Catalina

MacOS Monterey/Big Sur Backups: Q&A

For those who have bought a new computer or have updated their machine to Apple’s Catalina, Big Sur or Monterey operating systems, here are some things to know about the new(ish) APFS disk format, bootable backups and the Carbon Copy Cloner backup program…

Q: Should I continue to use Carbon Copy Cloner to make backups of my data?
A: Absolutely. A backup to an external drive is the best way to recover from a sick drive mechanism, failed operating system update or lost/stolen computer.

Q: Should I make my Carbon Copy Cloner backups “bootable”?
A: This is a tricky question to answer. Prior to Catalina, the answer was “absolutely”. Today things are a bit more complicated… Start with this article by Carbon Copy Cloner’s programmer Mike Bombich:

https://bombich.com/kb/ccc6/cloning-macos-system-volumes-apple-software-restore

As noted in this article, the answer depends on several factors, including which Mac hardware you have (Intel processor vs. Apple “M1” processor), and if you want to preserve previous “Snapshots” (points in time from which you can restore data).

If you’re running an Apple silicon “M1” Mac, I recommend using Carbon Copy Cloner’s “Standard” data-only backup strategy. For Intel-intel based Macs, I still recommend the “Legacy Bootable Backup”.

Q: What do I need to know about backups in Catalin, Big Sur or Monterey?
A: Disks used to boot a Mac are now required to be formatted in Apple’s newer file system (APFS). If you have an older backup drive which was previously set up for an earlier operating system (“Mac OS Extended, Journaled”, a.k.a “HFS +”, it is will likely need to be erased and reformatted as APFS. Note: This will permanently destroy all previous backup data on the drive.

Q: Can I continue to use my old external spinning hard drive for Carbon Copy Cloner bootable backups of Catalina, Big Sur or Monterey?
A: I don’t recommend this. The performance of a spinning hard drive formatted as APFS is terrible. In an emergency it may take 8-10 minutes to boot from a spinning APFS drive (vs. <60 seconds to boot from a backup made to a solid state drive (SSD). SSDs are becoming much more affordable per Gigabyte, are exponentially faster than spinning hard drives, and are more resilient to bumps and bruises due to them having no motor or moving parts to wear out.

As of this writing (October, 2021), a name-brand 1TB SSD can be had for around $155 and a 2TB model for ~$300.

Q: Should I upgrade to Carbon Copy Cloner 6?
A: If you’re running Mac OS Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey or later I recommend updating to Carbon Copy Cloner 6. CCC6 is significantly faster and the upgrade price is only $20. Here’s a list of some of the new features:

https://bombich.com/blog/2021/05/19/ccc-6-here-faster-backups-better-accountability-dark-mode-and-so-much-more

Note: Carbon Copy Cloner 6’s user interface is a bit different and may take some getting used to. If you’re running a version of Mac OS before Catalina, Carbon Copy Cloner 5 still works fine.

Q: Should I run both Carbon Copy Cloner and Time Machine backups?
A: Yes. Keeping multiple backups is always a good idea and Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner will work to save your data in different ways, depending on the crisis/scenario.

Q: Can I keep using my old spinning external drive for Time Machine backups?
A: Yes. As long as you have enough ports on your computer to connect both drives (or are comfortable rotating external drives on a regular basis), your old Time Machine disk can still be used. If your old spinning drive was previously partitioned for both Carbon Copy Cloner and Time Machine, the Carbon Copy Cloner volume can usually be deleted, making more room available for future Time Machine backups.

Q: Should I exclude my external backup drive from Spotlight indexing?
A: Yes! This prevents a scenario where you search for a file and inadvertently open the copy on the backup drive. If you then edit and save your changes, those changes will NOT reside in the original file on your internal storage. This can be confusing later when you open the original file and your edits are not there!

Q: The icon for my external backup device disappeared from the Desktop during the first run of a Legacy Bootable Backup run. What’s up with that?
A: This is a normal, (but annoying) behavior of Apple’s ASR tool which Carbon Copy Cloner uses to create a bootable clone. The destination disk’s icon will appear again when the copy is finished.

There are plenty of options and questions involved in backing up your Mac. Feel free to contact me via email or the “Contact” section on the right of this page for technical translation and/or advice on or help with any of the above.

Kirk van Moon
LANsharks Consulting

MacOS 11 “Big Sur” Observations

UPDATE: 3/9/2021:

I remain unimpressed with the stability of Big Sur. Many users (myself included) are reporting kernel panics when waking from sleep and trouble using external displays with laptops.

In addition, the update process introduced in Big Sur was supposed to *reduce* install time, but has actually done exactly the opposite. Given the number of bugs and requisite updates being released, updates are taking upwards of 45 minutes each, longer if you don’t have a fast internet connection. Details here: https://eclecticlight.co/2021/02/28/last-week-on-my-mac-users-are-losing-out-against-big-surs-sealed-system/

Another problem with Big Sur is the cryptographically signed system volume. This was designed as a security mechanism, but in daily use it means that your Carbon Copy Cloner bootable backup must be erased each and every time the operating system is updated – a problem Apple introduced in Big Sur.

I still recommend Mojave (MacOS 10.14.x) or Catalina (MacOS 10.15.x) and am not recommending Big Sur at this time.

November 12, 2020

Apple released Big Sur – the newest operating system for the Mac today.

If you’re looking for the quick and dirty “should I install Big Sur?”, the answer is no, not yet.

Read on for more details and information:
Big Sur leverages the changes Apple made in Catalina, when it was released last October. Catalina was the first operating system for the Mac that only supports 64-bit application software. Older 32-bit apps do not and cannot be made to run in Catalina.

In addition, Catalina requires startup disks (including bootable backups) be formatted in the new APFS format, which Apple only supports on SSD media. This means there are ramifications for your backups (i.e. you’ll need new backup drives), if/when you update to Catalina or, as of today, Big Sur.

My observations regarding Catalina remain true – here are more details from back when Catalina was released:

https://lansharks.net/2020/01/17/things-to-consider-and-know-about-catalina/

I spent much of the day yesterday arguing with the Big Sur beta installer – not a good sign for stable, hassle-free software. Today’s public release (a gargantuan 12GB download) *seems* better, and Apple released a software update only hours after the initial release – not a confidence builder for well-tested code. I’ve only had a few hours to put it through the paces – so far things seem to be working and it feels snappy on my 2018 15” MacBook Pro.

There are some pretty significant cosmetic changes in Big Sur – for those who aren’t a fan of Apple changing/moving things around, this may be a release you want to wait to install, when you have time become familiar with the new bells and whistles. Here is an excellent comparison of some of the different look and feel changes from Catalina and Big Sur:

https://www.andrewdenty.com/blog/2020/07/01/a-visual-comparison-of-macos-catalina-and-big-sur.html

Bootable backups of Big Sur now require the system volume be cloned using a new software mechanism from Apple known as ASR. The system resides on a cryptographically sealed “Signed System Volume”. That seal can only be applied by Apple; ordinary copies of the System volume are non-bootable without Apple’s seal. To create a functional copy of the macOS 11 Big Sur System volume, Carbon Copy Cloner has to use the ASR tool to copy the system, or install macOS onto the backup. The upshot is that your backup drive will need to be erased the first time you run a clone under Big Sur and your previous backup data will be lost. If this is problematic for you, you can re-run the initial backup of your Big Sur Mac to a new external hard drive. More about Carbon Copy Cloner and ASR here:

https://bombich.com/kb/ccc5/frequently-asked-questions-about-ccc-and-macos-11

So, my advice for now is to wait to download and install Big Sur. Give it and other third party software time to mature. And of course, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t remind you to update your bootable clone backup immediately before downloading any software updates, especially new operating systems. And don’t run your backup again for a few days, until you’re certain everything is working as expected.

Things to Consider and Know about Catalina

As you may have read in my previous post, I’m not an immediate fan of Apple’s newest operating system known as “Catalina”.

Apple has made significant changes under the hood in Catalina. While there aren’t a *lot* of new user features, there are some important differences in what is going on with this new operating system. Here are some things to consider:

32-Bit apps are no longer supported.

Apple has been weaning us away from older “32-bit” applications and utilities for some time now. The messages you may have seen stating that a program isn’t “optimized for your Mac” was their way of saying: “Hey, you just launched a 32-bit app. Future versions of Mac OS won’t run those apps. Update this app ASAP.” Catalina is the first release of Mac OS which will NOT run any 32-bit software. It’s a 64-bit world now.

To check to see what 32-bit software you may still have on your machine:

1. Choose “About This Mac” from the Apple menu
2. Click the “System Report…” button at the bottom
3. Scroll down in the column on the left and choose “Applications”
4. Look in the “64-Bit (Intel)” column for anything listed as “No”. “No” means an app is 32-bit and will not launch under Catalina. “Yes” means an app is 64-bit and will run.

If you still have 32-bit apps you depend on, they’ll need to be updated to 64-bit versions before they will launch under Catalina.

The system volume and user data volumes have been separated.

Until Catalina, Apple installed the operating system on the same volume (disk) as your data. This has some inherent security flaws because it means the entire disk, including the operating system must be “writeable”, and therefore vulnerable to viral, ransomware and malware attacks. In Catalina, Apple installs the operating system on a new, separate read-only volume, meaning only very specifically authorized processes can write to the system volume. This is a large step towards combatting viruses and malware.

The user doesn’t see any obvious signs of this separation of OS and data… until you start working with applications which need to do things like backup or clone your hard drive. Carbon Copy Cloner handles this elegantly, but it can be confusing if you aren’t aware of it.

External backup disks must be formatted as APFS.

With the release of High Sierra (March of 2017), Apple introduced a new file system, known as APFS, replacing the older HFS + (also called “Mac OS Extended”). Oversimplifying, the file system is responsible for managing how files are written to the storage devices (SSD or hard drive) and keeps track of which files are located where. Starting with High Sierra, Apple automatically reformatted an internal SSD as APFS during installation, so you’re probably already using APFS and didn’t realize it. APFS was designed with ultra-fast solid state storage (SSD) in mind and until recently, Apple wasn’t recommending that spinning hard drives be formatted as APFS.

APFS is a “modern” file system, is significantly faster, handles up to 9 quintillion files and has some clever features, including file “cloning” (not to be confused with disk cloning/backup) and “snapshots”. When you duplicate (clone) a file or folder on an APFS volume, the file system is clever enough to not actually duplicate the file (taking up twice as much storage space), but rather makes a “firmlink” or what is, in essence, a “alias” or pointer back to the original file. Snapshots are saved “point in time” states of every file on your disk, allowing for a “restore” back to a previous time/state of the drive. This can be instrumental in a situation where a software update doesn’t go well – you can restore from the previous snapshot.

While these features can be handy, even Apple’s Finder gets confused with the file cloning feature. See the video below for an example of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KggyuL8mED0

This can be infuriating in situations where you can’t fit the contents of one disk onto another disk of the same capacity, because the first disk has file “clones” which take up very little space on the original disk, but twice as much space when copied.

Catalina won’t boot from a FireWire disk.

Apple discontinued support for booting from external FireWire drives. For users with legacy backup drives which use a FireWire interface, this can be an issue.

External backup drives for bootable backups of Catalina should be SSD’s.

Catalina requires an APFS volume to boot a Mac. If you’re booting from an external drive (i.e. in a situation where you’re needing to boot from your Carbon Copy Cloner clone drive), it should be an SSD, formatted as APFS. Apple has been uncertain about their support for APFS formatted spinning hard drives. Therefore, backup disks used for Carbon Copy Cloner backups of your primary drive should be upgraded to SSD media.

Sure, some new Catalina features including “SideCar” are cool (use your iPad as an external monitor), but there are lots of new things to be aware of, particularly under the hood. Let me know using the “Contact” box (above, right) if you have questions about your particular environment…

My general advice is to stay with Mojave, unless there is some Catalina feature you absolutely can’t live without. Download link:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-mojave/id1398502828?mt=12