Upgrade to Catalina and external hard drives.

[chscag]

In case anyone is wondering, Time Machine will be able to function with both APFS and HFS+ formatting when macOS 11 (Big Sur) is released.

However, if you're backing up to a spinner drive, it's still recommended to use HFS+ for the backup drive format.

 

[Rod]

Can I just add, if it hasn't been mentioned already an external SSD is a much better choice for a bootable clone than a "spinner'. I can boot and run my MBP from my CCC clone at almost the same speed as with the internal but a USB HDD is very slow.
Just FYI the process for returning to Mojave from Catalina, if for some reason you choose to do so, will mean completely erasing your internal drive. Just in case it matters, which it may not but others have been caught out by this. Any data you may add to Catalina after upgrade will be lost unless backed up elsewhere if you choose to revert to Mojave.
Lastly, before you upgrade with the downloaded Catalina installer quit the installer and run CCC again. This will add a copy of the Catalina installer to your backup. The original on your internal drive will be erased after the upgrade has completed.
It's well worth having a copy of the installer even if you decide to stick with Catalina. I used my copy to create a bootable installer on a thumb drive for emergencies.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Can I just add, if it hasn't been mentioned already an external SSD is a much better choice for a bootable clone than a "spinner'. I can boot and run my MBP from my CCC clone at almost the same speed as with the internal but a USB HDD is very slow.

Don't ignore Rod's advice here, folks!

Six Lessons Learned from Dealing with an iMac's Dead SSD - TidBITS

After working through the failure of his iMac’s SSD, Adam Engst shares the lessons he learned with regard to backing up, restoring, and eking out the most life from old hardware. Hint: waiting to upgrade hardware and software can make troubleshooting and recovery more difficult.

tidbits.com

 

[Rod]

Boy, I can sure relate to this guy's experience although I did not have his resources when it happened to me I learnt my lesson.
"Lesson #1: A bootable duplicate should be fast enough to use as your boot drive, or it’s essentially a read-only backup like Time Machine."
+1 for that statement.
Really interesting article Randy.

 

[chscag]

The problem is that external SSDs of the size needed for backups or to boot from are still fairly expensive. (I'm referring to quality SSDs not the cheap variety that are widely available.)

I currently have two Samsung T5 external SSDs (USB-C/3.1) that I use for backup and CCC cloning. They were on sale at the time and well worth purchasing.

So, if you can afford to purchase a quality SSD for backup or to use with CCC/SuperDuper, that's the way to go.

 

[MacInWin]

I've been rethinking backup drive sizes. I use a strategy of a CCC backup for immediate recovery and to use while a new drive is on the way to replace any dead drive. I also use TM for hierarchical backups--just in case I mangle or erase a file I need to restore. Also a deep backup in case CCC doesn't work and to instal the new OS when the new drive arrives.

So, with that approach, my CCC drive only needs to be the same size as my boot drive. Right now my internal drive is 1Tb, but has 600 GB free, so my CCC clone is on a 1TB SSD (USB3). My TM drive is a spinner, 2TB, or double the size of the internal. I'm ok with that because it can hold a lot of history before it starts cleaning up backups. The old rule of "double the size of the source drive" isn't so much a rule now, as a suggestion, or maybe consideration.

 

[Rod]

I agree in principal with what you say Ian, a recovery backup really only needs to be about the same size as the source plus a little for "Safety Net" in the case of CCC but for Time Machine which seems to be a more long term investment for some I still think double the size of the source is wise or one starts getting the "Disk Is Full" notifications.

 

[chscag]

but for Time Machine which seems to be a more long term investment for some I still think double the size of the source is wise or one starts getting the "Disk Is Full" notifications.

Unless you keep Time Machine backups for a very long time, there is no reason to have a Time Machine external drive double the size of your internal drive. Let's face it, how useful is a Time Machine backup that is one year old, or even 6 months old?

After 6 months of backups, I start deleting the oldest one in line. I realize that some folks like to keep their Time Machine backups for years on end, but for the average person that is not necessary.

 

[MacInWin]

Charlie, I think it is use-dependent. My wife's business machine has years of TM backups on it, mostly financial records used for filing the various tax forms. That drive is also doubled up with another, so we have actually two backups. Once the time limits for audits have passed, we will erase those files, but until I know the IRS is content, they stay right there. So how long you keep a TM backup is really dependent on the use case you have.

In general, though, I mostly agree with you. On my system, I only have about 6 months of history on TM. Usually when I "oops" a file, I know pretty quickly and retrieve the backup quickly.

 

[chscag]

You are absolutely correct about keeping records for the IRS and if that includes TM backups, that's fully understood. I have had "inquiry" letters from the IRS in past years and if it were not for my record keeping, it would have cost me quite a bit of dollars to resolve.

 

[bernard smith]

Download Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC). Go through the usual steps of Installation.

Open CCC. You will see something like this:

View attachment 32685

The SOURCE is Macintosh HD chosen from the list of Drives under Volumes on the left.

For DESTINATION, choose the EHD that you wish to use to hold the Clone (It should be a fresh EHD ie with no other data on it. Use Disk Utility (DU) to Erase the Drive, give it a name - CCC in my case. As to Format, this is a direct quote from the developer: "Both APFS and HFS (aka as Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)) are valid destination formats when using Carbon Copy Cloner 5 on High Sierra and Mojave".

NB SafetyNet should be set as ON (see under the CCC image above)

You'll see that I have set up a SCHEDULE to automatically create a Clone once/day at 2am. This is NOT mandatory, especially if you just want to make a single clone. You can manually make as many clones as you desire if you so wish.

When you've got SOURCE & DESTINATION sorted and with SafetyNet ON, Click on "Clone", bottom right (not shown on image above). When it's finished, it will stop.

If you are in the mood for a detailed read, then the following Link from the Developer gives you the whole business:

Everything you need to know about Carbon Copy Cloner and APFS - Bombich Software

bombich.com

Anything not clear, Bernard, let us know.

Ian

Hi Ian

I have purchased a 2TB SSD which I have formatted to Mac OS Extended ( Journaled ) with GUID partition map.
I am ready to clone the Macintosh HD (Mojave) by using CCC. I just need to be brave and go for it.

I guess that by doing a clone then CCC is just copying it to the destination disk without affecting the source at all.

Question... When I eventually change to Catalina OS , and then make a new bootable clone for my own peace of mind , am I correct in thinking that CCC will automatically change the format of the SSD , which is Mac OS Extended (Journaled) to APFS?
So long as it works then I am not concerned as I trust CCC.


Cheers

Bernard

 

[chscag]

Question... When I eventually change to Catalina OS , and then make a new bootable clone for my own peace of mind , am I correct in thinking that CCC will automatically change the format of the SSD , which is Mac OS Extended (Journaled) to APFS?
So long as it works then I am not concerned as I trust CCC.

CCC will not change the format of the external SSD but instead leave it as HFS+. The only drive that will change when upgrading to Mojave or Catalina to APFS is your internal drive. CCC will continue to work as it always does regardless of the file system.

You can if you wish, reformat the external SSD to APFS. Actually that's better as it will be faster.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

The problem is that external SSDs of the size needed for backups or to boot from are still fairly expensive.

At least for those in the U.S., this external SSD hard drive is reasonably priced (compared to a rotating disk hard drive), fast, compatible, and reliable:

U32 Shadow 1TB External SSD USB-C Portable Solid State Drive (USB 3.1 Gen 2)
$149

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G3LYX3M/?tag=macforums0e4-20

 

[Rod]

APFS is better designed for SSD's if you had bought a HDD I would have suggested you format it as Mac OS Extended ( Journaled ) but as you have purchased a SSD it would be better going into the future if you format it as APFS from the start.