak of asks for your admin password when you click it. This allows the program to operate without asking you for your admin password every time you use it. This is totally optional. You do not have unlock the little padlock icon. You can simply enter your admin password any time you use SuperDuper!


You should visit Shirt Pocket Software's website and download the latest version of SuperDuper! IT has had an update or two since 2010.

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May 16, 2011 8:40 PM in response to Spprrw

If you Google "Apricorn" you will find that it is a maker of storage products like hard drives. Did you buy a hard drive and this software was included? SuperDuper! is the premier hard drive cloning/backup software for Mac OS X. I have personally used it for many years. It is simply the best there is in its category. If it came with an Apricorn product they probably have an agreement with the makers of SuperDuper! (Shirt Pocket Software) to include SuperDuper! with their hard drives. If you bought it separately then Best Buy is pulling the wool over you eyes. SuperDuper! is shareware and what you have is probably a trial version.


The little padlock you speak of asks for your admin password when you click it. This allows the program to operate without asking you for your admin password every time you use it. This is totally optional. You do not have unlock the little padlock icon. You can simply enter your admin password any time you use SuperDuper!


You should visit Shirt Pocket Software's website and download the latest version of SuperDuper! IT has had an update or two since 2010.

May 16, 2011 11:29 PM in response to Spprrw

Spprrw wrote:


I bought this software at a BestBuy store. It came with a disc which I loaded up. I went to install it and it says it's from a company called "Apricorn". It is a USB connection SATA drive.


It says SuperDuper!.dmg in the window and when I click it loads up and tells me to put it in my application folder.


I clicked yes then it told me to drag it to my app folder. When I tried to run it, it told me to click the lock so that it could make changes without the admin password

You bought an external HD and it came with a software disc?


Well I never heard of "Apricorn." I agree with lkrupp above, probably some agreement with SD.


I use both SuperDuper and CarbonCopyCloner. One nice thing about SD is when I run it I do not have to enter my admin psswd. CCC every single time I have to enter the admin psswd, kind of a pain.


You do not have to use SD if you don't want to install it, obviously.

May 17, 2011 6:07 AM in response to Spprrw

Thank you the both of you.


I did not buy and external hard drive with SuperDuper. I have a broken black macbook that I needed the files from, so I pulled the drive out of that and hooked it up to super duper to transfer what I needed (using the old macbook hard drive as an external now).


I have just never seen something like that before.


What about when it said that it "was a file downloaded from the safari in '10, when I had never downloaded it?"

May 17, 2011 6:29 AM in response to Spprrw

> What about when it said that it "was a file downloaded from the safari in '10, when I had never downloaded it?"


Then someone else downloaded it via Safari and the extended attribute tag was still on the file when you got it.


If you do not trust your SuperDuper! source, then go to Shirt-Pocket.com and download your own copy of SuperDuper!

<http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html>


SuperDuper! is a very reliable and hightly repected Mac OS X backup software package.


The equally respected Mac OS X backup package is Carbon Copy Cloner

<http://www.bombich.com/>


Use whatever you like.

May 17, 2011 6:56 AM in response to Spprrw

Clone programs such as SuperDuper and Carbon Copy Cloner need to run with heightened (root) privileges because they need to copy "everything," and some items on a startup disk have restricted permissions such that a normal admin account can't access them. So its normal for such backup programs to require password authentication to gain "root" privileges. Carbon Copy Cloner asks you for your admin password each time you run it; SuperDuper offers an option to "remember" the authentication between runs via "opening the padlock".


I had assumed that SuperDuper does this by storing the password somewhere, which would raise security concerns, but I then found this interesting thread in the SuperDuper support forum. Dave Nanian is the developer of SuperDuper. The thread is several years old, but is likely still valid. Here are its contents:

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Timmy

10-16-2006, 07:01 AM

Where/how does SD! store our admin password when we have the 'padlock' unlocked?

I has assumed that it was kept in the Keychain, but I was surprised to see that SD! stays unlocked no matter which account we are logged in to.


dnanian

10-16-2006, 10:36 AM

We authenticate our copying tool the same way the system does (with "suid").


Timmy

10-16-2006, 10:50 AM

I have no idea what that means Dave.

I guess I will re-lock the padlock and hope that my admin password wasn't ever written to disk...


dnanian

10-16-2006, 10:54 AM

Your password was not written to disk, nor was it ever recorded or seen by SuperDuper!, actually.

Instead, a single application on the drive was given System permissions. Your password is only used to *authorize* this action: it's just like unlocking a preference pane (like Sharing).


Timmy

10-16-2006, 11:17 AM

I wasn't really worried that SD! was stealing my admin password, just that by leaving the padlock open that SD! might be tossing my password around in clear text.

After some googling, I think I understand the suid concept...

Thanks.


dnanian

10-16-2006, 11:21 AM

No, we definitely aren't. As I said, we never even really know what it is, since it's all handled by the authentication framework in OSX itself.

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SuperDuper! for mac has strange request?

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