Home Forums Mac Software Mac Applications Carbon copy Cloner 7

CCC has announced an impending upgrade from CCC6 to CCC7 and offered a free trial period. (There's a link that sounds like it leads you to the upgrade price, but it doesn't.)

There's a laundry list of new features, none of which appear to be particularly useful in my situation, and I'm wondering if anyone else has got any thoughts on the matter?

Thanks.

I haven't seen the announcement but, as CCC does everything I need it to do, I likely wouldn't upgrade. That's the same with pretty much any software I use so, with upgrades, I mostly look to see if I would be getting enhanced security.

See CCC > Check For Updates for details.

I see some interesting stuff, but nothing that draws me in.

Where did you see that announcement? I can find no mention of it on Mike's website.

It came up automatically the last time I launched CCC, but CCC > Check For Updates calls it up too.

Mike's website can be confusing as all get-out! In truth, I hate dealing with it!

That doesn't happen with mine. I get a message that says I'm up to date.

I guess you haven't opted into beta testing as I have. (Prefs > Updates > Update Settings > Inform me of beta releases)

Per Mike's office: "While CCC 7 is in beta testing it is not available for purchase. The CCC 6 license can be used to register the beta. Once CCC 7 is released the upgrade discount will be 25% the listed price for CCC 5 users and 50% the listed price for CCC 6 users." Sounds like the upgrade price gasn't been finalized yet.

My notification just appeared this morning.

FWIW I don't see anything in CCC 7 that is particularly exciting, but I will pay the upgrade price, assuming it is reasonable. Not because it has anything I particularly need or want, rather in order to maintain compatibility with future versions of macOS. If the upgrade price is too high, I can live without CCC.

The option to flag a particular snapshot, such as the one immediately preceding an update/grade, is a nice feature, but it seems to me that at this point, Mike is grasping at straws and exercising his imagination mightily to keep his app at least somewhat relevant now that its birthright has been taken from it.

Past upgrades have all cost $20, and I guess I'll pay again if that's the number, but if it's more than that, I'll have to evaluate my options.

Mike isn't the only developer struggling to remain relevant as macOS and Apple silicon continue to evolve. Even some Apple "features" are arguably redundant. I am guessing you are defining CCC's "birthright" as creating a bootable clone. I just came across these instructions for booting from a previous system version using APFS snapshots. While it won't work on Intel systems, it seems to me another reason a bootable clone is redundant and unnecessary.

I'm confused!

You said "While it won't work on Intel systems....," and your linked article begins with "Shutdown your M1 Mac," but the article ends with "If you don’t have access to a Time Machine backup or an Intel Mac you can temporarily use, we have listed instructions to perform a factory reset of your M1 Mac to regain access to your SoftRAID volumes."

What am I not understanding?

I didn't understand that part either. But the instructions for M1 Macs works slick as a whistle.

does this mean i can restore my macbook M1 from a time machne backup (like pre APFS volumes) vs. having to use migration assistant using the method on the OWC website?

Time machine backups use APFS Snapshots. I have no idea what the OWC instructions for recovering from a Time Machine backup are. Personally I prefer getting my instructions for using Apple products, directly from horse's mouth, Apple's macOS User Guide.

I am a great fan of Time Machine and adopted it immediately upon its initial release, but I quickly learned the only reliable way to recover a file from Time Machine is through Time Machine or Migration Assistant. Since Time Machine does not back up any system files, the only viable option for a full recovery is reinstalling the OS using the Recovery Drive, which uses Migration Assistant to retrieve the user files, settings, and applications from Time Machine.

NOTE: Using the APFS snapshot on the boot drive, it is possible to restore the Data volume to the state it was in the last Time Machine backup was run, and no Time Machine or other backup is necessary. To do that requires booting from the Recovery Drive or an external drive and intimate knowledge of the command line utility tmutil.

" NOTE: Using the APFS snapshot on the boot drive, it is possible to restore the Data volume to the state it was in the last Time Machine backup was run, and no Time Machine or other backup is necessary. To do that requires booting from the Recovery Drive or an external drive and intimate knowledge of the command line utility tmutil."

Does this mean you can roll back your computer to the previous snapshot if you mess up a system file or other file (for example accidentally deleting the address book data file or something)? Sort of how the old Time Machine used to be able to wipe out the entire "Macintosh HD" and overwrite it with the last snapshot essentially "rolling" back your computer to whatever time you did the TM backup. Ever since they changed to APFS you can't use TM like that anymore.

No, it does not. Time Machine, or rather tmutil, can no longer restore system files because IT CANNOT IMAGE SYSTEM FILES. That has nothing to do with APFS other than it supports snapshots. The actual bootable system is a sealed and encrypted snapshot with millions of links to files in both the system and data volumes. That snapshot cannot be restored without breaking it. It must be rebuilt, which can only be done by reinstalling the OS. "Why the change?" is a question that can be answered in one word, SECURITY.