As a fan of Carbon Copy Cloner, let me note that as yet that its maker Bombich Software does note that CCC is basically incompatible with macOS 12 Monterey and 13 Ventura because of the way those versions have split drives into a data portion and a program (?) portion. CCC is unable to exactly duplicate the contents for Monterey and Ventura drives. Please let me know if Bombich has fixed this.
So, unfortunately, to back up I have been using Apple's Time Machine which does NOT create a bootable backup. Instead what I will forced to do if I should have the bad luck to require a new hard drive or SSD--which in my case with a current 16-inch MBP will require an entirely new MBP--will be to reformat that drive using the Ventura installer (if necessary), then use Time Machine to replicate its contents to my new SSD in a likewise new MBP.
Let me also note that the next time I must do the above will be MY first time. I have never had a hard drive nor an SSD completely fail for me on/in my Macs that required me to use my backups.
I think CCC (as well as SuperDuper!) can make a bootable clone now, but the value of that as a backup to an Apple Silicon (Mx) system is not as high as it used to be. On the Mx machines, there is a small area of the unified storage internally that is dedicated to the boot process, no matter where the boot "drive" may be. As a result, if the internal storage on the Mx Mac fails, it simply won't boot, period. And if the need to boot from an external drive is due to some corruption of the system files, that isn't needed, either. The way the Mx systems with Ventura on them work is that there is a Sealed System Volume (SSV) that is certified by Apple at the boot, using a unique hash process. If that SSV proves to be good, a snapshot is taken of that SSV and it is from the snapshot that the Mac is booted. If the SSV hash indicates that the SSV is no longer accurate, it is rebuilt from the source files at Apple, re-certified and a new snapshot is created. All of that is encrypted at all points along the way, for additional security. So, with all that, for backup purposes TM is fine. It backs up the "Data" storage area, where all of the user data is kept, plus any local modifications/applications that the user has installed to "the system" on the machine.
Clones CAN be used if you have more than one Mac available. You can boot from an external clone on a different, functional, Mx Mac. And you can have multiple versions of the macOS on external drives to boot from, if you need to.
But other than that unique situation of having an idle Mac sitting around for a backup, clones aren't as key to your backup strategy as they used to be.
And, you won't need to reformat anything on a repaired/replacement Mx Mac. It will come with Ventura installed, ready to be restored from your TM. As I said, at the first boot attempt on a new/repaired Mx Mac, it will check to see if the SSV is valid, and if not, initiate a reinstallation of the SSV and the recreation of the snapshot from which to boot the system.
So, make multiple backups of the "Data" drive, either with TM or CCC or SD!, but you really don't need the System volume backed up unless you have a spare Mac handy on which to run it.
