In my view, there are two types of computer users: those who have lost data and those who are about to lose data.
Your photos, reports, design files, etc. can’t be easily replaced, so having a back-up strategy is critical.
Time Machine is usually what most Mac users use, but having a separate bootable backup alongside Time Machine provides you with added piece of mind.
There are several Mac back up applications—each will require you to have a separate attached storage device attached to your Mac. For bootable back-ups, I recommend having a storage device that has the same capacity as your Mac’s internal storage.
For years, I’ve been using SuperDuper to make easy bootable backups.
SuperDuper (presently at version 3.11) is made by by Shirt Pocket Software and supports bootable backups for macOS Tahoe and earlier. Users can download SuperDuper from the developer’s website and run it for free. The free version of SuperDuper will back-up your drive by erasing the destination drive’s contents first, and run its backup operation whenever you remember to launch the application.
But registering your copy (via a one time payment of $27.95US) will unlock additional features, including scheduled back-ups, Smart Update, scripting and more.
On first launch, SuperDuper provides a simple dialog, where you can select your source drive and your destination drive. The source drive contains the data you would like to back up.
SuperDuper’s scheduled back-ups run automatically at a time and frequency of your choosing, which is a really big convenience. You can choose to have SuperDuper back up every day, every week or every month, or have a customized back-up schedule of your choice. Simply set the schedule, and SuperDuper will back up your data automatically. I have my SuperDuper back-ups scheduled to run at 9:30PM each night.
Once you’ve verified that your first back up is successful, I recommend using SuperDuper’s Smart Update option for subsequent backups. Smart Update will intelligently apply any changes (additions, deletions, modifications) from your Mac’s internal drive onto your back-up drive. This approach makes backups much faster, compared to the “erase and copy” option that SuperDuper provides by default.
As a long-time user of SuperDuper, I have two reasons why I stick with it. First and foremost, SuperDuper is easy to use and accurate. Second of all, Shirt Pocket’s tech support is very responsive. In the few cases I had questions, the developer responded within a few hours.
SuperDuper will clone any drive you have attached to your Mac, not just your Mac’s internal drive.
I have a separate external 2TB storage device that contains my most frequently used data, and I use SuperDuper’s Smart Update option to perform a nightly clone to another 2TB backup drive. Both drives are housed inside an OWC ThunderBay 4 enclosure, which supports Thunderbolt for lightning fast copies.
SuperDuper works on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs. It supports APFS and HFS+ formatted volumes. Version 3.11 requires macOS High Sierra (10.13) or higher, but users of older Macs can download specific versions for macOS Yosemite, etc. if need be. SuperDuper also includes a comprehensive user’s guide that goes into additional detail on the app’s features and options.
SuperDuper isn’t fancy, but it doesn’t need to be. (An upcoming Liquid Glass themed version is promised, but isn’t available as of this writing.) For me, SuperDuper’s value is about convenience and functionality, and it absolutely excels in those areas. That being said, the Shirt Pocket website has a very dated look, which can potentially mislead some users into thinking that SuperDuper may not be up-to-date.
SuperDuper continues to be a rock-solid backup utility. While other Mac backup solutions exist, I’m of the notion that as long as SuperDuper keeps working well, I’ll keep using it.
