CCC question?

[Jonzjob]

As several know, I use Carbon Copy Cloner for my backups. At the moment I have just fitted a 1tb SSHD to my MacBook Pro and CCC made it a doddle to do. The CCC ext HDD I have at the moment is just 750 gig and after the first copy to it there is about 350 gig available.

My question is when that finally gets filled up is it best to format it and start again, or if not then what is the best way to reclain space? Delete the earlier save/copies??

I will get a bigger disk eventually, but this one will have to do untill SWMBO isn't looking

 

[bobtomay]

???

CCC and SD! make bootable clones - an exact copy of the drive you are copying. Neither of them do Time Machine type backups which keep old deleted stuff. The backup used space is going to be the same (or approximately the same) as the used space on the drive you are copying from. The backup is not going to use more space than the amount of used space on the drive you are copying from.

The size of the external bootable clone drive you need will be determined by the amount of used space on the drive you are copying from. e.g. If the internal drive is using 500 GB, the backup will use 500 GB of space. If you end up with 760 GB used space internally, you can delete the old backup and reformat all you want and you will still never be able to use your current 750 GB external to back up that 1 TB internal drive.

I will also recommend maintaining the same 20% "minimum" free space on the backup as I recommend to most users on the internal drive.
I personally keep all my hard drives that contain a bootable OS at 35% absolute bare minimum free space.

 

[Jonzjob]

I was under the impression that after the initial clone CCC only cloned the changed/new items. So if I added more photos to a folder it would clone that folder and only that if nothing else had been changed?

Am I wrong on this???

 

[pigoo3]

I was under the impression that after the initial clone CCC only cloned the changed/new items. So if I added more photos to a folder it would clone that folder and only that if nothing else had been changed?

Am I wrong on this???

Apple's "Time Machine" works this way. The advantage with CCC is…it completely makes a "clone" of your hard drive (including the OS). And this clone is bootable.

If you want a backup program that does the incremental backups (only things that have changed since the first complete backup)…you could just use Time Machine.

I use CCC for the complete bootable clone feature…and use Time Machine for the incremental backup feature.

- Nick

 

[bobtomay]

I was under the impression that after the initial clone CCC only cloned the changed/new items. So if I added more photos to a folder it would clone that folder and only that if nothing else had been changed?

Am I wrong on this???

No, you are not wrong.

The smart update feature of both CCC and SD! will delete what you have deleted, replace files that have been changed and add any new files that have been created to the existing backup.

 

[chas_m]

There is a difference between a CCC clone and a Time Machine backup that I don't think has been explained properly yet.

When CCC (or SD!) update a clone, it is not truly "incremental" by default. The updated or added files are the only things changed, but they overwrite any old version, You can't get the old version back. You can *set* CCC (and SD, et al) to make genuine incremental additions, but that's not the default IIRC.

Time Machine makes truly incremental backups by default, which preserve the previous version(s) of any changed files so that you can retrieve them if you need to for some reason, but isn't a bootable clone.

Hope that clears up any confusion.

 

[Jonzjob]

The version I have is V 4.0.3 which it assures me is the latest. It also tells me that



So it appeaars that the incremental copy is the default now, because I haven't set it up so? My biggest problem is that as I can't hit it with a 2 lb knockometer, calibrated of course (a hammer) then I find it more difficult to understand and fix

 

[chas_m]

Nope. Apparently I'm no good at explaining this either. Once again:

By default, CCC will copy over only changed items -- but it will overwrite those items on the backup.

Time Machine does NOT overwrite the items, so you can go back in time to retrieve either the latest version of a file or any previous version of a file, up to however far back your Time Machine disk's storage allows.

 

[Jonzjob]

OK, I think I have it now Chas? It ain't you mate, it's this awd codger this end that's thick

Now were's me 'ammer?

 

[MacInWin]

But, CCC will do something very similar to what TM does. It's called "Safety Net" and you can set it up when you set up the clone. With Safety Net on, changed files are cached on the backup drive as long as there is space for them. Eventually, when the drive gets full, the caches will be deleted to make room for new backups and caches. But that action is similar to what TM does when the drive gets full, too. The difference seems to be that in TM, when it needs space, it will delete older backups, but preserve any file that is the ONLY copy of that file. CCC, on the other hand, gets to the same place by always having a complete clone, so any unchanged file will never be in a cache to be deleted. Different ways of getting to the same goal.

 

[chscag]

But, CCC will do something very similar to what TM does. It's called "Safety Net" and you can set it up when you set up the clone. With Safety Net on, changed files are cached on the backup drive as long as there is space for them.

Just wanted to backup what Jake stated above.... Some of us who have been using CCC for several years tend to overlook the "Safety Net" that the program offers. I have to admit that I have been rather forgetful about that useful option.

 

[harryb2448]

Amazed the CCC back up is so hug, unless of course the MBP drive uses 450GB. Using SD I see the backup is precisely the same size as the system on the iMac.

 

[chscag]

CCC backups are not huge. If your 1 TB hard drive only contains 300 GB of data, then that's what the size of the CCC backup will be plus overhead for the recovery partition.

 

[p_rod]

I have used CCC a couple of times with my MBA and it worked very well for me. My question is this. Is there a way (legal, of course) that I can also use it on my iMac upstairs in my home office? I bought CCC over a year ago and do not remember if the purchase was just for one machine or if I am legally allowed to use it on more than one machine.

And if it is OK to use it on another machine, what's the best way to 'move' it?

As always, TIA!

Cheers!

Pat

 

[chscag]

I'm not really sure of the present licensing but from memory I believe you can install it on more than one Mac that you own. However, to be absolutely certain, you need to email the developer Mike Bombich at his web site and ask. At one time CCC was donation ware so the licensing was rather loose, but now that it's strictly pay ware it may have changed.

 

[p_rod]

chscag:

I'll do that. Thanks for the advice. And I'll report back with what I find out.

Cheers!

Pat

 

[p_rod]

chscag:

Just visited Mike Bombich's site and this was on the front page:

Household License
One license lets you run CCC on every Mac in your household.

Thx!

PS- the copy of CCC I have is a paid copy, BTW.

 

[chscag]

Thanks for posting back. I thought that was the case, but good to have it confirmed.