2019 Intel iMac 27- Monterey 12.3 - Will CCC make a bootable backup on external SSD?

[fbx89]

I've read a fair bit about this and still don't know the answer, so I ask in plainest way--can a bootable backup be made from this (in the title) setup? I can use CCC or SuperDuper, or any alternative commercially available as long as it's simple to use.

For years I used Carbon Copy Cloner, but all the new stuff make my eyes roll.

I have a half-dozen backups on 500GB and 1TB Samsung SSDs and I haven't had to use any of them. My iMac is 2019-2020 version with 1 TB internal SSD.

Have no need to update to M1 iMac, though am curious to see what comes next and could change mind, but everything I read seems to say what major trouble has been occasioned by Apple changing to new chip and redesigning software/hardware.

I also run TM for what that's worth, and Backblaze.

Finally, the simpler the explanation the better for my aging brain (so called).

Pier

 

[IWT]

Okay...you want it simple. There are few as simple as I am

RE CCC:

Make sure you have the latest version - 6.1.1 (7323)
I'm not sure if you have already tried CCC, but you appear to have the application.

Source is Macintosh HD (chosen from the list of options on the left)
Destination is the External Hard Drive (EHD) you wish to use
That EHD should be Formatted APFS - CCC will almost certainly do this for you if you don't.
That EHD should have no other data on it - it should be exclusive to CCC

Once that is done, Click on "Start" bottom right
First BU takes a while, subsequent incremental BUs are much quicker

That's the basics; and you can leave it that way quite happily.

(You could, if you wanted, schedule a CCC BU, but doing it manually is easy.
You could turn "Safety Net" On. It's Off by default. If I were you I'd leave it that way as you've got TM and various other backups.)

Now we can address the question of "Bootable". If you follow the basic steps above, CCC should be bootable.

BUT: when Big Sur or Monterey gets an update of any sort - the OS itself or Safari etc, you have two choices:

1. Leave things as they are in which case CCC will BU as before but will no longer be bootable.

2. You can make it bootable by doing this:

Open CCC. Right Click on the Destination EHD and from the drop down menu, choose "Legacy Bootable Copy Assistant".

You will now be asked to permit CCC to erase your EHD, reformat it APFS and then run a BU just like the very first time. Choose YEs to all of that. Long BU because it's like the first time. Subsequent ones, much quicker.

Repeat this "Legacy" process after every OS BU.

That's it - the basics.

Ian

 

[fbx89]

Thx. Seems pretty direct except I’m already running Monterey 12.3. Or was the ref to Big Sur an oversight? Anyway, thanks for your help.

pier

 

[IWT]

What I said applies to both Big Sur & Monterey. Thanks for pointing that out.

Ian

 

[RadDave]

Thx. Seems pretty direct except I’m already running Monterey 12.3. Or was the ref to Big Sur an oversight? Anyway, thanks for your help.

pier

Hi Pier - I'm going through the same process, i.e. upgraded two of my 3 Macs to Monterey (12.3.1), upgraded CCC to the latest version, and decided to gradually switch to SSDs (I do duplicate TM & CCC backups) - Ian has already provided you plenty of great advise, but just to re-emphasize, a 'regular' CCC BU only copies the 'Data Volume' and is not bootable - you need to go through the 'contortions' to make an Intel Mac bootable (M-series Macs cannot be booted) - take a look at the thread I started on the same topic HERE - our 'local expert' Jake provided clear and concise information - also check Mike Bombich's website for creating legacy bootable copies of macOS Big Sur and later, i.e. Monterey.

Finally, Joe Kissell has written a sometimes confusing book (when the topic is on 'bootable clones') on current Mac backup policies that might be of interest - I probably need to do a re-read - Good luck - Dave
.

 

[MacInWin]

Finally, Joe Kissell has written a sometimes confusing book (when the topic is on 'bootable clones') on current Mac backup policies that might be of interest - I probably need to do a re-read - Good luck - Dave
.

Backups, particularly bootable clones, has become very complex with the advent of the new security in Big Sur and Monterey, plus the new Apple Silicon machines. What used to be relatively straightforward is now not so much...