{"id":31819,"date":"2021-03-10T20:16:24","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T01:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=31819"},"modified":"2022-10-06T15:15:52","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T19:15:52","slug":"the-role-of-bootable-duplicates-in-a-modern-backup-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2021\/03\/10\/the-role-of-bootable-duplicates-in-a-modern-backup-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Role of Bootable Duplicates in a Modern Backup Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adam Engst<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

This change increases security even more, but it also prevents all backup apps from creating bootable duplicates because they cannot sign the backed-up System volume. In theory, Apple’s asr<\/code> (Apple Software Restore) tool makes this possible, but it didn’t work at all until just before Big Sur was released, still has problems, and even now cannot make a bootable duplicate of an M1-based Mac boot drive. On the plus side, Apple has said it plans to fix asr<\/code>, but who knows when, or how completely, that will happen.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

So, even if you can make one, a bootable duplicate won’t help you unless every Mac you want to use it with uses the same chip.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

The primary reason for having an up-to-date bootable duplicate is so you can get back to work as quickly as possible should your internal drive fail.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

All this is to suggest that the bootable part of a bootable duplicate is no longer as essential for many people as it was when we first started recommending that a comprehensive backup strategy should include one. Since then, it has become far more common for people to have multiple devices on which they could accomplish their work, and much more of that work takes place in the cloud or on a remote server.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

The situation with bootable clones is a shame. It was nice to have that option. Even with an SSD, it can take a long time to restore your data to a fresh macOS installation. But it’s likely that, with access to multiple Macs that are mostly in sync, these days I would be more likely to try to resume work on another device while trying to fix the first, rather than boot from a clone of it.<\/p>\n\n

The most important part, as Engst lays out, is to have a multi-part backup strategy. Time Machine is useful, but should not be relied<\/a> upon<\/a>. I consider Internet backups and clones to be essential, too, even if they aren’t bootable.<\/p>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n