SuperDuper 3.1 Supports APFS Snapshots for Both Source and Destination
Dave Nanian (tweet):
This means you don’t just have to copy from the drive as it is “now” (the default choice). You can select from any existing snapshot, and we’ll copy the state of the files as they were at that time.
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That means there’s not just one available backup on the drive—if you’ve been using Smart Update, there are many! Start up from your backup drive, click the triangle, and you’ll be presented with a list of available snapshots. Pick one, “Copy Now”, and you’ve restored a day ago’s backup, or a week ago’s.
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In fact, not only can you use SuperDuper to copy from these snapshots, you can even open Time Machine, select your backup volume, and see older versions of files, deleted files - they’re all being saved, automatically, every time you Smart Update. Even though you’re not backing up your backup to Time Machine.
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Snapshots are managed by the system, and at present they have some lightly-to-not documented constraints. You need to have about 20% free in a container to create a snapshot, and the system consolidates and removes snapshots according to its own logic.
This may be the best reason to update to macOS 10.13 High Sierra. And I would consider backup drives to be an exception to the general rule of not using APFS with spinning hard drives.
5 Comments RSS · Twitter
I’ve been backing up to an APFS HDD since Sierra, and it’s pretty great. The ability to create a sparsebundle and duplicate it without duplicating the actual data allows me to overcommit in clever ways.
@Karsten I would imagine that would give you the worst of both worlds, but I’d be interested to hear from someone who’s tried it.
@Michael why would it give me the worst of both worlds?
@Karsten APFS speed on top of HFS+ reliability.
If you backup into a sparse-bundle that's apfs formatted, does that mean your drive can still be hfs and you have the best of both worlds?